by Kinza Waheed
You are not going to want to miss Terrance McNally’s Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at Beaumont Community Players. The BCP rendition is directed by John Manfredi and starring Heather Rushing as Frankie and Jody Reho as Johnny. The play depicts a first date night that ends up with a hook up between Johnny, a short order cook, and Frankie, a waitress. The play takes place in a one room apartment in Manhattan where Frankie and Jonny push and pull between the experience of being a one-night stand or true love. The play highlights love in a very honest, relatable, and vulnerable way that viewers will connect with.
I reached out to Director John for some information on why BCP will be showing Frankie and Johnny and his perspective.
“The play was selected when Robert McNally the brother of the playwright Terrance McNally walked into my office and asked if I’d be interested in producing one of his brother’s plays. I was thrilled having directed many of his works including Frankie and Johnny, Master Class, and Love! Valour! Compassion!. We decided to go with Frankie and Johnny because of the name recognition and the universal themes of the play. This is a story of two damaged people looking for a last chance at love. Terrance McNally wrote the play after losing a long-time companion. Someone told him “he’d had his last cookie” and he didn’t accept that and wrote Frankie and Johnny. What our audiences should expect are some wonderfully honest performances in a moving story of the connection of two souls searching for love. It’s gritty and real, sometimes vulgar, often funny but never phony. It has very strong language, and adult situations including some partial nudity. The nudity always gets the ‘headline’ but we do it so tastefully it’s just part of the fabric of the play. If people are offended by it, they had the issue before they walked in the door; nothing our audiences will see is the least bit offensive. The two actors we have tapped for this production have an amazing chemistry and already in just a few weeks of rehearsal I can tell are about to bring something very special to our stage – I cannot wait for audiences to see them.”