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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune Also see Richard's reviews of The Heidi Chronicles and Rent
Two actors known lately for very serious onstage drama shine even brighter in the romantic comedy Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Stray Dog Theatre. Terrence McNally's modern story about love in the moonlight enjoys a deeply personal, and highly detailed production under the watchful eye of director Gary F. Bell. Mara Bollini plays Frankie, a hard-edged waitress in an unfashionable restaurant, and Stephen Peirick, a Shakespeare-quoting cook there. We first hear them in the throes of passion in her well-lived-in apartment in Brooklyn. But then the lights come up, and the next two and a half-hours (with intermission) prove to be the real test, over whether they can consummate all the other parts of a relationship. It's rich in personal discovery and grown-up comedy. But, up to the end, the outcome is never guaranteed. Mr. Peirick crackles with awesome, youthful comic intensity as Johnny, and Ms. Bollini stands up against each of his relentless overtures in a New Yorker's defensive crouch, even as the granite wall around her soul begins to crumble. The play opened Off-Broadway in 1987 at the Manhattan Theatre Club with two brief runs, before enjoying a fifteen-month engagement at the Westside Theatre. It's all lion and lion tamer, or raging bull and rodeo clown, from one great moment to the next. And of course we are never really masters of our own comedy or tragedy. But these two lovers exchange their theatrical masks back and forth with great facility. No sooner is one chronological age given by either character than that number is hastily amended two or three times by the same person. Those alterations, like psychological costume changes, move them around in the game of life, as prospective lovers or parents or life-mates, and help to churn the waters of life like a drowning victim and her rescuer, one of them pushing the other away again and again. Mr. Peirick is dazzlingly earnest and eager and impetuous, and Ms. Bollini is so dogged by both him and her character's own troubled past that a third character (the relationship) is fanned into a fierce and contrary flame. Early on, her attempts to shoo him out the door become more blatant. Then she feels trapped, and heartfelt reflections arise on a lifetime of betrayals as they talk through the night. It's almost certainly enriched by the two actors' recent work together in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (February 2023, also directed by Mr. Bell). And the constant synchronicity of their temperaments, rising and falling, becomes magical here. Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune runs through June 21, 2025, at Stray Dog Theatre, Tower Grove Abby, 2336 Tennessee Avenue, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.straydogtheatre.org. Cast: Production Staff: |
