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Terrence McNally 1938 - 2020

Terrence McNally was born on November 3, 1938 in St. Petersburg, Florida United States, and died at age 81 years old on March 24, 2020.

Terrence McNally

November 3, 1938

St. Petersburg, Florida, United States

March 24, 2020

Florida, United States

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Terrence McNally Terrence McNally (1938 - 2020)

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Terrence McNally's History: 1938 - 2020

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Introduction

Terrence McNally, Trailblazing Titan of American Theater, Dies of Coronavirus Complications at 81 Terrence McNally, the admired playwright and librettist who won received five Tony Awards while bringing his perspective of the world to such productions as 'Kiss of the Spider-Woman,' 'Master Class,' 'Ragtime' and 'Love! Valour! Compassion!,' has died. He was 81. Born: November 3, 1938, St. Petersburg, FL Died: March 24, 2020 in Florida.
11/3

1938

Birthday

November 3, 1938

Birthdate

St. Petersburg, Florida United States

Birthplace

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Professional Career

Mid career After the failure of Broadway, Broadway, McNally moved to Hollywood to reinvent himself but soon found himself back in New York City where a new chapter of his career began. During this period he formed a deep artistic relationship with Manhattan Theatre Club and the rapid spread of AIDS fundamentally changed his theatre. McNally only became truly successful with works such as the off-Broadway production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and its screen adaptation with stars Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer. His first credited Broadway musical was The Rink in 1984, a project he entered after the score by composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb had been written. In 1990, McNally won an Emmy Award for Best Writing in a Miniseries or Special for Andre's Mother, a drama about a woman trying to cope with her son's death from AIDS. A year later, he returned to the stage with another AIDS-related play, Lips Together, Teeth Apart. In the play, two married couples spend the Fourth of July weekend at a summer house on Fire Island. The house has been willed to Sally Truman by her brother who has just died of AIDS, and it soon becomes evident that both couples are afraid to get in the swimming pool once used by Sally's brother. It was written specifically for Christine Baranski, Anthony Heald, Swoosie Kurtz (taking the place of Kathy Bates), and frequent McNally collaborator Nathan Lane, who had also starred in The Lisbon Traviata. With Kiss of the Spider Woman (based on the novel by Manuel Puig) in 1992, McNally returned to the musical stage, collaborating with Kander and Ebb on a script that explores the complex relationship between two men jailed together in a Latin American prison. For the book, McNally won the first of his four Tony Awards. Kiss of the Spider Woman won the 1993 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. He collaborated with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens on Ragtime in 1997, a musical adaptation of the E. L. Doctorow novel, which tells the story of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a black musician who demands retribution when his Model T is destroyed by a mob of white troublemakers. The musical also features such historical figures as Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, J. P. Morgan, and Henry Ford. For his libretto, McNally won his third Tony Award. Ragtime finished its Broadway run on January 16, 2000. A revival in 2009 was short-lived, closing after only 2 months. McNally's other plays include 1994's Love! Valour! Compassion!, with Lane and John Glover, which examines the relationships of eight gay men; won McNally his second Tony Award. Master Class (1995); a character study of legendary opera soprano Maria Callas, which starred Zoe Caldwell and won the Tony Award for Best Play, McNally's fourth; and the least-known of the group, Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams (2005) with Lane and Marian Seldes. In 1996, McNally was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame. 1997 saw the world premiere of Corpus Christi, a modern-day retelling of the story of Jesus' birth, ministry, and death in which both he and his disciples are portrayed as homosexuals. The play was initially canceled because of death threats against the board members of the Manhattan Theatre Club, which was to produce the play. Banding together in defense of free creative expression, several other playwrights (including Athol Fugard) threatened to withdraw their plays if Corpus Christi was not produced; the board ultimately relented. When the play opened, the theatre was besieged by almost 2,000 protesters, furious at what they considered blasphemy. Subsequent to a 1999 opening of Corpus Christi in London, a group called the "Defenders of the Messenger Jesus" issued a fatwa sentencing McNally to death.[36] In 2008, the play was revived in New York City at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre. Reviewing this production for The New York Times, Jason Zinoman wrote that "without the noise of controversy, the play can finally be heard. Staged with admirable delicacy... the work seems more personal than political, a coming-of-age story wrapped in religious sentiment." Late career In 2000, McNally partnered with composer and lyricist David Yazbek to write the musical The Full Monty, which was directed by Jack O’Brien and choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. It had an initial run at The Old Globe Theatre and then transferred to the Eugene O’Neill Theatre on Broadway. The opening night cast included Patrick Wilson, Andre De Shields, Jason Danieley, Kathleen Freeman, Emily Skinner, and Annie Golden. It was nominated for 12 Tony Awards including for McNally's book. It later transferred to the Prince of Wales Theater in the West End. McNally's lifelong passion for classical music and opera is felt throughout many of his plays and musicals, and he's collaborated on several new American