Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune at the Exit Theatre in San Francisco.
A strong choice for a small theater space--one set (Frankie's bedroom) and two characters plus a radio voice. Director Michael Haven stages the two acts of this "search for connection against a world of loss and longing" with tight, spare movement--no wasted motion, no attempt to "open" the space or make the action or characters appear larger than they are. True to Terrence McNally's script, it leaves the exchanges between the would-be lovers, as they strive to find a way to make their one night stand into something more, the single focus.
At times I closed my eyes and let the voices do the work. Ben Ortega as the emotional Johnny and Cheryl Smith as the stolid Frankie had the edgy swirling confrontations just right. Their shifts to more intimate, easier interchanges were, perhaps, not as smooth, but overall the performances were vibrant and engaging making this production of a solid play into a exciting evening of theater.
Rich Yurman
