By Carol Van Zoeren
A classic farce, Boeing
Boeing premiered in Paris in 1960, with the English adaptation first staged
in London in 1962. It has the distinction of being the most produced French
play, although I had never read nor seen it. And what fun it is not to know
what’s coming next!
The plot centers on Bernard (Ian Agnew), an American living
in Paris and masterfully juggling relationships with three flight attendants by
meticulously adhering to the flight schedules of the three airlines for whom
the women work. Masterfully, that is, until faster planes upend the schedule.
His old friend Robert (Eric Rupp) has arrived from Wisconsin and, along with
Bernard’s dour housekeeper Bertha (Victoria Healy), bear the brunt of trying to
keep a lid on the hilarity which ensues.
Bernard starts out cocky and becomes increasingly unhinged,
and Agnew navigates this trajectory quite well. In less skilled hands, the
character might reach the peak of unhingedness too early and have nowhere to
go, but Agnew metes it out with admirable restraint. Robert’s trajectory is
almost a mirror image, starting out unsure and gaining confidence, and with a
constant cycle of craziness/relief/repeat. Rupp succeeds and does some of the
best wordless acting I’ve seen with his expressive face. Healy, a Candlelight
favorite, draws laughs from her first entrance. She has some of the biggest
laugh lines of the show with perfect deadpan delivery.
Each of the flight attendants is clearly delineated through
costumes, accents and mannerisms, and all three are delightfully over the top
in stereotypical characterizations. The American, Gloria (Marybeth Williamson),
is a free spirit with some randy behavior that must have been rather shocking
in the 60s. The Italian, Gabriella (Heather Ferrell), is hot tempered and
moody, and I especially liked Ferrell’s oh-so-Italian mannerisms. And the
German, Gretchen (Sophie Jones), flips between coquettish to domineering and
back in nanoseconds.
But beyond individual performances, what really makes farce
work is how well the ensemble works together. And this is particularly
impressive in this production. The pacing, the split second timing between
who’s going into and coming out of which door (and there are seven of them in
this one). And especially, this ensemble risks life and limb for the many
highlights of physical comedy. Kudos to director Bob Kelly, to have his cast
this polished on opening night!
The set has an appropriately muted palette of grey, black
and white. This allows colorful elements of set dressing to really stand out
and add to the fun. Most especially, a very important portrait — I won’t say
more, you’ll know what I mean when you see it.
In sum, I thoroughly enjoyed Boeing Boeing. If you want a great night out with a lot of laughs,
I highly recommend it!