operas. His voice may be more familiar with opera fans than theater-goers, as for nearly 30 years (1979-2008) he was a member of the Texaco Opera Quiz panel that fielded questions during the weekly Live from the Met radio broadcasts. He wrote the libretto for Dead Man Walking, his adaptation of Sister Helen Prejean's book, with a score by Jake Heggie. The opera had its world premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2000 and subsequently received two commercial recordings and over 40 productions worldwide, making it “one of the most successful American operas in recent decades." In 2007, Heggie composed a chamber opera, Three Decembers, based on the original text by McNally titled Some Christmas Letters (and a Couple of Phone Calls, Too), with libretto by Gene Scheer. In October 2015, Dallas Opera presented Great Scott with an original libretto by McNally and a score by Heggie. The new opera starred Joyce DiDonato and Frederica von Stade and was directed by Jack O’Brien. The Kennedy Center presented three of McNally's plays that focus on opera, titled Nights at the Opera, in March 2010. The pieces included a new play, Golden Age; Master Class, starring Tyne Daly; and The Lisbon Traviata, starring John Glover and Malcolm Gets. Golden Age subsequently ran Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club New York City Center – Stage I from November 2012 to January 2013. In 2001, McNally started what became a 15-year developmental process towards Broadway with the musical The Visit, for which he wrote the book. The music is written by John Kander and the lyrics by Fred Ebb. Adapted from Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s 1956 satire, The Visit is the story of a widow who has amassed enormous sums of wealth and returns to her hometown to seek revenge on the villagers who scorned her in her youth. The project originally starred Angela Lansbury who departed the process to care for her ailing husband. Chita Rivera became the new star and The Visit had its first production at The Goodman Theater in Chicago in 2001. The September 11 attacks occurred just 10 days before the first preview, and the producers weren’t able to get many investors or critics from New York to fly to Chicago. In 2004, Fred Ebb, the lyricist, died. Its next regional production occurred in 2008 at The Signature Theatre outside of Washington D.C. In 2014, under the new direction of John Doyle and starring Chita Rivera and Roger Rees, The Visit had a new production at Williamstown Theatre and then eventually transferred to Broadway at The Lyceum Theatre in 2015. The musical was nominated for 5 Tony awards including for McNally's book. Continuing his work on musical librettos, McNally partnered with his collaborators on Ragtime, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens to write the musical A Man of No Importance which premiered at Lincoln Center in 2002 and was directed by Joe Mantello. He also wrote the libretto for Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, in 2005, another collaboration with Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, which began at The Old Globe and subsequently transferred to Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre. In 2004, Primary Stages presented McNally’s The Stendhal Syndrome, which according to McNally explores “how art can affect us emotionally, psychologically, and erotically.” The play starred Isabella Rossellini and Richard Thomas and was directed by Leonard Foglia. In 2007, Philadelphia Theatre Company presented Some Men, which explores the evolution of gay relationships and same-sex marriage. It went on to Second Stage Theatre in New York and was directed by Trip Cullman. That same year McNally's drama Deuce ran on Broadway at the Music Box Theater for a limited engagement in 2007 for 121 performances. Directed by Michael Blakemore, the play starred Angela Lansbury, in her return to Broadway after more than 20 years, and Marian Seldes. And Away We Go premiered Off-Broadway at the Pearl Theatre in November 2013, with direction by Jack Cummings III and featured Donna Lynne Champlin, Sean McNall, and Dominic Cuskern. The play takes place over several millennia covering the most pivotal moments in dramatic history entwined with a modern-day story of a struggling theatre company. McNally has said “It's very much written for the Pearl, the company that has kept the faith for the great classic plays. There are whole seasons in New York when I don't think a single classic play would have been performed if it hadn't been for the Pearl... I think it's really important. I write new plays for a living; I certainly don't think theatre should be just revivals, but there has always got to be a place for Chekhov, Ibsen, Shakespeare, Moliere, and Aeschylus.” Mothers and Sons starring Tyne Daly and Frederick Weller opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre, where Master Class had its premiere, on March 24, 2014 (February 23, 2014, in previews). Mothers and Sons premiered at the Bucks County Playhouse (Pennsylvania) in June 2013. Vermont Stage opened its production January 27, 2016 at FlynnSpace in Burlington, Vermont. The play is an expansion on his 1988 drama Andre’s Mother, which was set at a memorial service for a victim of the AIDS crisis. Mothers and Sons also marked the first time a legally wed gay couple was portrayed on Broadway. It was nominated for two Tony Awards including for Best Play. McNally's newest play, Fire and Air, premiered Off-Broadway at Classic Stage Company on February 1, 2018. The play explores the history of the Ballets Russes, the Russian ballet company, with a particular focus on Sergei Diaghilev, the ballet impresario, and Vaslav Nijinsky, the dancer and choreographer. It featured the actors Douglas Hodge, Marsha Mason, Marin Mazzie, John Glover, and Jay Johnson Armstrong and was directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. On May 29, 2019, a revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune opened on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre. The production starred Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon, and was directed by Arin Arbus in her Broadway debut.
Personal Life & Family

