Reviews from Elsewhere: Cici Barone on Frankie and Johnnie in the Claire de Lune, Frogdog Productions at the City Theatre, February 1 - 16, 2013

Published February 12 at www.austinentertainmentweekly.com:

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune

by Terrence McNally

Frogdog Productions at the City Theatre, February 1 - 16

reviewed by CiCi Barone

 

In its inaugural production, Frogdog Productions did an admirable job with a script of which I cannot honestly say I am a fan. As director Ronni D. Prior put it, “It’s a love story without all the romance stuff getting in the way.” There were moments of brilliance and a few missteps but all in all I’d say the two person cast did a decent job.

The plot of the play is relatively simple, though the author throws it around at random much like the film, “Lost in Translation.” Unless you had a flow chart, at times the conversation was hard to follow. Frankie is a waitress and Johnny is the short order chef at the same restaurant. The play follows the 24 hours following their first date, and Johnny’s desperate attempts to convince Frankie that they are soul mates and this is the only instant in their lives in which they have to truly connect and decide that they will be together.

As patrons walk into the theatre, you are immediately struck by a very yellow set, designed by director Ronni Prior and producer/female lead Summer Lynn Bryant, which is obviously a very small apartment. It’s a bit cluttered as though its inhabitant has lived there for quite a long time. Clothes are strewn all about the floor and a bright blue bra is meretriciously hanging from a shelf, leading one to suspect certain adult activities have just taken place.

Read more at www.austinentertainmentweekly.com. . . .

Steel Magnolias, Sam Bass Community Theatre, Round Rock, January 27 - February 19

At one point in Robert Harling's mischievous script for Steel Magnolias, set in Truvy's beauty shop in Chinquapin, Louisiana, tidily turned out Clairee Beltcher responds when the newly hired perm-and-trim assistant Annelle worries that one of the husbands might intrude into that women's world. "Oh, those men wouldn't ever come in here," she says. "They're afraid that we might be running around nekkid or something."

Harling's 1987 play and the 1989 film of succeed exactly because of that. These simple, charming women are sweet and frank with one another, emotionally naked and not the least ashamed of it.

Steel Magnolias is a story with a powerful attraction, one that transcends the merely "chick flic" aspect of it. It's a story of friendship and binding over the long term. No wonder that this play is so frequently produced in community theatre. I first saw it at Way Off Broadway Community Players in Leander in January 2009, then again a few months later at the Trinity Street Players of First Baptist Church. I was out of town when the City Theatre did it this past December. Sam Bass has this appealing production running until February 19, the Renaissance Guild in San Antonio stages an African-American edition for three weekends starting on Friday, February 4, and the Hill Country Community Theatre near Marble Falls holds auditions late this month for an April production.

It's popular with audiences because they know the story and they can't resist the story of the fragile young Shelby surrounded by those funny and affectionate older women. Almost everyone loves a good cry -- 'cepting maybe the caricatured Louisiana men who never look inside the beauty shop.

Read more at AustinLiveTheatre.com . . . .