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TIME called Terrence McNally "the height of hot." During the height of the uproar preceding the initial staging of Corpus Christi, others have described him as a blasphemer and provocateur. When one reads his interviews, however, Mr. McNally comes across as a complex, witty, urbane, self-effacing, and a very humane individual.Asked what he likes best about himself, he responds:
"I'm a good friend. I think I'm kind. I'm polite. I think I've contributed to other people's lives."(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
One thing nobody can dispute: Terrence McNally is a very hard worker. He has an enormous body of professional work, which includes: And Things That Go Bump in the Night, 1965, Next, 1969, Sweet Eros, 1969, Noon, 1969, Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone, 1971, Bad Habits, 1973, The Ritz, 1974, The Golden Age, 1975, Broadway, Broadway, 1978, The 5:48, 1980, The Rink (book for the musical) , 1984, It's Only a Play, 1986, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, 1988, The Lisbon Traviata, 1989, Up in Saratoga, 1990, Kiss of the Spider Woman (book for the musical adaptation), 1990, Andre's Mother (TV, also play), 1990, Lips Together, Teeth Apart 1991 (Screenplay), Frankie and Johnny (Screenplay) 1991, A Perfect Ganesh, 1993, Master Class, 1995, Love! Valour! Compassion!, 1997, andRagtime (book for Broadway musical), 1998.
Even with such success, Mr. McNally seems very grounded.
"I've never had the experience of being universally championed. I never feel up to the mark. I should be better. Every play should be better. It's my Irish-Catholic background. I can find something wrong with everything.
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
His self-effacing manner comes through when he discusses his work habits.
"If anything, I think people say, 'He's such a drudge. He turns out a play a year. God, why doesn't he shut up for a while?"
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
"I kept thinking people would say, 'Gee, he hasn't written a play in a while. We really miss him.' One day, I was buying something in a store and someone came up to me and said, 'Excuse me, aren't you Terrence McNally?" I said, 'Yes.' I thought this person would say, 'I loved 'Bad Habits' or 'The Ritz'. But he said, 'I recognized your voice from Opera Quiz.' I had this instant flash of my obituary: 'Terrence McNally, Opera Quiz panelist, dead at 40.' I realized that no one was going to beg me to come back and that I had better start writing plays again." ,
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
Being a celebrity is not what is important to Terrence McNally. The respect and trust of his peers seems larger in his mind.
"During a preview [of "It's Only a Play"], Ms. Meadow turned to me and said, "I'll produce your next play." Not if this one is a hit. Just I'll produce your next play. It was such an unconditional offer. I thought this is the best Christmas present ever. I had a home and continuity, and that's very important to a writer."
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
"I am a very shy person in many ways, but I can be braver as a writer, knowing that I have a Nathan or Christine or Tony delivering my lines. It's the old question, what comes first, the chicken or the egg, the good play or the performance that makes the play work? I never thought I wrote literature. I write plays for actors and I need actors I trust."
(New York Times, Aug. 1993)
It is obvious he recognises the value of hard work and dedication to craft.
'There's no being centre stage as if by magic,' and that's what people don't understand; they don't know how hard it is to become a Callas. A career that lasts more than five minutes is a miracle in this day and age."
(The Sunday Times, April 1997)
In a very few words he can reveal details that can make a complete stranger feel like they know and like him.
"I'm over Callas; I haven't listened to her for five or six years. She's in my nervous system. I don't need to listen to her."
(The Sunday Times, April 1997)
"I like myself. I'm comfortable with myself. My life. I don't wish I was someone else or wish I were someplace else. That's nice. But the kind of person I am? I'm not self-conscious. I know things that make me angry and things that make me happy. I'm pretty clear who I like and who I don't like. I don't like bullying of any kind. I don't like it when I'm the bully and I don't like to be bullied. I know a lot of people who find people to pick on. I try to spend my life with my peers, not my inferiors, or people who think they're my superiors. (Theatreplex, "Master Class Review", 1995)
Terrence McNally has the courage, when interviewed to reveal more of his inner self than do most celebrities.
"I'm a gay man who writes plays. But then I've always been that and I've always been reviewed that way.
His plays reflect his identity as a gay man. They reflect the reality of AIDS and the uncertainty of life and the risk of pain that comes with attachments. But his writing will move any one that will listen. As David Richards wrote in the New York Times, when describing McNally's plays: "They are about loneliness and wants, reaching out when you can and pulling back in spite of yourself." These feelings come across loud and clear and wonderfully. These feelings are especially poignant in Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, a play he wrote soon after losing two best friends, Robert Drivas and James Coco; Mr. Drivas to AIDS and Mr. Coco to heart disease.
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