Angel Desai and Darren Pettie

Allen stays true to the text by setting this authentic New York City play in 1987 within Frankie's one room (although it seems larger) apartment in the West 50s. Before anything is said, the audience listens as Frankie (Angel Desai) and Johnny (Darren Pettie) make love, each actor vocalizing extensively as they near climax. The action, through the darkness, continues and continues and continues until Frankie, at last, says, "God, I wish I still smoked. Life used to be so much more fun."

Desai's Frankie is powerful and independent. Frankie barely endured one most difficult and physically debilitating relationship with a man a number of years back and she cannot have children. A waitress in a nearby restaurant where Johnny cooks, she can barely listen as Johnny tells her how beautiful she is—since she disagrees and goes into detail. She is skeptical if not cynical about their prospects as a couple. When she does allow herself to become vulnerable, it is with trepidation.

Johnny, a swift talker, had a difficult childhood and a marriage which did not work. He attempted to visit his two children where they now live with his former wife and her current husband in Maine. Johnny could not get out of his car to greet the kids as they ran to him with great anticipation. He, like Frankie, is emotionally wounded. He can quote Shakespeare and, at her insistence, chops peppers in preparation of making her a western omelette since she insists, at one moment, that this is what she needs. She will settle for nothing less and if he will not prepare it, she will order in. Appealing yet insecure and uncertain, Pettie invests himself in this character.

Angel Desai is on stage for significant stretches naked from the waist up and Darren Pettie is fully nude during sequences. The actors are natural, persuasive, fervent—and oh so genuine. These performers are each attractive yet not smashingly beautiful. They are middle-aged and they bring life's scars to the night when Frankie and Johnny get together. Bach's "Goldberg Variations" play during the early portion of the play and Debussy's "Claire de Lune" at the close of the first act. The symmetry is precise as the first hour concludes with the lovers in bed.

The second portion of the play opens with Wagner blasting on the radio. Johnny asks, "Is that Charles Bronson?" Light in the room emanates from the old television in a corner. Designer Shawn E. Boyle's illumination and, upon occasion, lack of, skillfully employed, greatly benefits this production. John McDermott's full set includes, from audience left to right, a small bathroom, large bedroom with a wide bed, small hall, and, finally, a cramped kitchen area.

Johnny wants to have children but Frankie advises again that this is impossible. Undaunted, he talks adoption. She is, by turns, aggravated and then drawn to this insistent soul. They share, for example, Allentown, Pennsylvania, as a town where they were both children. Johnny is in pursuit and, at times, he is contested, with force, by Frankie.

Karen Allen, who saw the original version of the play in Manhattan in 1987, gets it right. Coaxing intimacy while making certain that her actors are not engulfed through it, she finds the bittersweet melodies within the overall texture of the play. Allen feels the pulse, tempo, and rhythm of the piece and imparts all to the actualizing (and gifted) actors. When Frankie and Johnny stop and listen to one another, we realize hope through a singular tough type of love.

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune continues on the Berkshire Theatre Group Fitzpatrick Main Stage in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, through August 22nd, 2015. For tickets, call (413) 997-4444 or visit www.berkshiretheatregroup.org.

Photo: Michelle McGrady

- Fred Sokol