Outdated and contrived it may very well be, but the Norris Theatre production of “Boeing-Boeing,” penned by French playwright Marc Camoletti in 1960, and smartly directed by James W. Gruessing today, is very funny and engaging. That it won a Tony Award in 2008 for Best Revival of a Play must certainly attest to the fact that this all-out farce has shed little of its charm or humor over the years.
Bernard (David Engels) is an American architect living the highlife in Paris, suave and elegant on the surface, but really more con artist than connoisseur. He’s engaged to three stewardesses – to call them flight attendants would be an anachronism – and all of them work for a different airline: Gloria (Evie Hutton) is a Georgia peach for TWA; Gabriella (Suzanne-Elyse Choplin) flies with Alitalia; and Gretchen (Elaine Hayhurst) is a slim Valkyrie for Lufthansa. Each of the girls thinks she’s Bernard’s one and only, a ruse he’s been perpetuating with timetables and flight schedules. He also has a reluctant co-conspirator with Berthe (Tracy Lore), his housekeeper, who needs to keep menus and photographs in constant rotation.
In order for all of this clockwork tomfoolery to purr smoothly, the three stewardesses – as bubbly and as kittenish as they are – need to be a little dense. But don’t get up in arms about that yet: the men are a little dense as well. In fact, the only one who’s not dense is you, the reader of these crafty lines.
And then Bernard has a visitor,Robert (Larry Raben), an old friend whom he hasn’t seen in years. Fresh from Wisconsin,Robert is enthralled by each of Bernard’s fiancées – and sucked into the chaotic whirlpool when Bernard’s house of cards begins to crumble.
I’ve looked at clips of other productions, but it’s hard to imagine one that’s better, and this is not only because Engel and Raben have an Abbott and Costello-like rapport, straight man and funny man, but because Raben masterfully channels Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and maybe even the young Woody Allen. He’s simply a great comic actor (sensational in the Norris Theatre productions of “The Odd Couple” and “The Andrews Brothers”) and a joy to watch.
In her supporting role as the maid, Lore is a model of restraint and understatement. She gives the play the gravitas it needs, that wavering last line of normalcy. Of the three air hostesses, all of whom are credible in their roles, Hayhurst stands out for her amusingly stereotyped role as an authoritarian German. Her viper-like alertness and sense of timing is perfect and hilarious.
The era depicted – Coffee, Tea, or Me? – is woefully old-fashioned and no doubt sexist as it was also a time when hemlines were as high as possible (you get to see a lot of leg in this show) and stewardesses were slender, young, and gorgeous. It makes us not want to think about how far airline service has declined – lousy food served by ogres with an attitude seems to be the norm.
Naturally, all of this sexy playfulness with its loose morality has to be reined in at the end, punishment and humiliation meted out, so that the audience doesn’t walk away thinking that young people can get away with this sort of behavior. It all goes back to the Bard – “All’s well that end’s well!” – and also to Sheridan and Moliere and all their cronies. The characters have had their fun, but lessons have been learned and threesomes and foursomes have been whittled down to simple monogamies. Ah, but it sure was great while it lasted!
Boeing-Boeing is onstage at the Norris Theatre, 27570 Norris Center Drive, Rolling Hills Estates. Performances, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. Also Feb. 10, 11, and 12. Closes Feb. 12. Tickets, $38. Call (310) 544-0403 or go to norriscenter.com.
