Bruce Vilanch: A Hollywood Storyteller on Fire Island
PHOTO STORY
Hollywood Comes to Fire Island
Celebrities of all kinds have long made their way to Fire Island. Some come to visit friends, hoping to stay under the radar. Others, like Wanda Sykes, have a house on the island and spend their summers here. And some come to perform.
New York queer nightlife photographer koitz remembers seeing comedian and writer Bruce Vilanch on Fire Island at least twice—first in the Fire Island Pines in 2010, and again in Cherry Grove in 2013.
The first time, as koitz remembers it, Vilanch came to the Pines in July to host the Fire Island Dance Festival, a benefit born out of the AIDS crisis and organized by Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
Three years later, Vilanch was back—this time in Cherry Grove, as part of Daniel Nardicio’s Icon Series in 2023. The series brought Broadway stars, Hollywood personalities, and figures from queer culture to the stage at the Ice Palace.
This photograph, taken by koitz at the Ice Palace in 2013, captures Bruce Vilanch during that visit.
koitz spotted Vilanch at the Ice Palace and approached him, asking if he would pose for a photograph. Vilanch immediately agreed. Without hesitation, he jumped onto the photo booth and struck a playful expression, as though he were already being photographed by the machine itself, while koitz quickly raised his camera and captured the moment.
The whole exchange lasted only a few seconds, but there was an effortless grace to it. Once he had taken the photograph, koitz thanked Vilanch, and the writer simply carried on with his business, leaving behind a brief but memorable encounter.
Bruce Vilanch
Vilanch was born in New York City and built a career behind the scenes as one of Hollywood’s best-known comedy writers. He wrote for the Academy Awards and became particularly associated with actress and television host Whoopi Goldberg.
But Vilanch was also a performer in his own right, appearing on Broadway and in live theater, including the musical Hairspray.
On Fire Island, though, audiences got something more personal: the stories, the jokes, and the Hollywood history of a performer who had spent decades behind the curtain.