Theater Review by Myra Chanin . . . .
In the recent past, going off into the wild blue yonder on Boeing’s iron birds has been a flight against fear . . . and rightly so. What a history! Their 777-200ER was involved in 31 accidents/incidents, eight hull losses, 541 fatalities, and three hijackings which, try as we may, can’t be blamed on the company’s engineers! It does, however, lead me to question the chutzpah of the marketing mavens who added the suffix ER—for Emergency Room, maybe?—to the appellation of those planes powered by such an undependable Pratt & Whitney engine that the FAA recommended they be grounded worldwide.
This year, there were the improperly tightened/designed door plug screws on their 777-900, with, oy vey, another ER suffix, which caused the blowout on an Alaska Airlines flight that resulted in the FAA recommending that it, and the similar 737-900ER, be grounded until they passed “still unproven visual inspection.” When will that be? Your guess is as good as mine.
Be that as it may, all is well at the Delray Beach Playhouse where Boeing Boeing is flying high. Its only problem being continual explosions of laughter by an audience delighted to find their feet set squarely for two hilarious hours on very solidly side-splitting ground.
This exquisite farce, by Marc Camoletti and translated by Beverley Cross—who was Maggie Smith’s husband—is perfectly directed by Keith Garsson, who I believe is the reincarnation of Mack Sennett. He does with sexy stewardii what Sennett did with bathing beauties. My, oh my, how he makes them come and go. I never even missed the railroad tracks.
The play takes place in a handsome Parisian pad with a view of tout Paris via Cindi Blank Taylor’s handsome set which features a translucent bathroom window and eight doors that open and shut continuously as characters fly in and out of them. The apartment is occupied by the Paris-based, more-lothario-than-journalist Bernard (the unbelievably tall Noah Levine) and his fulltime-and-a-half, long-suffering, underpaid maid Berthe (Angie Radosh) who changes linens, photos, and personal effects in the bedroom, which Bernard shares with three unbeknownst-to-them (and each other) fiancées, each one a flight attendant on a different airline. TWA’s sexy, go-getter Gloria (Sandi Stock); Alitalia’s passionate, feisty Gabriella (Zoe Darragh Garnett) and Lufthansa’s strong, beautiful, and domineering Gretchen (JB Wing) whose comings and goings Bernard obsessively tracks, lest a throuple or quadruple ever overpack his already multi-occupied-enough double bed. Bernard’s old-time friend Robert from Wisconsin (Kevin Cruz) arrives unexpectedly, needing a place to sleep and contributes delightedly to the melee.
When Boeing introduces a faster jet, Barnard’s precise romantic timetable goes hysterically awry. Soon all three fiancées are in town, unexpectedly and simultaneously. The result is a side-splitting unraveling of Bernard’s careful, romantic planning with Robert from Wisconsin, unable to remember what he told to whom, which contributes significantly to the plot’s ultimate denouement.
The whole cast was terrific, but I thought Kevin Cruz and JB Wing owned whatever stage they happened to be on. His confusion and her certainty made them a perfect match made in heaven . . . or hell. Also, I loved Angie Radosh as Berthe, the whining European maid. I had some trouble making out some of the accents, but it didn’t matter at all. Just watching each scene produced as much laughter as understanding each syllable would have done.
Albert Arroyo’s scanty stewardess costumes, each in the color of her respective airline, left nothing to be desired. They were the stuff of which the dreams of NY to LA first-class commuters are made. And each stewardess wore her airline’s colors on the plane as well as in the bedroom or out. The matinee I attended was packed to the gills with happy ticket holders who were quickly packed to the gills with a pre-theater lunch from TooJay, my favorite local deli, which I hadn’t realized was available. It smelled and looked so delicious that I considered stealing the leftovers of the huge tuna salad sandwich on TooJay’s delicious, baked-that-very-morning unseeded rye. Alas, the eyes of the clean-up crew were faster than my fingers, so I was forced to stop at TooJay’s on my way home to pick up my very own tuna for my table, which I lustily attacked when there were no eyes on me.
This play is kind of old, but it was a big hit when it was first staged in the 1960s and is still fun and just as funny, according to the roaring laughter of an audience that filled all the available tables for four in the Delray Beach Playhouse Cabaret Theater.
Boeing Boeing. Through January 27 at the Delray Beach Playhouse’s Cabaret Theater (950 NW 9th Street, Delray Beach, Florida). For tickets call the Delray Beach Box Office 561-272-1281 or go to www.delraybeachplayhouse.com
Photos: Amy Pasquantonio
