Sure, young love gets all the credit for being inspiring, adorable, all-consuming. But what about middle-aged love?

Turns out it’s a little less cute and a little more complicated, but no less riveting or endearing. Such is the appeal of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, a very real romance being staged by Arena.

The show opens with a past-their-prime couple, well, coupling, naked onstage, in the midst of a heated one night stand. Frankie’s a waitress, cynical to the promise of new love, while Johnny seems just a bit too eager to surrender to it. Can these crazy kids manage to get together and find happiness?

While the language of Frankie and Johnny is often touching, this is hardly just a meet-cute affair. The play, while not ultimately defeatist, does not look at love through rose-colored glasses, and these characters are not without their flaws and insecurities – at times, they are almost consumed by them. The play doesn’t require love to be a fairy tale, but doesn’t diminish it to a doomed pursuit, either.