Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
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Cititour.com Review
Is finding true love a question of chance? Fate? First names? Ask Johnny, the garrulous short-order cook in Terrence McNally’s thoroughly engaging 1987 dramedy “Frankie + Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” now back for its third major New York staging at the Broadhurst Theatre, and he’ll tell you that it’s all of the above. And no matter how skeptical you may be about any of these reasons being even remotely true, they seem to make perfect sense by the end of McNally’s deeply human two-act play.
Credit for changing our convictions is due not only to the playwright’s persuasive writing, but to the superb acting of Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald, baring all (physically and emotionally) in these demanding roles. Shannon is practically a human tornado Johnny, whose unstinting, hyperverbal relentlessness in convincing the guarded waitress Frankie that their exhilarating “one-night stand” is merely the beginning of a lasting relationship is alternately annoying, impressive, and sometimes terrifying.
Practically stalking Frankie in her Hell’s Kitchen studio (evocatively designed by Riccardo Hernandez) and usually wearing little more than boxer shorts, Johnny is an urban big-game hunter of sorts, so determined to keep his prey in sight at all times that he even gets antsy when Frankie goes to the bathroom. His near-obsessive behavior also leads to one extended sequence where Johnny simply refuses to leave the apartment, despite Frankie’s repeated exhortations, which plays as far scarier (and less believable) in 2019 than it did in 1987. Sadly, the fact that Frankie’s solution is not to call 911, but to get dressed and leave her own apartment (hoping Johnny will be gone by the times she returns) seems rather absurd in our current era, and it almost throws director Arin Arbus’ solid production completely out of balance.
That’s especially true as Arbus treats much of the play’s first act as an almost typical rom-com, focusing on McNally’s sharp banter, jokes about farts and Brooklyn, and nostalgic small talk, all of which are clearly designed to cover up the couple’s bigger feelings (and ever-flowing personal revelations) that will emerge in the second act. While this approach makes the pair feel a bit lightweight at times, it also has the major benefit of letting audiences witness McDonald’s rarely-seen comic timing, which proves to be as expert as her dramatic one. (When, in one troubling moment, she calls Johnny “cruel,” the word reverberates as loudly and deeply as a gunshot.)
In fact, perhaps the only flaw in McDonald’s performance is one not of her own making; she’s an actress of such natural intelligence that it’s not always believable (despite the script’s emphasis on Frankie’s lack of education) that her character has such a limited vocabulary that she wouldn’t know words like “peccadillo.” (We’re also asked to believe Frankie didn’t have the talent to make it as an actress – but we somehow do buy that.)
It’s also possible that audiences who have a pre-conceived notion of what these characters should look like – especially those members who have long been told this play is a story of “ordinary people” – may find the casting troubling: McDonald looks beautiful yet earthy even sans makeup and Shannon, quirkily handsome as ever, seems to have spent some time at the gym. In actuality, the actors fit McNally’s stage directions to a T.
Indeed, why the pair have had trouble connecting (or actually re-connecting) with members of the opposite sex has nothing to do with their looks, and everything to do with their scars, both emotional and physical. And what makes “Frankie + Johnny” still work so well is that the pair’s ability to finally open up to each other, in every sense of the word, is really quite beautiful -- almost as beautiful as the Debussy composition of the title (whose name they never learn) or the perfect moonlit night In Manhattan.
By Brian Scott Lipton
Visit the Site
https://www.frankieandjohnnybroadway.com
Cast
Audra McDonald, Michael Shannon
Open/Close Dates
Opening 5/30/2019
Closing 7/28/2019
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 5/4/2019
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
212-239-6200
Theatre Info
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th Street
New York, NY 10036
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