Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune

B

This limited-run Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s 1987 romantic dramedy has been cast with two fine actors with big box office appeal, Audra McDonald (Master Class, Carousel, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill) as Frankie and Michael Shannon (Killer Joe, Bug, Long Day’s Journey into Night) as Johnny. To see them together as a 40-something waitress and short-order cook on a memorable first date is an opportunity that is hard to resist. The setting is Frankie’s one-room Hell’s Kitchen apartment and the time is the 1980’s. As the play opens, they are in the final throes of vigorous sex. What Frankie regards as just an enjoyable toss in the hay is regarded by Johnny as the start of a serious romance. During most of the first act, Johnny very persistently tries to win Frankie over. Late in the act, he calls the music station they are listening to and asks the host to play the most romantic piece ever written. They are gazing at the full moon and listening to the titular piece as the first act ends. Part of me wishes that McNally (Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class) had ended the play there. The second act is repetitious and unruly and stretches the evening out too far. While I have unlimited admiration for Audra McDonald, her glamour and melodious voice work against her playing the beat-down Frankie. Michael Shannon is very much in his element. I thought they captured the play’s humor better than its pathos. I did not like the gimmicky set by Richard Hernandez (Indecent, The Gin Game) in which the backdrop is the exterior of the apartment building rather than the interior walls of Frankie’s apartment. The costumes by Emily Rebholz (Indecent, Dear Evan Hansen) do not grab attention. Arin Arbus’s (The Winter’s Tale, The Skin of Our Teeth) direction is a bit sluggish. The play would benefit from a 15-minute trim. I was lucky enough to have seen the 2002 revival with Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci. For me, that version remains the gold standard. Those who have not seen the play before will probably enjoy this production unless they are uncomfortable with nudity and rough language. Running time: two hours 20 minutes including intermission.

Long Day’s Journey into Night **

When a Pulitzer and Tony winning play regarded by many as a masterpiece is revived with a stellar cast, it is cause for keen anticipation. And so I was eagerly awaiting Roundabout Theatre’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical play starring Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon and John Gallagher Jr. as the members of the Tyrone family. O’Neill forbade publication until 25 years after his death, but his widow overrode his wishes and published the play in 1956, only three years after he died. James Tyrone (Byrne) is a miserly 65-year-old actor who sold out by repeating the same lucrative role for too many years. James Jr. (Shannon) is the 33-year-old elder son, a ne’er-do-well who has managed to have a third-rate acting career trading on his father’s name. Edmund (Gallagher), ten years younger, has always been frail and sickly. A would-be writer, he is O’Neill’s stand-in. All three Tyrone men are devoted to the bottle. Finally there is wife and mother Mary (Lange), a faded beauty who became addicted to morphine after Edmund’s birth and has just returned from yet another sanitorium stay. Over four acts stretching from morning to midnight on a day in August 1912, we watch this ultimate dysfunctional family lacerate themselves and each other, expressing affection, hatred, exasperation, blame, sympathy and denial. Brevity and subtlety are not among O’Neill’s strengths. While I remember being tremendously moved by the 1962 film version with Katharine Hepburn, Ralph Richardson, Jason Robards Jr. and Dean Stockwell, today I found myself restless and impatient. When intermission arrived at the 1 1/2 hour mark, I realized with dread that there were still two hours to go afterwards. The fourth and final act seemed endless. I have been trying to figure out why it didn’t work for me this time. The first problem for me was that Shannon is so much bigger than Byrne that he literally and figuratively overshadows him. In a restrained performance, Byrne is not convincing as a former matinee idol. Lange’s Mary, on the other hand, is much too theatrical for my taste. Shannon has so much presence that he dominates any scene he is in. Gallagher’s Edmund is adequate but unmemorable. Colby Minifie is fine as Cathleen, the maid. The effective set design by Tom Pye features a low ceiling that ominously hangs over the family. Jane Greenwood’s costumes are fine, especially Mary’s dresses in pale colors that suggest her fading away. Jonathan Kent’s direction does not produce a unity of approach from the actors. If you have never seen the play and have the patience to sit for almost four hours, see it. If you have fond memories of an earlier production, treasure them and sit this one out. Running time: 3 hours 45 minutes including intermission.

Grace ***

(Please click on the title to see the full review.)
If you want to see four fine actors in a satisfyingly complex play, don't wait too long to get a ticket for this limited run comedy/drama by Craig Wright, now in previews at the Cort Theatre. Steve and Sara (Paul Rudd and Kate Arrington) have recently moved to central Florida to open the first of a projected chain of biblically-themed hotels. Sam (Michael Shannon), their neighbor in the adjacent condo, is recovering from an auto accident that left him disfigured and his fiancée dead. Karl (Ed Asner), the crusty German immigrant who is the exterminator for the condo complex, has a dark episode in his past. Steve can't resist the opportunity to deliver a sales pitch, whether it is for God or for real estate. Stay-at-home housewife Sara is lonely and neglected. The play starts with a bang and, after a freeze frame, flashes back to describe how events reached this point. The ties between the occupants of the two apartments are intensified by Beowulf Boritt's clever, elegantly simple set that uses the same space to represent both condos simultaneously. (I now forgive him for the set that overpowers "If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet.") Dexter Bullard's direction is excellent. At times I thought the play had more style than substance, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment. Running time: 1 hour, 40 minutes without intermission.

Mistakes Were Made **

Michael Shannon seems to thrive at the Barrow Street Theatre. First in "Bug," then in "Our Town," and now in Craig Wright's new comedy, Shannon grabs your attention and doesn't let go. "Mistakes Were Made" is the title of a play about the French Revolution by a new playwright that small-time producer Felix Artifex (Shannon) is trying to bring to New York. During the play's 90-minutes, his plans spectacularly unravel in a series of phone calls from a Hollywood star who would like the play rewritten for him, the unwilling playwright, his agent, the drivers of a 10-truck convoy of sheep in Iraq (don't ask!) and various other nemeses who lead Felix to a meltdown. Except for messages from Felix's secretary (Mierka Girten) and a few one-way conversations with his overfed pet fish (controlled by puppeteer Sam Deutsch), Felix's half of the phone calls is the whole play. The fish is apt because making fun of show biz types is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. A brief effort near the end to supply Felix with a back story that would make his behavior more comprehensible mostly misfires. The humor wore thin for me, but Shannon's performance was dazzling. Dexter Bullard directed.