Harvey Fierstein Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1954) is an American actor, playwright, and voice actor. Fierstein has won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his own play "Torch Song Trilogy" (about a gay drag-performer and his quest for true love and family) and the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for playing Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray". He also wrote the book for the musical "La Cage aux Folles", for which he won the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical, and wrote the book for the Tony Award-winning "Kinky
Hairspray (2007 film) company Alterian, Inc. were hired to design and create the look of Edna Turnblad on John Travolta. Costume designer Rita Ryack wanted to put Edna into several revealing outfits, so Travolta ended up being encapsulated in prosthetics. He wore silicone prosthetics on his head and neck, and foam latex arms and legs that connected to a spandex and foam body suit. Dixon was primarily hired to tone down much of the campiness inherent in the stage musical. The 2007 film's script is based primarily on the stage musical rather than the 1988 film, so several changes already made to the