Personal life McNally was partnered to Tom Kirdahy, a Broadway producer and a former civil rights attorney for not-for-profit AIDS organizations, following a civil union ceremony in Vermont on December 20, 2003. They subsequently married in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 2010. In celebration of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, they renewed their vows at New York City Hall with Mayor Bill de Blasio officiating on June 26, 2015. Archive The papers of Terrence McNally are held by the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. The archive includes all of his major works for stage, screen, and television, as well as correspondence, posters, production photographs, programs, reviews, awards, speeches, and recordings. It is an open archive and continues to receive the latest material from McNally.
03/24

2020

Death

March 24, 2020

Death date

Coronavirus

Cause of death

Florida United States
Death location

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Obituary

In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, an event widely considered a watershed moment in the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named him one of the Pride50 "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people". McNally received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2019.[70] McNally, who had previously overcome lung cancer, died on March 24, 2020 from complications of Coronavirus disease 2019 (during the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic).

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Terrence McNally lived 8 years longer than the average family member when died at the age of 81.

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11 Memories, Stories & Photos about Terrence

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

03/24/2020

Terrence McNally

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

05/13/2021

Written by Terrence McNally.

Love this movie and never get tired of seeing it.
I also met all the stars of the movie.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

05/13/2021

Terrence McNally.

A friendly wave.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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The Comedy about opera composer Donizetti.

Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

05/13/2021

The Comedy about opera composer Donizetti.

I took an opera singer to see this comedy which had obviously been improved along the way, so by 2013, it was hilarious. My friend laughed until she cried. I nearly fell out of seat!

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

11/07/2020

Terrence McNally

I met him once when I auditioned for him. He was very young and he kept writing until he was brilliant and funny.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

04/20/2020

Terrence McNally

This is a photo of Terrence McNally added by Amanda S. Stevenson on April 20, 2020.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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Amanda S. Stevenson

17.7k+ favorites

03/24/2020

Terrence McNally

This is a photo of Terrence McNally added by Amanda S. Stevenson on March 24, 2020. Chita Rivera, Terrence McNally and Joan Rivers. I've met all of them.

Date & Place: Not specified or unknown.

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