{"id":3795,"date":"2026-06-28T15:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3795"},"modified":"2026-06-28T15:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T15:06:17","slug":"a-frankie-and-johnny-in-the-clair-de-lune-that-terrence-mcnally-would-admire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3795","title":{"rendered":"A \u2018Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u2019 that Terrence McNally would admire"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The craft of acting obviously demands a willingness to tackle challenges. It\u2019s the sine qua non of the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more How much have airfares risen with high jet fuel costs?<\/a><\/p>\n

But even by that standard, what Cliff Blake is doing in \u201cFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u201d is something special.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blake experienced a stroke a year ago, and his recovery, though steady, has not always been smooth. So just before the start of Thursday night\u2019s performance in the Plaza Black Box Theatre, a Psych Drama Company staffer informed the audience that she would be functioning as a prompter, ready to supply him with lines if needed.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Her help wasn\u2019t needed. Not once. <\/span><\/p>\n

Instead, Blake and costar Wendy Lippe teamed up to deliver a pair of scalding, close-to-the-bone performances in Terrence McNally\u2019s comic drama about a one-night stand between Frankie, a jaded diner waitress, and Johnny, a loquacious short-order cook, that turns into a lot more.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Lippe, who heads Psych Drama Company as producing artistic director, Blake has not required assistance with lines a single time since performances began on June 19, and his doctors have said he is expected to make a full recovery. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even when there are no medical complications involved, \u201cFrankie and Johnny\u201d is not easy to pull off. Yet under the direction of Julia Murney, this tiny fringe company actually does a better job in capturing the play\u2019s essence than the 2019 Broadway production starring Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon did. This \u201cFrankie and Johnny\u201d deserves to be seen by a lot more people than the dozen spectators who were there Thursday night. It runs only through Sunday, and offers the chance not only to savor the memorable work of Murney, Blake, and Lippe, but also to acquaint \u2014 or reacquaint \u2014 yourself with McNally, one of the most consequential playwrights of his generation.<\/span><\/p>\n

He died at 81 of complications from the coronavirus in March 2020, the same month when Broadway \u2014 where many of McNally\u2019s plays had been presented over his six-decade career \u2014 closed its doors for what would become a year-and-a-half-long intermission. His death didn\u2019t seem to get the attention it deserved, perhaps because the theater world, like the rest of the world, was reeling from the onset of the pandemic. But in 2023 Christopher Byrne published an aptly titled biography of McNally, \u201cA Man of Much Importance,\u201d and last month the musical adaptation of \u201cRagtime,\u201d for which McNally wrote the book (i.e., script) won four Tony Awards.<\/span><\/p>\n

McNally\u2019s underlying argument in \u201cFrankie and Johnny\u201d \u2014 that love can heal and it\u2019s never too late \u2014 may sound hackneyed. So might the setup of a passionate but friction-filled encounter between a seemingly mismatched but actually made-for-each-other duo. But they\u2019re given an immediacy and even urgency by the Psych Drama Company production, which is set in the 1980s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more NASA races to save satellite with telescope aboard with daring rescue mission<\/a><\/p>\n

A major problem sits at the center of \u201cFrankie and Johnny\u201d that neither Murney nor any other director is able to fix. After Frankie and Johnny make love, he insists on sticking around even though she demands that he hit the road. \u201cWe gotta connect,\u201d he tells her. \u201cWe just have to.\u201d He keeps trying to convince her that they are soul mates. The fact that they ultimately prove to be just that doesn\u2019t make the Act One scenes where he refuses to leave any less jarring.<\/span><\/p>\n

The play takes place entirely in Frankie\u2019s New York apartment. Designed by Allie Glavey, it exudes the weariness of its inhabitant, who\u2019s in her late 40s. (Johnny is about to turn 60). A glamorous trysting spot it is not, with a small TV set propped on a box on the floor, a thinly populated bookcase, a drooping lampshade, copies of the New York Post stuffed in a metal rack, and a pullout couch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Director Murney is a respected actress whose track record includes a stint on Broadway as Elphaba in \u201cWicked\u201d and Drama Desk nominations for \u201cThe Wild Party\u201d and \u201cFalling.\u201d Her direction of \u201cFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u201d is both precise and free-flowing. She makes sure that at certain times we are intensely aware of how close Frankie and Johnny are, physically and otherwise; and at others, how distant.<\/span><\/p>\n

By Act Two, the chemistry between Blake and Lippe has built to the point that we clearly sense that the stakes for Frankie and Johnny are equally high. <\/span><\/p>\n

When I interviewed McNally in 2012, he said: \u201cI like to surprise myself. I\u2019ve always been attracted to projects where I don\u2019t know how they\u2019re going to turn out. If I ever evince bravery in my life, it tends to be at a keyboard.\u201d I think he\u2019d admire the bravery evinced by Blake and Lippe on the stage in \u201cFrankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

Play by Terrence McNally. Directed by Julia Murney. Presented by The Psych Drama Company. At Plaza Black Box Theatre, Boston Center for the Arts. Through June 28. Adults only (contains nudity). Tickets $55. BostonTheatreScene.com. <\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Boston professional musicians\u2019 union mishandled elections, federal complaint alleges<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Psych Drama Company production runs through Sunday at the BCA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts"],"yoast_head":"\nA \u2018Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u2019 that Terrence McNally would admire - Boston Relocation Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3795\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A \u2018Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u2019 that Terrence McNally would admire - Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Psych Drama Company production runs through Sunday at the BCA.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=3795\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Boston Relocation Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-28T15:06:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c08a982d5d5e7124cea9158df226037e\"},\"headline\":\"A \u2018Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u2019 that Terrence McNally would admire\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-28T15:06:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795\"},\"wordCount\":888,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/f4446fdb0a944cf1d3c26ee31b2fba72.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"Arts\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\\\/?p=3795\",\"name\":\"A \u2018Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune\u2019 that Terrence McNally would admire - 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