num_pages: 173
description: Drama, American Literature, Gay and Lesbian Studies, PlaysTorch Song Trilogy is a collection of three plays by Harvey Fierstein rendered in three acts: International Stud, Fugue in a Nursery, and Widows and Children First! The story centers on Arnold Beckoff, a torch song singing Jewish drag queen living in New York City in the late 1970 and 1980s. The four hour-plus play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.Each act focuses on a different phase in Arnold's life. In the first, Arnold meets Ed, who is uncomfortable with his bisexuality. In the second, one year later, Arnold meets Alan, and the two settle down into a blissful existence that includes plans to adopt a child, until tragedy strikes. In the third, several years later, Arnold is a single father raising gay teenager David. Arnold is forced to deal with his mother's intolerance and disrespect when she visits from Florida.
language: English
title: Torch Song Trilogy
titlecomplete: Torch Song Trilogy
genres: Fiction, Plays, Theatre, Queer, LGBT, Drama, Queer Lit, Jewish, New York, Gay
ratings_count: 2357
places: New York City, New York
awards: awardedAt: 378720000000
name: New York Drama Critics' Circle Award
category: Best American Play
publisher: Gay Presses of New York