Audra McDonald is appearing in a new production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which opened in May. “To whoever it was in the audience that took a flash photo during our nude scene today: Not cool. Not cool at all,” she tweeted after Sunday’s show. Taking photos during performances is forbidden by most theatres Before the show opened on Broadway, McDonald gave an interview to The New York Times in which she discussed her nervousness over the scene. “Maybe strippers get real used to it, but for me, there’s nothing normal about that,” she said. “So there’s nowhere in my mind that I can drift off and let this just kind of happen because everything about it is demanding that you be present.”
The photographer has not yet been identified. Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, which is directed by Arin Arbus, runs until this Sunday.
‘Despicable’ McDonald has appeared in TV series such as The Good Wife and Grey’s Anatomy, and her theatre credits include productions of Twelfth Night and Henry IV. She has won six Tony Awards, including one for her portrayal of Billie Holiday. The show, which is a revival of the 1987 play written by Terrence McNally, stars McDonald alongside Michael Shannon and opens with a graphic sex scene. Producers of the show hired a so-called “intimacy co-ordinator” to work with the actors in choreographing the scene.