In conjunction with the documentary being available, Wednesday, July 1st there will be an online discussion of McNally and his work. The participants are Rita Moreno (who won a Tony Award for her performance on McNally’s The Ritz); Billy Porter (Pose and Tony Award winner for Kinky Boots), Jeff Kaufman (the writer/director/producer of Every Act of Life) and the moderator will be the Executive Director of the Independent Documentary Association, Simon Kilmurry.

This event takes place at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT. You need to RSVP to watch the event.

One week later a second online event will take place furthering the discussion of McNally. This time Kaufman will be joined by Tyne Daly (Mothers and Sons; Master Class), Chita Rivera (The Visit; The Kiss of the Spider Woman) and Tony-Nominated Producer Tom Kirdahy (who was also McNally’s husband). Moderating this event will be David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.

This event takes place July 8th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT and also requires a reservation.

McNally gave us some great plays and he wrote the book for some legendary musicals. His plays include Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class. The musicals include The Rink, The Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, The Full Monty and most recently Anastasia.

The documentary is damn good. Definitely worth your time whether you plan to watch these conversations or not. But definitely essential viewing if you do plan to watch one, or both, of them.

Photo of Terrence McNally from Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life (Courtesy David Magdael and Associates)

The post Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life Events appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This is a production with a lot of statistics going for it. First it is the 25th production of a McNally play. Amongst McNally’s other plays and/or books of musicals are Kiss of the Spider Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class and Ragtime (he won Tony Awards for all four shows.)

The last two titles are significant in that they both featured Audra McDonald. Frankie and Johnny… marks McDonald’s 12th Broadway show. Amongst the shows she’s appeared in are Secret Garden, Henry IV  and Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. I mention those three shows because they are the only ones for which she was not nominated for a Tony Award. Amongst her 8 nominations she has 6 wins – more than any other actress. Her wins came in all four possible categories: Lead Actress in a Play, Lead Actress in a Musical, Featured Actress in a Play and Featured Actress in a Musical

This is Michael Shannon’s third Broadway show. He was Tony nominated for his performance in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night opposite Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange.

Arin Arbus makes her directorial debut with Frankie & Johnny.. She is a resident artist at Theatre for a New Audience. She counts Shakespeare, opera and plays both old and new amongst her credits.

Frankie & Johnny had its premiere 32 years ago at Manhattan Theatre Club. The cast was Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham. A Broadway production did not happen until 2002 when Eddie Falco and Stanley Tucci. That production was also at the Broadhurst Theatre. It was made into a film in 1991 starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.

This is a limited production scheduled to run through July 28th. Official opening night is May 30th (making it ineligible for this year’s Tony Awards – in case you were wondering.)

For tickets go here.

Of interest:  A documentary about McNally called Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life will air as part of the American Masters series on PBS. It is scheduled to run June 14th

Main image: Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune. (Photo by Deen van Meer)

Update:  This post has been updated to include the revised closing date of July 28th.

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