Offbeat love story staged at Aux Dog
Short order cook Johnny falls head over heels in love with the time-worn and wary waitress Frankie.
A pas de deux of panic and passion, Terrence Mc Na ll y’ s“Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” opens at the Aux Dog Theatre on Friday, June 22.
The original play is more romantic than the 1991 movie, director Kristine Holtvedt said. Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham starred as the leads, as opposed to the Hollywood glamour of Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino in the film.
“I’ve read the reviews saying it’s about two losers,” Holtvedt said. “But I think it’s about two people in their 40s who see this as their last chance for love and they grab it.”
The pair have been eyeing each other in the diner for six weeks before ex-con Johnny gets the nerve to ask Frankie out. Of course, she says no.
He proposes on their first date. She thinks it’s a one-night-stand; he thinks he’s found the love of his life. She wonders if she’s brought home a maniac.
“She understandably is taken aback,” Holtvedt said.
Eventually they fathom each other’s fears.
He’s recovering from a divorce he didn’t want, while she armors herself in response to an abusive relationship.
“They keep sparring and he is very charming and persistent,” Holtvedt said. “They connect on a very deep level. They’re orphans. Both of their mothers left them at the age of 7.”
McNally carved his play from the universal fear that human connection may be an impossible dream.