Tony, Grammy, and Emmy winner Audra McDonald and two-time Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon will return to Broadway this spring in a revival of Terrence McNally’s two-hander Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.
Obie winner Arin Arbus (The Skin of Our Teeth) will direct the production, in celebration of four-time Tony Award-winning writer McNally’s upcoming 80th birthday (November 3).
The production will play a 16-week Broadway engagement at a Shubert theatre to be announced. Performances will begin in May.
In Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a waitress and a short-order cook's first date turns into a one-night stand and something more. The play debuted Off-Broadway in 1987 in a production directed by Paul Benedict starring Kathy Bates and Kenneth Welsh, and was seen on Broadway in 2002 starring Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci. Joe Mantello directed.
McDonald is the winner of a record-breaking six Tony Awards, two Grammy Awards, and an Emmy Award. In addition to her Tony-winning performances in Carousel, Master Class, Ragtime, A Raisin in the Sun, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, she has appeared on Broadway in The Secret Garden, Marie Christine, Henry IV, 110 in the Shade, and Shuffle Along, Or, The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed.
Shannon was last seen on Broadway in the 2016 revival of Long Day's Journey Into Night. He is a two-time Oscar nominee for his performances in the films Nocturnal Animals and Revolutionary Road. He was recently seen in the films The Shape of Water, Midnight Special, and Loving, among others.
The creative team for Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune will include Riccardo Hernandez (sets), Emily Rebholz (costumes), Natasha Katz (lighting), Nevin Steinberg (sound), J. Jared Janas (hair, wig, and makeup), Laurie Goldfeder (production stage manager), and 101 Productions, Ltd. (general manager). Hunter Arnold, Debbie Bisno, and Tom Kirdahy are producing.
Performance schedule, on-sale and ticket information will be forthcoming. Visit Frankieandjohnnybroadway.com.
