Julia Murney on Directing Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune in Boston

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The production will run through June 28 at the BCA Plaza Black Box Theatre

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Massachusetts will be like a home away from home for New York-based actor, singer, and director Julia Murney this year.

The popular stage performer – an original cast member in the 2005 Broadway production of “Lennon” and the fifth Elphaba in “Wicked” – is currently making her Boston directorial debut with the Psych Drama Company production of “Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” which will be at the Boston Center for the Arts Plaza Black Box Theatre, June 18–28. Later this year, Murney, whose father and mother are originally from Rhode Island and New Hampshire, respectively, and who has an aunt and uncle on Cape Cod, will appear in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, September 2–19.

Her current assignment involves staging Terrence McNally ’s two-character play, first produced off-Broadway in 1987 with Academy Award winners Kathy Bates and F. Murray Abraham . The story of a waitress and a short-order cook who find love, the play had its first Broadway run in 2002 in a production starring Edie Falco and Stanley Tucci , and its second in a 2019 revival with Audra McDonald and Michael Shannon .

The Psych Drama Company production will feature actors Wendy Lippe, the company’s founder and producing artistic director and a performer known for her work in Shakespeare productions, and Cliff Blake , who has been seen locally in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” at Wellfleet Harbor Actors’ Theatre and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at Gloucester Stage.

A two-time Drama Desk nominee for the off-Broadway productions of “The Wild Party” and “Falling,” Murney, who played Elphaba on the 2006 national tour of “Wicked,” has also been seen off-Broadway in “The Vagina Monologues,” “A Class Act,” “Queen of the Mist,” and “Time and Again,” which earned her a Lucille Lortel Award nomination. In the summer of 2024, she appeared as Desiree Armfeldt in the Ogunquit Playhouse production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler ’s “A Little Night Music,” starring Kathleen Turner .

On television, Murney, who lives on New York’s Upper West Side, has guest starred on “Succession,” “Madam Secretary, “Sex and the City,” and all versions of “Law & Order.” She has recorded numerous audiobooks and cast albums including the Grammy nominated Actors’ Fund Benefit of “Hair” and her 2006 solo debut album, “I’m Not Waiting.”

By Zoom recently from Brookline, Massachusetts, Murney, whose mother was brought up in New Hampshire and who has relatives on Cape Cod, discussed “Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune,” the price she paid for being a Yankees fan in Fenway Park, and more.

What attracted you to your current assignment?

Well, in a general way, what makes me take directing work is what’s lovely about directing – that I love actors. So I get to work with actors, and… and there is something else, too.

Tell me about that?

There’s a different kind of stress being an actor than there is being a director, and so, at this juncture, I’m really enjoying the shift of that. I still love acting and I want to keep acting, but, with the shows I’ve directed, I’ve never had the feeling of, “Oh, dang, I wish I was in this.” I’ve just been so happy to watch the people who are doing it do their thing.

Have you ever directed yourself in a musical or a play?

No, not really. I mean, I’ve done solo shows, where I’ve not had a director, per se, but those are just me picking songs I like to sing, and then saying random things in between them, so no, I’ve never really directed myself.

Was that option ever under consideration with “Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune”?

With this specific job, it was not because I’m the hired hand. I did not pick the play or the cast. Psych just hired me as director.

Were you familiar with the company or with Wendy Lippe before now?

To be honest, I didn’t know anything about Psych. I did, however, know Wendy because we spent our freshman year of college together, at Syracuse University , and then she transferred to another school. We didn’t know each other super well, but I remembered her. She is a very talented individual and a good person, too.

When you reconnected, did Wendy share any memories of knowing you previously?

She told me she had seen me in “Falling,” a play I did off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre in 2012. It’s a beautiful play by Deanna Jent , based on her own life. It’s about a family in which there is a severely autistic son who is about 17 or 18 years old, and not very verbal. As he’s grown older, hormones have taken over and he’s gotten very big, and somewhat violent. So the family is trying to figure out how to manage their way through that. I played the mother.

Wendy told me she went to see the play because she has a doctorate in psychology and was interested in the subject matter. She went without knowing that I was in it. As she recalled, at some point she thought to herself, “Wait! Oh my God, that’s Julia from college.”

Did she cite your work in “Falling” when she reached out to you about “Frankie & Johnny”?

Wendy did say it made her think, “Julia can do musicals and straight plays, and she’s got great sensibilities,” so, for whatever reason, when the time came, she thought of me to direct this wonderful play.

As a performer, you’ve enjoyed success in musicals and plays. Do you prefer one over the other?

They each have their absolute draws. They don’t really have drawbacks, but it’s just that musicals are so hard, especially if we’re talking about new musicals. I have said and always will say that my hill to die on is that musicals are the hardest thing to get right. They require so much collaboration from so many departments, including the actors, the directors, the designers, the choreographers, the writer, and all of it.

They are worth it, though, when it all works, wouldn’t you agree?

Yes, when it all comes together on the same page, it’s magical. They can be magical sometimes when they’re not on all on the same page, too, but there is a very specific responsibility in musicals in terms of vocal health and all that kind of stuff, and that is a lot to handle.

You earned membership in the Green Girls Sisterhood, famously playing Elphaba in “Wicked” on Broadway and on the first national tour that ever came through Boston, at the Citizens Opera House in 2006. What are some of your memories of that experience?

I loved doing “Wicked” on Broadway and in Boston – doing it anywhere, really. But it was frustrating on tour because I like having adventures and going and seeing things wherever I am, and “Wicked” was so exhausting. But here’s the kicker. One night while I was here with “Wicked,” I did go to see the Red Sox play the Yankees at Fenway Park. I wanted to sing the national anthem before the game and I tried like the dickens to make that happen, but that spot is booked very far ahead so it didn’t happen. It was my day off, however, so I went to the game anyway.

I will tell you that I was being very responsible and taking care of my voice. I did not scream or even cheer and I made sure to root for the Red Sox that evening, too. The next morning, though, I woke up and I had caught viral laryngitis. I could not make a sound and to miss a week of “Wicked.” That whole time, I thought, the gods, the Red Sox gods, knew there was a Yankee in the house.

Photo caption: Actor, singer and theater artist Julia Murney will direct the Psych Drama Company production of Terrence McNally ’s “Frankie & Johnny in the Clair de Lune.” Photo by Jason Moody.

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_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/boston/article/Interview-Julia-Murney-Talks-FRANKIE-JOHNNY-IN-THE-CLAIR-DE-LUNE-at-The-Psych-Drama-Company-20260615)._