Harvey Fierstein to Receive Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

Four-time Tony-winning playwright, actor, author and quilter Harvey Fierstein will receive the 2025 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre at this year's Tony Awards.

“Harvey Fierstein’s contributions to the American theatre, both as an artist and activist, represent an extraordinary legacy,” said Heather Hitchens, President & CEO of the American Theatre Wing and Jason Laks, President of the Broadway League, in a joint statement.

Fierstein won two Tony Awards for Torch Song Trilogy (Best Play and Best Actor in a Play) as well as Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical for La Cage Aux Folles and Best Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. He wrote the Tony-winning musical Kinky Boots along with Newsies, Casa Valentina, A Catered Affair, Safe Sex, Bella Bella!, Legs Diamond, Spookhouse, Flatbush Tosca, Common Ground and more. He revised the book for Funny Girl, which had a hit run on Broadway and a multi-city North American tour, following its London production. His children’s book, The Sissy Duckling (Humanitas Award), is now in its fifth printing, and his New York Times bestselling memoir I Was Better Last Night is available on Knopf.
  
Recent recipients of the Special Tony Award include Angela Lansbury, John Kander, Joel Grey, Jack O’Brien and George C. Wolfe. Other luminaries include Carol Channing, James Earl Jones, Terrence McNally, Harold Prince, Chita Rivera, Stephen Sondheim, Tommy Tune and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

The awards ceremony will be hosted by Tony, Emmy and Grammy Award winner and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo, and will take place on June 8 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. A limited number of tickets to The 78th Annual Tony Awards are now on sale to the general public.

Presented by the Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing, the Tony Awards will recognize outstanding achievement by theater professionals during the 2024-25 Broadway season. The awards are produced by Tony Award Productions, a joint venture of the League and the Wing, and White Cherry Entertainment; Ricky Kirshner and Glen Weiss serve as executive producers. Weiss will direct the broadcast.

The ceremony will air on the CBS Television Network and stream on Paramount+ in the U.S.