by Terrence McNally

Shakespeare and Company

with Jennifer Apple and Jamal James

Photos by Maggie Hall/Nile Scott Studios

What is so remarkable about this production is both its extreme delicacy and the fearlessness, courage and extraordinary skill and commitment with which James and Apple inhabit McNally’s lovers. James gives us a Johnny who, rather than a caricature of himself, is fully human. His boastful assertions are only part braggadocio. James’ Johnny is quite self-aware. He has a keen sense of who he wants to be; what he wants in life.

James’ Johnny is touching, tender, loving, charmingly boastful and he has in Apple’s Frankie the ideal counterpart. Bathed in the moonlight that seeps through the window in Frankie's apartment from between the buildings across the alley, Frankie and Johnny’s life journey through the night is extraordinary and undeniably memorable.

This play was first produced in New York in 1987. Here, at Shakespeare & Company, under Nicole Ricciardi’s finely tuned direction, Apple and James give us a “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune” that is fresh, alive, new; bold and fully committed, the way McNally intended. - Jeffrey Borak for The Berkshire Eagle

_______________________________

Thanks to the alchemy of McNally's rich character study, Nicole Ricciardi's direction and Jennifer Apple and Jamal James' deft performances, the couple prove an imperfectly perfect marriage, at least for theatrical entertainment. Ricciardi keeps Frankie's wonderfully crappy apartment (designed to landlord special perfection by John McDermott) from ever feeling stagnant. Furniture is leapt upon with abandonment, and wooden railing fencing in the audience-facing portion of the studio creates a visual boxing ring for Apple and James to spar. With the keen eye of intimacy coordinator Hannah Williams, moments of sex, nudity and tenderness are stripped of sensationalism in favor of something more human, and they are peppered with tiny, everyday affections like making a sandwich. Ricciardi's final stage picture proves both the simplest and most intimate of the two-hour dance.

Frankie and Johnny," save for references to Jack Nicholson and a similarly titled folk song, feels incredibly fresh despite being nearly 40 years old because of its universal messiness, and it works best when McNally lets questions linger in the unknown (this is only the first date, after all). Craving connection is one of the most basic, human instincts. The fact that dating is a weird and wild ritual is as relevant whether you're meeting at your Greek diner workplace or through mutual right swipes on Hinge. Letting another person see you naked requires courage, let alone gauging if a first date could be forever or a fling by interrogating trauma, family goals and past relationships. Under the glow of the full moon, Frankie and Johnny find the courage to at least try. - Katherine Kiessling for Times Union

—————————————————-

Nicole Ricciardi, the director, uses intimacy miraculously from start to finish. She has given her cast the chance to express sexual pleasure, sexual desire, and honest appraisal. There is nothing missing as the play progresses from sexual encounter to romantic hypocrisy. Frankly, I think there wasn’t a person in the audience, the day I saw it, who wasn’t imagining the on-stage experience with one or the other of the characters. I think that would have made McNally very happy. - J. Peter Bergman for The Berkshire Edge

______________________________

The two-hour play (presented with one 15-minute intermission) has earned widespread praise for its raw emotional depth, humor, and tender romance.  This is due in large part to McNally’s brilliant script, a virtual symphony of words and human emotion.   Jennifer Apple, who plays Frankie, “compared it to Shakespeare, in terms of verbosity, noting that the dialogue weaves between lofty verse and late- ‘80s vernacular as it pleases”. 

In this case it is also due to the skill of Director Nicole Riccardi, as well as the quality of the work of the cast and crew under her direction.  Both Jamal James and Jennifer Apple are very comfortable and familiar with their characters, making it that much stronger a performance that draws audience members in deeply. - Marc Savitt for BroadwayWorld 

__________________________________

Director Nicole Ricciardi pulls a sincere relationship from her two actors, while making us feel the energy in this small apartment lit by moonlight. We can imagine the scenes described outside the window of other troubled couples in the building next door.

Music, food, love and trust are the basic elements Frankie and Johnny need to sustain their relationship. McNally likely came to this realization after dealing with devastating losses. Not much has changed in life. McNally’s play, Frankie And Johnny InThe Clair De Lune, Ricciardi’s direction, and strong performances by Apple and James make us realize that we need very little to feel cared for and safe. - Paula Kaplan-Reiss for Berkshire Onstage