Profile
Photos
Comments
This is the nineteenth in a series
highlighting the best gay and lesbian authors from the 20th century
(with a few before and after that period) who have recorded in fiction,
and nonfiction, the history of gay people telling what life is, and was,
during an important time of history.
In
1964 I did it for the first, and last, time--I walked out of a Broadway
play. The play was written by Terrance McNally in his debut on
Broadway. In the future I would walk out on a tryout play by Tennessee
William and one by Edward Albee but I would never walk out on another
play by McNally!
In
all that he has wriiten McNally used humor to look into very serious
situations and in most cases came out the winner. It was in the 1990s
that he turned the theatre world upside down and almost put a theatre
company out of business when they threatened to pull his play from
production.
McNally stirred up a storm of controversy with 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 homosexual. In
fact, the play was initially cancelled because of death threats from extremist
religious groups against the board members of the Manhattan
Theatre Club which was to produce the play. However, several other
playwrights such as Tony
KushnerCorpus Christi was not
produced, and the board finally relented. When the play opened, in 1997, the theatre was
besieged by almost 2000 protesters, furious at what they considered blasphemy.
When Corpus Christi opened in London, a British Muslim group called the
Defenders of the Messenger Jesus even went so far as to issue a fatwa sentencing McNally to
death. On January 19, 2008,
Robert Forsyth, AnglicanSydney condemned "Corpus
Christi" (which opened for February's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, a play depicting Judasmarriage between two male apostles. Director Leigh Rowney
accepted that it would offend some Christians and said: "I wanted this play in the
hands of a Christian person like myself to give it dignity but still open it up
to answering questions about Christianity as a faith system." threatened to withdraw their plays if bishop of
South seducing Jesus): "It is deliberately, not
innocently, offensive and they're obviously having a laugh about it." The play
also showed Jesus administrating a
McNally was partnered to Thomas Kirdahy following a civil union ceremony in
Vermont in 2003, and they
subsequently married in Washington, D.C. on April 6, 2010.
Terrence McNally (born November 3, 1939) is an Americanplaywright who has received four Tony Awards, an Emmy, two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller
Grant, the Lucille Lortel Award, the Hull-Warriner
Award, and a citation from the American Academy of Arts and
Letters.[1] He has been a member
of the Council of the Dramatists Guild since 1970 and has served as
vice-president since 1981.
Early career
After graduation, McNally moved to Mexico to focus on his writing, completing a one-act
play which he submitted to the Actors StudioNew York for production. While the play was turned
down by the acting school, the Studio was impressed with the script, and McNally
was invited to serve as the Studio's stage manager so that he could gain practical
knowledge of theater. In his early years in New York, he was a protégé and lover
of the noted playwright Edward
Albee. in
In 1968, McNally asked that his name be removed from the credits for what
would have been his first major project, the musical Here's Where
I Belong. His decision proved to be a wise one, as the show closed after
one performance. Although several early comedies such as Next in 1969 and The Ritz in 1975
won McNally critical praise, it was not until later in his career that he would
become truly successful with works such as his off-Broadway play Frankie and Johnny in the
Clair de Lune and its screen adaptation with stars Al Pacino and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Later career
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 AwardAndre'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, a
study of the irrational fears many people harbor towards homosexuals and people who have
AIDS. 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. for Best Writing in a
Miniseries or Special for
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 which explores the complex
relationship between two men caged together in a Latin American prison. 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 fiery black
piano man who demands retribution when his Model T is destroyed by a mob of white troublemakers.
The play also features such historical figures as Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, J.P. Morgan and Henry Ford.Ragtime recently
finished a Broadway run on January 3, 2010.
McNally's other plays include 1994's Love! Valour! Compassion!Master Class (1995), a character study of
legendary opera soprano Maria
Callas which won the Tony for Best Play. which
examines the relationships of eight gay men; and
In a January 2003 interview, McNally addressed critics who said he had
"added" two gay characters to his Brodway adaptation of the film "The Full Monty": "If Neil
Simon had written the script, they wouldn’t have said that. I get it for being
gay, for proselytising. It’s so annoying, all that bullshit."
McNally's play Deuce ran on Broadway in a limited engagement in 2007
for 121 performances. Directed by Michael Blakemore, it starred Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes.
The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC presented
three of McNally's plays that focus on his works involving 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 Malcolm Gets and John
Glover.
Writing credits
Plays:
| Musical Theatre:
Opera:
Film:
TV:
|
Awards
- 1975 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding New American Play (The Ritz) - 1992 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding New Play (The Lisbon Traviata) - 1992 Drama Desk
Award Winner, Outstanding New Play (Lips Together, Teeth Apart) - 1995 Drama Desk
Award Winner, Outstanding Play (Love! Valour! Compassion!) - 1996 Drama Desk
Award Winner, Outstanding Play (Master Class) - 1998 Drama Desk
Award Winner, Outstanding Book of a Musical (Ragtime) - 2001 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding Book of a Musical (The Full Monty) - 2003 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding Book of a Musical (A Man of No
Importance) - 2006 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding Play (Dedication or The Stuff of
Dreams) - 2007 Drama Desk
Award Nomination, Outstanding Play (Some Men) - 1990 Emmy Award Winner,
Outstanding Writing in a Miniseries or a Special (Andre's Mother) - 1992 Lucille Lortel Award Winner, Outstanding
Body of Work (Terrence McNally) - 1992 Lucille Lortel Award Winner, Outstanding
Play (Lips Together, Teeth Apart) - 1974 Obie Award Winner,
Distinguished Play (Bad Habits) - 1995 Obie Award Winner for
Playwriting (Love! Valour! Compassion!) - 1994 Pulitzer
Prize for Drama Nomination (A Perfect
Ganesh) - 1993 Tony Award Winner, Best Book of a Musical (Kiss of the Spider Woman)
- 1995 Tony Award Winner, Best
Play (Love! Valour! Compassion!) - 1996 Tony Award Winner, Best
Play (Master Class) - 1998 Tony Award Winner, Best Book of a Musical (Ragtime)
- 2001 Tony Award Nomination, Best Book of a Musical (The Full Monty)
