Playwright Terrence McNally dead of coronavirus complications at 81
Terrence McNally, a prolific playwright whose love of opera and compassion for human frailties wove their way into many of his works, died March 24 from complications of the coronavirus in a Sarasota, Fla., hospital. He was 81, and had lived with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for some time.
Starting with 1965’s “And Things That Go Bump in the Night,” the St. Petersburg, Fla., native went on to win four Tony Awards, two of them back to back: for 1995’s comedy drama “Love! Valour! Compassion!” and the following year’s “Master Class,” in which Audra McDonald, 49, starred as a tormented student of a fictionalized Maria Callas.
Tonys also went to his books for the musicals “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993) and “Ragtime” (1998). McDonald appeared again in the revival of his 1982 drama “Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune,” which opened the same year McNally received a Tony for lifetime achievement.
A shy man who, soon after arriving in the West Village, lived with “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” playwright Edward Albee, McNally went on to inspire generations of theatergoers and writers. Itamar Moses, the Tony-winning book writer of “The Band’s Visit,” told The Post in 2018 how he was influenced by “Master Class” during a winter break in his freshman year of college.
McNally is survived by his husband, Tom Kirdahy, 57, whom he wed in 2003 in Vermont. The family requests donations to BC/EFA and the Dramatist Guild Society.
Israel Horowitz, Terrence McNally and Leonard Melfi, seen here in 1968, teamed up together with great success. Horowitz and McNally wrote two of the three one-act plays in the Broadway production of “Morning, Noon and Night,” and Melfi contributed the other play.
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American playwright Terrence McNally (center) is kissed on each cheek by Chita Rivera (L) and Joan Rivers (R) at an event in January 1998 in New York City.
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Judith Light, Tony Shalhoub, Terrence McNally and LaTanya Richardson Jackson attend the 2014 Tony Nominees’ Luncheon at the Paramount Hotel’s Diamond Horseshoe on May 20, 2014 in New York City.
Mike Coppola
Billie Jean King, Terrence McNally and Doris Roberts attend DEUCE Opening Night Performance at The Music Box Theatre & Sardi’s on May 6, 2007 in New York City.
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F. Murray Abraham, Playwright Terrence McNally, Martin Short, Maulik Pancholy, Micah Stock, Stockard Channing, producer Tom Kirdahy, Matthew Broderick, director Jack O’Brien and Katie Finneran backstage after a performance of ‘It’s Only A Play’ at the Schoenfeld Theatre on January 7, 2015 in New York City.
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Joe Mantello, Nathan Lane, F. Murray Abraham, Tyne Daly, Terrence McNally, Jeff Kaufman and Marcia Ross attend the screening of “Every Act of Life” during the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival at SVA Theatre on April 23, 2018 in New York City.
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Terrence McNally and Tom Kirdahy attend the 73rd Annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 09, 2019 in New York City.
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Playwright Terrence McNally and Theatrical Producer Tom Kirdahy appears in a portrait taken in their home on March 2, 2020 in New York City.
