FRANKIE & JOHNNY Reviews- Page 2

[BroadwayBen]

Posted: 6/2/19 at 12:25pm

I have to wonder if the timing of this show is its biggest obstacle.   There's so much hype and energy around all the Tony nominated shows, and its now summer, I don't know how they draw attention to this, even with the nice reviews.   They're sort of a "victim' of everyone else's success.  Who knew there would be so many successful plays this season?  

[goldenboy]

Posted: 6/2/19 at 11:50pm

Saw it tonight. It was disappointing despite every box being checked. Good actors. Check. Good director. Check. Good set. Check.  Good play. Check What went wrong?

The casting. Audra is a great talent but she cannot do everything in spite of what some people think. She as a person has it too much together to ever be believable as a downtrodden loser who has given up on love thus we don't care about her character or the relationship. And the play suffers. And so does the audience.

Don't get me wrong. Audra gives it her all. But it's Audra up there. Please make her sing. When she hummed a few bars from Brigadoon the play came to life for a moment.   Audra  just has essence that is wrong for this part. Michael Shannon does better as the loser but the chemistry between them is missing. We don't root for her or this pair. They both need to losers you care for.  If anything it as fault it is the casting.

[Miles2Go2]

Posted: 6/3/19 at 12:06am

goldenboy said: "Audra is a great talent but she cannot do everything in spite of what some people think. She as a person has it too much together to ever be believable as a downtrodden loser who has given up on love thus we don't care about her character or the relationship."

I haven’t seen this and it’ll close before I make it back to NYC, but this description of Frankie isn’t that much different than Bess in Porgy and Bess, which I thought she was exquisite in  

 

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 6/3/19 at 1:08am

I know everyone is entitled to their opinions but I’m a take annoyed with people criticizing Audra’s performance here. I have never seen her live before but am (obviously) a fan of her from television, film and different cast recordings and she didn’t disappoint me in the slightest. I understand being bummed she is in a play and you want to hear her sing, but if she is as strong as an actress as people say she is, it shouldn’t matter if she is just acting or singing, right? Seeing her perform live was more than enough for me.

Slight spoilers...

I also don’t get the criticizing of Johnny’s character, something I was actually worried about going in. These are two broken people who have found each other and I took Frankie or being terrified of Johnny, but not physically like some, but emotionally. She is so emotionally closed off from the world, she doesn’t want to give Johnny the time of day besides some sex and small talk. He is forcing talking on her and thus their relationship blossoms. Was he annoying? Yeah, but Frankie also fed into it, until arguably the scene she was going to leave her apartment but again, I just read that entire scene of her being afraid to give herself to Johnny emotionally.