Torch Song Trilogy

This article is about the play. For the film adaptation, see Torch Song Trilogy (film).

Torch Song Trilogy
Broadway promotional poster
Written byHarvey Fierstein
Characters
  • Arnold Beckoff
  • Ed
  • Lady Blues
  • Mrs. Beckoff
  • Alan
  • David
  • Laurel
Date premieredJanuary 15, 1982 (1982-01-15)
Place premieredActors' Playhouse, Greenwich Village, New York City
Original languageEnglish
GenreDrama
Setting1970s, 1980s New York City

Torch 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 Jewish homosexual, drag queen, and torch singer who lives in New York City in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The four-hour play begins with a soliloquy in which he explains his cynical disillusionment with love.