Be it film, television or Broadway, Philadelphia-born actor Da’Vine Joy Randolph reigns over each medium, respectively, with Oscar wins (‘The Holdovers‘), audience-acclaimed series (‘Only Murders in the Building’) and Tony-nominated roles (‘Ghost: The Musical’).
Randolph is returning to her first love—local theater—this time in support of the Philadelphia Theatre Company’s 50th anniversary. She’ll star in a one-night performance of Terrence McNally’s ‘Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune’ on Nov. 26 at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre. Directed by Philadelphia’s own James Ijames, a fellow Tony nominee, the special showcase also features actor and longtime friend Robert DoQui.
Reaching back to her youth in Mount Airy, Randolph said her parents, both educators, instilled in her a quest to be the best.
“I didn’t have stage parents… and was introduced to all this through the visual arts, as my father used to take me to Please Touch and the Philly Art Museum, and music through the Sound of Philadelphia,” she said. “That was our thing.”
Randolph went to Temple University with a focus on classical vocal performance and opera, musical theater at University of Arts won her attention. “Theater was a whole other world… and it was a great way to earn money during summer,” she jokes about getting her first show, ‘Hair’, at the Prince Music Theater in 2007.
DoQui, however, spent his childhood reading scripts (“I had a photographic memory for them”) as his father was renowned film and television actor Robert DoQui, famed for roles in ‘Coffy’, ‘Nashville’ and ‘RoboCop’.
“I put my best foot forward and understood the parameters of getting into the entertainment business in all aspects.”
Returning to theater where Randolph and DoQui got their start is a dream for the two actors who met while filming 2019’s Eddie Murphy comedy ‘Dolemite Is My Name’ (DoQui is Murphy’s longtime on-camera body double/stuntman). “Theater is my blood,” says DoQui.
Theater presents a unique challenge when bringing to life the titular roles in McNally’s ‘Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune’, a raw dramedy that candidly explores the loneliness of middle age and the characters’ sense of resignation.
“Frankie is everywoman,” says Randolph. “And the thing that’s powerful about this play is that it’s timeless. I remember being at Temple and being introduced to this piece. The language felt right, then, because that’s how people talk.
“Fast-forward 16-years, and this play still feels right and resonates. Frankie is the 2024 woman – she says what she thinks, and is not trying to be, even in their most intimate moments, what Frankie might desire. Frankie is 100% her authentic self. That’s what draws me to her. This play is two people in real time flushing things out – it’s juicy like that.”
DoQui agrees ‘Frankie and Johnny’ is timeless, and that “we, like its characters, find love and lose love, make mistakes, go through metamorphoses. It doesn’t matter how old we are. We all have these conversations, feelings of fear, loss and pain. If you’re honest as an individual and not just as an actor, you get to share those feelings and have them shared with you. Acting is being a mirror, so you have to be truthful and transparent enough to let people into your world.”
As for letting people into her world, Randolph swoons when she says, “Coming home makes me so happy… I love coming home whenever I can. I love my city so much – it’s so unique, and it’s what started me, so this really special night will be a beautiful full circle moment for me, and I am beyond thrilled to be here.”
‘Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune’ is on stage Tuesday, Nov. 26, at 7 p.m. For more information and tickets, visit myptc.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
