Terrence McNally Falls to Coronavirus
Master playwright, four-time Tony winner, gay pioneer, in Florida at his death, was 81
BY ANDY HUMM
Our greatest living playwright
has died, felled
by the coronavirus
pandemic in Sarasota,
Florida, on March 24. Terrence
McNally, who was an out gay artist
in the 1960s when few risked
openness, was 81. His work boldly
broke ground on gay themes and
often wrestled with the AIDS crisis
and racial questions as well.
He is survived by his longtime
partner and husband, Tom Kirdahy,
who is one of Broadway’s
leading producers (“Hadestown,”
“The Inheritance”).
McNally won four Tony Awards
— Best Plays “Love! Valour! Compassion!”
(1995) about a group of
gay male friends written and set in
the darkest days of the AIDS pandemic
and “Master Class” (1996)
about opera diva Maria Callas,
and Best Book of a Musical for his
adaptations of Héctor Babenco’s
fi lm of “Kiss of the Spider Woman”
(1993) and E.L. Doctorow’s novel
“Ragtime” (1998). He was also
nominated for Best Book of a Musical
for “The Full Monty” (which he
adapted from Sheffi eld, England,
to upstate Buffalo) and the last
Kander & Ebb collaboration, “The
Visit,” Best Play for “Mothers and
Sons” about an unaccepting mother
of a gay son meeting with his
lover 20 years after her son’s death
from AIDS — a sequel to his Emmy
Award-winning teleplay “Andre’s
Mother” set at her son’s funeral.
He was presented a special Tony
Award for Lifetime Achievement in
the Theater just last year.
McNally was a lung cancer survivor
and had been suffering from
pulmonary disease, often seen
carting portable oxygen in recent
years — conditions that contributed
to his succumbing to the coronavirus.
But despite Terrence’s
age and frailty, many were gutted
by the news of his passing in this
already dark time compounded by
the willful and daily negligence of
President Donald Trump.
Kirdahy himself posted on Facebook,
“Love Won. RIP Terrence,”
Terrence McNally’s husband, Tom Kirdahy, posted yesterday on Facebook, “Love Won. RIP Terrence.”
Terrence McNally and Tom Kirdahy share a smooch on the day they married as the offi ciant, Mayor Bill
de Blasio, looks on.
with a gorgeous loving picture of
them together.
“I am bereft,” writer Kevin Sessums
posted on Facebook. “My
heart is broken for our theatre
community and his husband Tom
Kirdahy.” Sessums spoke of “how
lucky they were to fi nd each other.”
Tom Viola, longtime director of
Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights
AIDS, posted that McNally was one
of the group’s “founding fathers”
because he “believed that the most
important function of theatre is to
create community.” He wrote that
McNally “gave voice to both the
voiceless and those who can stand
FACEBOOK/ TOM KIRDAHY
DONNA ACETO
tall, not only through his art but
also his actions. He was a steadfast
champion for civil and LGBTQ
rights onstage and off. He gave us
unforgettable characters who told
delicate, brilliant, courageous, and
unforgettable stories that refl ected
the lives and dreams, joys and
heartbreak of us all.”
Harvey Fierstein wrote that he
was “broken hearted. But let’s always
remember that Terrence was
anything but a victim. He was a
lover and fi ghter and an artist and
a voice for our people. He was a victor.
The man didn’t write his heart
out. He wrote OUR hearts out!”
Nathan Lane put McNally’s impact
REMEMBRANCE
on his life in succinct terms,
writing, “I’d have no career without
Terrence McNally.”
While McNally broke barriers all
his life by being out and through
bringing gay content to the stage,
“Corpus Christi” in 1997 was his
most controversial work as it retold
the story of Jesus and his
apostles through modern-day gay
men in Texas. Besieged with bomb
threats from right-wing religious
zealots, Manhattan Theatre Club
canceled the play. When theater
artists stepped forward to protest
the censorship — playwright, novelist,
actor, and director Athol Fugard
threatened to sever his relationship
with MTC — the theater
relented and opening night saw
metal detectors for the audience
and large dueling demonstrations
from the anti-gay Catholic League
and LGBTQ groups.
McNally, born November 3,
1938, in St. Petersburg, Florida,
grew up in Corpus Christi, Texas,
where he nevertheless was exposed
to Broadway theater, including
through trips to New York. He
moved to the city in 1956 to attend
Columbia, majoring in journalism
but studying Shakespeare and
writing musicales. Right out of college,
John Steinbeck hired him as
an assistant as he and his family
took a trip around the world. Mc-
Nally later wrote the libretto for an
adaptation of his “East of Eden.”
McNally worked as the stage
manager for the Actor’s Studio in
New York. He once said that he
decided to become a playwright
“because it was a good way to
meet guys.” He did meet budding
playwright Edward Albee in 1959
soon after Albee’s debut with “The
Zoo Story” and they were an item
for four years during which Albee
turned out “Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf” and McNally wrote “This
Side of the Door” that starred Estelle
Parsons. Part of the reason
they parted was Albee’s then-reticence
about being publicly gay.
McNally made his Broadway debut
in 1965 with “And Things That
➤ TERRANCE MCNALLY, RIP, continued on p.16
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