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Although Frankie and Johnny was a very popular movie starring Michelle Pfeifer and Al Pacino I hadn’t seen it ,so had no preconceived notions, when I went to the audio described theatre performance during its last week of a UK tour, at the Wolverhampton Grand. 
Set in 1980’s New York, this is a classic love story by Terence McNally which was a great off-Broadway success. In this new lavish touring theatre production, the lead roles were taken by Kelly MacGillis (best known perhaps for her part in the film Top Gun) and Rolf Saxon (whose films have included Mission: Impossible and Entrapment).
The play opens with actress Frankie and chef Johnny finding themselves in bed together after a first date.  Johnny firmly believes he has found his soul-mate, but Frankie need to be convinced, and as the night unfolds they slowly begin to get to know each other (and themselves) as they take exploratory steps toward the start of a possible relationship, in what is a funny, tender and romantic comedy.
Before the show, resident describer Anne Hornsby took fellow visually impaired patrons and their companions onto the stage for the pre-show touch tour, which in effect, was a visit to the play’s principal location - a New York apartment with a view of Manhattan skyline visible from the window. 

Back in the foyer the theatre’s Access and Marketing Officer, Janine Graeme distributed the all-important head sets – explaining how they work to newcomers – before we took our seats to listen to Anne’s ‘live’ introductory notes 15 minutes before curtain-up.  This pre-show information described the set, just in case people hadn’t been able to get to the theatre in time for the touch tour (which is normally about an hour before the start of the play), and the character and costume notes – which were fairly concise as the play was a two-hander!  It was quite a tour de force on the part of the 2 protagonists holding everyone’s attention for over 2 hours, and Anne skilfully wove in the appropriate description when the actors drew breath.

The next audio described shows are Columbo (based on the iconic American detective series) on the evening of Friday 28 May, and the West End musical hit, Hairspray, on the evening of Monday 14 June, and information on concessionary tickets, the touch tour and how to book headsets can be obtained from the box office on 01902 429212.