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The Theater of Terrence Mcnally
Something about Grace
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Publisher:
2019
Summary
Terrence McNally’s canon of plays, books for musicals and opera libretti possesses such a breadth of subject matter and diversity of dramatic modes that critics have had difficulty assessing his accomplishment. This book is the first critical study to identify the four major stages of McNally’s development in terms of his understanding of how theater helps the modern person trapped in a seemingly profane existence to find a gateway to the transcendent. Drawing upon such diverse religious thinkers as Martin Buber, Mircea Eliade, Ilia Delio and Carter Heyward, Frontain analyzes the evolution of McNally’s understanding of grace, not as a gift bestowed by an all-powerful deity upon a desperate soul, but as the unwarranted—and, thus, all the more unusual—“act of devotion” (McNally’s phrase) that one person performs for another. By seeking to foment community, most importantly at the height of the AIDS pandemic, McNally’s theater itself proves to be a channel of grace. McNally’s greatest success is shown to be the creation of a theater of empathy and compassion in contradistinction to Artaud’s “theater of cruelty” and Albee’s Americanization of the theater of the absurd.
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Bibliographic data
Copyright year
2019
ISBN-Print
978-1-68393-215-4
ISBN-Online
978-1-68393-216-1
Publisher
University Press Copublishing, Lanham
Language
English
Pages
362
Product type
Book Titles
Table of contents
ChapterPages
Contents No access
Preface No access
Introduction:Something about Grace No access Pages 1 - 20
Someone Is Out There:Existential Angst inAnd Things That GoBump in the Night No access Pages 21 - 40
“I Can’t BelieveThis Whole Night”:Redemption by Farce inThe Ritz No access Pages 41 - 72
Long Night’sJourney into Day:Frankie and Johnnyas Sexual Eucharist No access Pages 73 - 104
The Loneliness of theLong-Distance Swimmer:Lips Together, Teeth Apart No access Pages 105 - 144
“Allow, Accept, Be”:McNally’s Engagementwith Hindu Spirituality inA Perfect Ganesh No access Pages 145 - 170
Communal Survivaland the Dance of Deathin Love! Valour! Compassion! No access Pages 171 - 202
“All Men Are Divine”:Religious Mystery andHomosexual Identity inCorpus Christi No access Pages 203 - 218
McNally on the Cross:Dead Man Walking,Crucifixion, and A Man ofNo Importance No access Pages 219 - 242
Discovering theAuthentic Self:Dedication and theSalvific Function of Theater No access Pages 243 - 268
Sing for Your Supper,Sing for Your Salvation:Golden Age, Master Class,and The Lisbon Traviata No access Pages 269 - 302
Conclusion:The Music of ForgivenessThe Visit and Mothers and Sons No access Pages 303 - 324
Appendix:A Calendar ofthe Works of TerrenceMcNally No access Pages 325 - 342
