Terrence McNally's Unfathomable Importance to Theatre
Today, March 24th, news broke that playwright Terrence McNally had passed away due to complications of coronavirus.
Mr. McNally was a legend in his field and his work, I contend, ranks as some of the most important written work of the 20th century. There wasn’t a topic that seemed off limits to the man and his characters always possessed great depth. More than that, he understood human connection on stage better than many of the predecessors, contemporaries and next generations in his field.
His work included legendary shows(Master Class, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion!), underrated masterpieces (The Ritz, It’s Only a Play) and musicals boasting the best books ever written(Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, The Visit). If you feel I’m missing some in each of these categories, that’s further testament to utter brilliance of this man.
Beyond the work itself, Mr. McNally knocked down so many barriers for young playwrights. He introduced conversations that were harder to have in previous decades but through his work, forced audiences to think about their own held beliefs.
My personal favorite work of his is Lips Together, Teeth Apart. Here, two straight couples converge on a beach house on Fire Island that was inherited by one of the women’s brother who died from AIDS. The play digs deep into homophobia, racism, isolation, mortality, among other things. It is a dream show of mine to direct. In fact, many of Mr. NcNally’s works are.
I can think of no better tribute to the man than for us to take in a much of his work as possible. If you have the ability, add some of his films like Love! Valour! Compassion!, Frankie and Johnny, The Ritz and Andre’s Mother to your streaming queues.
And when we do get live theatre back up and running, I hope local theatres will make it a point to add his shows to their seasons. We could use some wake up calls right now and no one was better at that than Terrence McNally. He will be missed dearly.