PicksInSix Review - Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune - Dunes Summer Theatre
‘Frankie and Johnny’: After The Lovin!
PicksInSix® Review | Ed Tracy
The Dunes Summer Theatre’s 75th Anniversary Season continues through July 12 with a fine production of Terrence McNally’s “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” It’s a two-hander, of sorts, where all four hands—and a lot more—are working overtime at the top in a small 1980s New York City tenement. The two lovers, Frankie (Kat Evans) and Johnny (Mark Mendelson) are in Frankie’s bed consummating their passionate and rigorous lovemaking. All we know at first is what we hear and while there is some shadowy thrashing about in the dark, it’s obvious where these two have been and where they are going.
It may make you wonder, then, if this is how things begin, where do we go from here? That is, of course, precisely the point of McNally’s work. It’s not the passion of the moment—although there are several of those—but rather, what could possibly come next. In truth, these two know very little about each other. She is a waitress and he a short-order cook. They both talk around their idiosyncrasies and, for that matter, points of fact. The first big one is age, which even as they both admit to a middle age number, you are never quite sure.
Then there are the simple things that trouble and excite us: loneliness, depression, obsession, food, humor, uncertainty and guilt. It seems that McNally would like us to believe that even if we are doing something that brings us pleasure, we should carry a healthy amount of guilt along so that we can remain grounded in our regular world.
Frankie is tightly wound in this regard. She wants to resist Johnny’s advances, waffling between asking him to leave and to cook her a western omelet since instead of a smoke, Frankie craves food after sex. Johnny is the more free-spirited of the two, although he has a bit of an ominous streak in him that hits Frankie hard more than once. He wears his heart on his sleeve and alternates between pressure for more of the same from Frankie and humor as a tool to pacify her insecurity and mood swings.
The play originally debuted at the height of the AIDS crisis and much has been written about McNally’s intention to explore what happens when a couple is faced with navigating the next level of a relationship after a one-night stand. The dialogue is non-stop through two-acts and director Morgan McCabe draws solid performances from both Evans and Mendelson who find the subtle nuances in the script and capitalize on much of the humor McNally intended, even though you might not consider this a comedy. How this all plays out is really at the core of the show. It is a big lift and fine work by these two actors (and the radio announcer played by Michael Nowak) in building a relationship that may well have a chance of surviving the night.
Frankie’s urban apartment is another splendid set design by Michael Lasswell with a working stovetop and a true nod to late 80s New York with a city skyline in the distance. With adult themes and language throughout, this may be more of a date night than a family outing, but McCabe and intimacy director Cheis Morgan balance the subject matter and provocative elements with discretion. It is an ambitious production for the Dunes that plays well in the cozy confines of the theater on Shady Oak Drive in Michigan City.
PHOTO|Tony Martin
Dunes Summer Theatre
presents
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune
288 Shady Oak Drive
Michigan City, IN
through July 12
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