This is a production with a lot of statistics going for it. First it is the 25th production of a McNally play. Amongst McNally’s other plays and/or books of musicals are Kiss of the Spider Woman, Love! Valour! Compassion!, Master Class and Ragtime (he won Tony Awards for all four shows.)

The last two titles are significant in that they both featured Audra McDonald. Frankie and Johnny… marks McDonald’s 12th Broadway show. Amongst the shows she’s appeared in are Secret Garden, Henry IV  and Shuffle Along, Or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed. I mention those three shows because they are the only ones for which she was not nominated for a Tony Award. Amongst her 8 nominations she has 6 wins – more than any other actress. Her wins came in all four possible categories: Lead Actress in a Play, Lead Actress in a Musical, Featured Actress in a Play and Featured Actress in a Musical

This is Michael Shannon’s third Broadway show. He was Tony nominated for his performance in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night opposite Gabriel Byrne and Jessica Lange.

Arin Arbus makes her directorial debut with Frankie & Johnny.. She is a resident artist at Theatre for a New Audience. She counts Shakespeare, opera and plays both old and new amongst her credits.

Frankie & Johnny had its premiere 32 years ago at Manhattan Theatre Club. The cast was Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham. A Broadway production did not happen until 2002 when Eddie Falco and Stanley Tucci. That production was also at the Broadhurst Theatre. It was made into a film in 1991 starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Al Pacino.

This is a limited production scheduled to run through July 28th. Official opening night is May 30th (making it ineligible for this year’s Tony Awards – in case you were wondering.)

For tickets go here.

Of interest:  A documentary about McNally called Terrence McNally: Every Act of Life will air as part of the American Masters series on PBS. It is scheduled to run June 14th

Main image: Michael Shannon and Audra McDonald in Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune. (Photo by Deen van Meer)

Update:  This post has been updated to include the revised closing date of July 28th.

The post Frankie & Johnny In the Clair de Lune – New York appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Viola Davis (How to Get Away With Murder) has two Tony Awards for her performances in Fences (2010 and King Hedley II (2001)

Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale) appeared on stage in The Heidi Chronicles in 2015 and David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow revival in 2009.

Liev Schreiber (Ray Donovan) won a Tony Award for his performance in Glengarry Glen Ross (2005). Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent) was also in that production.

Jane Fonda (Grace and Frankie) first appeared on Broadway in There Was a Little Girl in 1960. She was nominated for her performance in 2009’s 33 Variations. She later reprised that role at the Ahmanson Theatre.

Her co-star Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie) won a Tony Award for The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (1985-1986). She also performed the show at what was then called the James A. Doolittle Theatre (now the Ricardo Montalban) on Vine Street.

John Litghow (The Crown) won a Tony Award for his first Broadway role in The Changing Room (1973). He won a second for the musical The Sweet Smell of Success in 2002. He appeared in with Glenda Jackson in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 1989 at the Doolittle. He most recently appeared at the Mark Taper Forum in Stories By Heart which will open next year on Broadway.

Carrie Coon (Fargo) appeared on Broadway in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in 2012.

Geoffrey Rush (Genius) has only appeared on Broadway once. The show was Exit the King (2009) and he won a Tony Award.

The cast of Feud has spent quite some time on Broadway. Susan Sarandon was with Rush in Exit the King. Jessica Lange won a Tony Award for her performance in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2016) and she appeared with Alec Baldwin (nominated for Saturday Night Live) in a 1992 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire. Alfred Molina was in Red in 2010 and he also played the part at the Mark Taper Forum. Stanley Tucci was nominated for his performance in Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune. Jackie Hoffman is on Broadway now in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (though I bet she’s missing today’s matinee!) She was also in the musicals Xanadu and Hairspray!

Ann Dowd (The Handmaid’s Tale) appeared in The Seagull (2008); Taking Sides (1996) and Candida (1993).

Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black) appeared on a revival of Godspell (2011) and also in Coram Boy (2007.)

Ron Cephas Jones (This Is Us) appeared in a revival of Of Mice and Men in 2014 and was also in The Motherfucker with the Hat (2011) and Gem of the Ocean (2004.)

Television host James Corden won a Tony Award for One Man, Two Guvnors in 2012. He also appeared in The History Boys in 2006. The original cast also performed the show at the Ahmanson Theatre.

And some guy named Lin-Manuel Miranda, nominated for his guest appearance on Saturday Night Live, has a few Tony Awards on his mantle. He wrote In the Heights and some musical that’s playing now at the Pantages Theatre called Hamilton.

Good luck to all the nominees and remember, you can often catch some of your favorite actors before they become famous by going to a play or musical.

The post Tonight’s Emmy Nominees Who’ve Appeared on Stage in NY and LA appeared first on Cultural Attaché.