Acclaimed playwright and librettist Terrance McNally has died at a hospital in Sarasota, Florida from complications due to coronavirus. He was 81.
His publicist, Matt Polk, confirmed the news to The Hollywood Reporter. McNally suffered from lung cancer since the late ’90s, which caused him to lose portions of both lungs. Coronavirus causes severe respiratory issues.
McNally is survived by his husband, the Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and former HIV/AIDS activist, Tom Kirdahy.
McNally was a five-time Tony Award recipient with an incredible 25 Broadway productions throughout his career. Among his most-known works are Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider-Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class and The Ritz. In total he wrote nearly 50 plays, 10 of which were musicals.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Described as “the Bard of the American theater,” McNally’s writing crossed all genres over his six-decade career, from avant-garde dramas to hit musicals. Much of his work focuses on the deep need for human connection, and he said the most vital role of the theater is to connect folks of different races, genders and sexual orientations to the common human experience.
“Theater is not a place to hide from the world but instead the very place where we may finally discover our true selves,” McNally wrote in the foreword of his 2002 musical A Man of No Importance.
Nathan Lane, who starred in several of McNally’s shows over the years, wrote in 2015 that “There is no better collaborator in the world.”
In 2019, McNally received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Tonys — here is his acceptance speech:
Head here for a full look-back at his remarkable life and career.
Drew
The Ritz is one of my all time favorite movies. I got a chance to meet him when he did one acts at the Manhattan Theater Club. Thanks Terrance for all the great entertainment.
JPB
Wonderful playwright – loved Love Valour and Compassion, both on stage and film. R.I. P.
trsxyz
A tremendous loss. Thank you for your brilliance!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
My BF and I were celebrating our 3 year anniversary and Terrance happened to be sitting next to us. He congratulated us and bought us a bottle of Cristal Champagne and shared it with us and entertained us for hours with stories of his epic career.
A true gentleman the likes of which one seldom encounters these days…
Rest in well deserved peace kind Sir
Jim
He attended a dress rehearsal here in Austin, of a play he was working on that I was lucky to attend. It was an honor to see a man in the class of; Williams and Hellman.
Kangol2
He was one of the major American playwrights, and leading gay playwrights of all time. He has a number of masterpieces but my favorites have to be Lips Together, Teeth Apart, Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!, and Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. The 2011 Broadway run of Master Class with Tyne Daly was exceptional. I’ve never seen Corpus Christi staged but when we can go back out into the world and libraries are reopened I definitely plan to read it and reimmerse myself in his work. May he RIP.