This collection of essays and interviews is the first book about
the drama of American playwright Terrence McNally; it examines his
career to date (30-plus years), focusing particularly on the two
plays for which McNally won Tony Awards for Best Play of 1995,
"Love!" "Valour! Compassion!, "and Best Play of 1996, "Master
Class."
Toby Zinman, a distinguished scholar and critic, has invited none
respected authorities to write about McNally's work, and has
included records of the long conversations she had with the
playwright about his work, his love of opera, his ideas about
acting and education, and life in general. Also included are two
interviews she conducted with two of his leading actors: one with
the legendary Zoe Caldwell, who played the even more legendary
Maria Callas in "Master Class," a performance that earned her the
Tony Award for Best Actress in 1996, a role McNally wrote for her,
and another with the great American comic actor, Nathan Lane, whom
McNally considers his foremost interpreter.
The collection moves chronologically, beginning with Howard Stein's
essay on the promise of the plays of the first decade, through to
Cary Mazer's essay on the diva in "Master Class," a play about
Maria Callas' master classes at Juilliard; that essay is preceded
by an essay on those famous master classes by John Ardoin, the
world's foremost authority on Maria Callas.
In between there are two essays debating McNally's position as a
gay playwright, one by John Clum and one by Steven Drukman, both
centering on the firestorm of controversy generated by "Love!
Valour! Compassion!" In addition, there is an essay on "The Lisbon
Traviata "by Sam Abel which discusses the play'smuch-revised
conclusion (to murder or not to murder) and another on McNally's
screenplays of "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, "and "The
Ritz," by Helen Buttel, a film critic. This is followed by Stephen
Watt's examination of McNally as a postmodernist, using "Lips
Together, Teeth" "Apart" as his focus, and Benilde Montgomery's
essay on Indian myth as it informs McNally's play (soon to be a
film) "A Perfect Ganesh"
The volume also includes in its introduction the latest information
on McNally's newest projects, an extensive bibliography, and a
chronology of the playwright's career.
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