Terrence McNally Quotes (7 Quotes)


    My first play was written when I was 23, and I'm 66 now, so that's 43 years of doing this where I sort of know where everything is. It doesn't mean I do everything right, but I know where everything is. Here, I'm very much a visitor. New York is my turf and I'm used to working with my actors.

    The New York theater community is a place I know my way around in with some certainty,

    This play was written for these 11 actors just as 'Master Class' was written for Zoe Caldwell, or 'Frankie and Johnny' was written for Kathy Bates,

    Chita Rivera is our strongest link to the Golden Age of the American musical, ... She worked with all the great choreographers and composers and was present for the creation of such seminal masterpieces.

    It was a time of oppression and you spoke up -- and we won. Without you, I wouldn't be standing up here either.


    McNally's inspiration for the play came from the Manhattan Theatre Club who asked the playwright for a new work to mark the re-opening of the Biltmore Theatre, which had been derelict for 16 years. It was so terrible a place, ... that people shuddered as they passed it. It's a miracle that it was left standing.

    I don't think I've ever written anything even remotely naturalistic. The closest probably would be seen as 'Frankie and Johnny,' and that's only 'cause they eat a sandwich and make an omelet in act two. But it's a romantic fairy tale, and I'm very aware of that. I don't think it helps the actors in my plays to lose themselves in the reality of talking to another person. A good McNally actor always knows he's in a play with an audience.


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