Terrence McNally

So what I've done is I've taken this character who is a egomaniacal, who's created his own school of acting and I'm going to put him in a masterclass situation.

And I got a lot of inspiration from Terrence McNally's The Masterclass.

Have you seen it or have you read it? I haven't seen it, I have not.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

His friends could see that this was not a good space for him to be in.

And one of his friends, actually one of a playwright that he was working with, his name was Terence McNally, he told him that he absolutely needed to get a dog and Nathan Lane thought he was absolutely crazy, like how would a dog fit into my lifestyle?

Yes.

And...

For more show information and tickets, go to kaiserhomegrowntheater.org and their Facebook page.

At Pentacle Theatre in Salem, the musical Catch Me If You Can, with book by Terrence McNally and music by Mark Shaman and Scott Whitman, continues its run through September 5th at Pentacle.

A true story that's based on a hit film, Catch Me If You Can, follows an incredibly successful young con man on the run from the FBI.

It's all about chasing your dreams and not getting caught.

And finally, Edward Kleeman is a composer and lyricist.

He attended Columbia University with Terrence McNally, another really wonderful, great American playwright.

Okay, so those are the group of folks that get credited with the authorship, the music, the lyrics, the book of a chorus line.

There's another group of authors for a chorus line that fought for a long time to get credit and to get royalties for their contributions.

Do you think any part, and this answer is still we know, but do you think any part of ragtime is like tragic comedy, like a little bit of the mix of two in a manner?

I think the family, Terrence McNally's book, I think is so timeless and amazing.

But I think there's a lot of comedy in the family scenes.

I think you think about new music, Coe House coming to that house and the grandfather and them being like, who's this Black man coming to our door? I think there is humor.

And then after that, I ended up booking the first national tour of Chicago, and that was a, a dream come true because I was working with some of my entertainment heroes, Ann Reinking included in that.

And then after that, I was able to do Ragtime the Musical, which was the original, you know, version, and that first national tour, and I was working with my superheroes, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who wrote that musical, and Terrence McNally and Frank Galati and, and an incredible cast.

So I, I've ha- I've had many, many moments.

Then I've also written my own piece, my own musical called Sammy and Me, and being able to share that with the world has been an incredible opportunity and something that is, you know, just like I said before, a huge heart burst because you're sharing your own words with people and communicating your thoughts and your desires and your fears and all of that with, with an audience that you don't know, and, and they're receiving that story.

For show information and tickets, go to KaiserHomegrownTheater.org and their Facebook page.

At Pinnacle Theater in Salem, the musical Catch Me If You Can, with book by Terrence McNally and music by Mark Shaman and Scott Whitman, continues its run through September 5th at Pinnacle.

A true story that's based on a hit film, Catch Me If You Can, follows an incredibly successful young con man on the run from the FBI.

It's all about chasing your dreams and not getting caught.