Lonely hearts connect in ‘Frankie and Johnny’
Sex is easy. Intimacy is harder.
So playwright Terrence McNally suggests in “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” now receiving a terrific staging in a just-opened Milwaukee Chamber Theatre production directed by Mary MacDonald Kerr.
Even before the lights come up on coworkers Frankie (Marcella Kearns) and Johnny (Todd Denning) — he’s slinging hash in the kitchen and she’s serving it up as a waitress — the rising crescendo of ecstasy on stage makes clear that this first date features epic sex. But what happens next, after all the shouting?
With Johnny in the room, it won’t be the sound of silence. His motormouth runs a mile a minute as he tries to persuade Frankie that they could have more together than a one-night stand.
Minutes after lovemaking, he tells Frankie that watching her brush her hair rivals seeing the Grand Canyon — never mind that both members of this tandem are middle-aged and, as Johnny later puts it, “no great beauties, either one.” Johnny nevertheless insists that Frankie radiates an inner glow. Soon he’s telling her he loves her.
Frankie responds by telling him to spend the night elsewhere. Kearns conveys why, in one of the best and surely the bravest of the many excellent performances I’ve seen her give, during the 12 years I’ve been watching her on stage.
For all her snark and tough talk, Frankie is wary because she’s scared, of men and especially of life; both have continually told her she doesn’t have the talent or the looks, the smarts or the charm. She wants to be a teacher. But life has taught her that she’s a failure.
Kearns captures the consequent despair and self-loathing, of a woman who can’t love another because she hates herself. But she’s most heartbreaking in hiding from Johnny and even herself how badly she wants to believe in the fairy tale he’s spinning, as he begs her to let him stay.
Denning — also excellent — suggests a man who isn’t quite sure he believes his own story.
For all of Johnny’s ostensible charm and goofy humor, Denning makes clear that he’s as desperate and scared as Frankie. He talks to fill the void he sees all around him, and Denning channels the terror of what that means, for a man who tells Frankie they’re running out of chances.
So are we all; every McNally play is acutely aware that time only runs one way. This is among his best in reminding us that it’s nevertheless never too late to take a chance on life. Don’t miss your chance to watch two actors at the top of their game, as characters searching for the courage we all need to seize the day and grab hold of each other.
“Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” continues through Oct. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, visit milwaukee chambertheatre.com. Read more about this production at TapMilwaukee.com.