Playwright Terrence McNally dies following COVID-19 complications

The four-time Tony Award winner passes away at the age of 81.

The New York Theatre Guide is saddened to hear of the passing of acclaimed playwright Terrence McNally, who succumbed to Coronavirus complications today and died at the age of 81. Mr. McNally passed away at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, and is survived by his husband and Broadway producer Tom Kirdahy.

Terrence McNally was born on November 3, 1938 in St. Petersburg, Florida, and was a 2019 recipient of a special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. His major accomplishments include Tony Award wins in the category of 'Best Play' for Love! Valour! Compassion! (1995) and Master Class (1996), and in the category of 'Best Book of a Musical' for Kiss of the Spider Woman (1993) and Ragtime (1998). He also earned Tony nominations for The Full Monty (2001), Mothers and Sons (2014), and The Visit (2015). He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996.

His other Broadway credits include his 1963 Broadway debut with The Lady of the Camellias, And Things That Go Bump in the Night (1965), Morning, Noon and Night (1968-69), Bad Habits (1974), The Ritz (1975-76), The Rink (1984), Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2002-03), Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life (2005-06), Deuce (2007), Catch Me If You Can (2011), It's Only a Play (2014-15), and Anastasia (2017-19).

He was last represented on the Great White Way by the 2019 revival of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which starred Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon, and can be seen in our New York Theatre Guide to the production below.