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| Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times |
McNally died Tuesday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Florida, according to representative Matt Polk. He battled lung cancer since the late 1990s, and the disease cost him portions of both lungs. He had lived with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ever since.
Mr. McNally’s Tony Awards attest to his versatility. Two were for books for musicals, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (1993) and “Ragtime” (1998), and two were for plays, and vastly different ones: “Love! Valor! Compassion!” (1995), about gay men who share a vacation house, and “Master Class” (1996), in which the opera diva Maria Callas reflects on her career.
And those prize winners were only a small part of his oeuvre. With 36 plays to his credit, as well as the books for 10 musicals, the librettos for four operas and a handful of screenplays for film and television, Mr. McNally was a remarkably prolific and consistent dramatist.
On Twitter, stars including Jason Alexander and Lin-Manuel Miranda paid tribute to McNally, who received a lifetime achievement Tony Award last year.
"His work was vital, intense, hysterical and rare," wrote Alexander, who starred in the 1997 film adaptation of "Love! Valour! Compassion!" "My hope is that he will inspire writers for years to come."
"Heartbroken over the loss of Terrence McNally, a giant in our world, who straddled plays and musicals deftly," Miranda wrote. "Grateful for his staggering body of work and his unfailing kindness."
McNally was an openly gay writer who wrote about homophobia, love and AIDS. He is survived by his husband, theater producer Tom Kirdahy.
McNally is one of the first noteworthy figures in entertainment to die from coronavirus (COVID-19), which has ravaged the world with more than 380,000 confirmed cases globally. In the past two weeks, celebrities including Idris Elba, Daniel Dae Kim, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, and Colton Underwood have all announced that they tested positive for the virus.
Mr. McNally, who died of coronavirus complications, introduced audiences to characters and situations that most mainstream theater had previously shunted into comic asides.
