FRANKIE AND JOHNNY closes July 28th — Page 2

52889j said: "I do wonder if this could've been a smash at The New Group/NYTW/The Public/Signature/Second Stage, etc. built buzz, and then transferred for a limited run in the more conventional fall season and done okay."

To be fair, most people's speculation tends to chart a better path than reality on here...

Damn shame. Audra and Shannon are terrific, and the play is one of Terrence's best. Hopefully the last few weeks will bring in bigger crowds.

So that makes them greedy?

rg7759 said: "Yes i don't think it's that controversial to say that wanting something now versus 3 weeks from now, regardless of the consequences, is the definition of greed"

Sounds more like impatience.

I'm probably going to be a bit of a contrarian here. I don't think timing is the issue unless by timing you mean this year. I thought this was a play whose time had come and gone, at least as presented in this revival. After seeing that I thought that was an amazingly uncomfortable piece of theate, and not in a good way, partially because I know many of my friends would be triggered by this. I've confirmed this with the only female friend of mine who's seen it.

Telling a guy to leave and not having him leave is not romantic in 2019, and frankly wasn't really when this play came out. This was a really well acted and directed period piece that did nothing to address the fundamental creepiness of the character. In a year where Oklahoma found a way to be modern with a character (admittedly not the main love interest) who is, in the current vernacular, an incel, I thought this (and last year's Carousel) could have done better jobs of calling out their character's behavior somehow.

Anyway, when asked about it but friends who know I saw it, I've given that opinion. Most haven't bothered.

Updated On: 7/9/19 at 02:04 PM

rg7759 said: "What's most troubling is this is the 4th fairly star studded limited run straight play this year that couldn't stumble past an already short run to the finish line. Makes you wonder how long this can go on"

It is interesting, BUT.

-- King Lear did much better in its earlier weeks, then was crucified by critics

-- I know about 10 people who saw Gary. Nine of them, including me, disliked - hated it. Word of mouth was bad for a show that should have opened in a 250 seat off-Broadway house

-- Frankie and Johhny did not warrant revival. It is an okay, probably dated, play, but not up there with plays that usually get revived as often. A lot of people opined on this board that it opened at the wrong time, a sentiment with which I agree, but I am sure that was based MacDonald's availability; but people just didn't want to see it.

I actually saw all three shows. Loved King Lear, flaws and all, probably because I waist the second row, which was really good for that production. I did not hate Gary, but I sat there after 10 minutes thinking 'and I could have seen X instead of this. I liked Frankie, which I had never seen before, but didn't love it. Shannon's approach to the role of Johnnie made me think that Frankie was going to regret this night for the rest of her life, if the relationship developed further.

Updated On: 7/9/19 at 02:18 PM

rg7759 said: "Yes i don't think it's that controversial to say that wanting something now versus 3 weeks from now, regardless of the consequences, is the definition of greed"

Take the "L" and move on. You're not convincing anyone with your increasingly silly comments.

I saw it last night, the first performance after the closing notice. Bought a mezz ticket. It was 90% empty. A very depressing sight. I moved up to the second row center, so my view was fantastic.

I wasn’t familiar with the play, and I enjoyed it, I think mostly due to the fantastic performances by McDonald and Shannon.

But the saddest part of the night was during the curtain call. With the knowledge of the closing, Audra looked up into an empty mezzanine and I saw so much sadness and hurt in her eyes. It actually made me tear up a bit.


Shame this couldn’t find an audience, the acting was superb.

---

I'm sure Audra understands the reality of shows sometimes not finding and audience. This is just a small episode before her next huge success.

bear88 said: "The play never had an audience to lose, but I did find it dated and thought the Johnny character was creepy instead of an intense romantic. My college-age daughter didn't like it at all. My wife didn't care for it either.

The performances were quite good, but yeah, there was no reason to root for that relationship to succeed."

Completely agree. This was the major problem for me with this production. It's super dated. Add that to opening right at the beginning of the 2019 season, during summer, with plenty of starry, glitzy, award-winning musicals open--this was never going to end well.