Pilot Allison Narver has put together a stellar crew for your flight on Seattle Rep’s latest comic tour de force. Fasten your seat belts, cause Margo Channing’s bumpy night (from the classic film All About Eve) is quoted quite aptly by playwright Marc Camoletti and translators Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. Fortunately, Boeing Boeing’s bumpy night is nothing like Margo’s. This comic romp may have a somewhat banal script, but the collective and collaborative brilliance of the design team and actors under Narver’s navigation make this journey smooth, effortless and absolutely jammed-packed with comedy.
In 1962, when Seattle was hosting its World Fair and Boeing was recovering from the deadly crash of an early version of its 707, France was seeing the premiere of the “Coffee, Tea, or Me?” antics of Marc Camoletti’s farce. By deftly juggling the flight schedules of three air hostesses, one wealthy businessman thinks he can have it (them) all. The sexism of the original plot here is adroitly adapted for the sensibility of a (somewhat) more progressive America. With plot changes, and a cast of women who come off like the members of a championship Roller Derby team, the sexism of the original is not only kept at bay, but thrown right out of the plane with no parachute.
Bernard (the sublime Richard Nguyen Sloniker) couldn’t manage his faaaabulous Paris apartment without the rigorous (understatement) of his housekeeper Berthe (the hysterically steely Anne Allgood). Berthe juggles menus and much more to keep Bernard’s international triumvirate of stewardesses who arrive on schedule, with travel bags in hand, happy. Gloria (Bhama Roget) is the American, Gabriella (Angela DiMarco) his Italian, and Gretchen (Cheyenne Casebier) his German, who must have her sauerkraut. Bernard thinks he has the schedules mastered, and when his friend Robert arrives (Mark Bedard), he is quite the braggart about his ideal life—no marriage, nothing but girls on strings and a very tight schedule.
I refuse to play the spoiler. Suffice it to say that the new super-liners make the ladies’ flights much much faster, and once Bernard’s lovers start to arrive early, there are more than enough doors in the apartment to put this comic farce in motion. Syncopated pandemonium ensues, and if you get your ticket in time, you will secure your seat on this raucous flight.
All of the acting is top notch. Mark Bedard’s classic clowning is a match for maestros Bill Irwin and Larry Pisoni. Never have I seen an actor employ so many minutes just moving a suitcase across the stage, while keeping his audience astonished and/or doubled over with laughter at his depth of invention. Bedard is a master of physical comedy and timing. He starts as a nebbish, a virgin no doubt, whose awe for his friend’s audacious ruse makes him cover for Bernard at every turn of the doorknob. Anne Allgood inhabits the role played by Thelma Ritter in the film. Ms. Ritter is sitting straight up in her grave and eating popcorn every night in order to watch Ms. Allgood’s memorable interpretation of the housekeeper who is at the end of her patience.
Carey Wong’s set is a marvel. Bernard’s glamorous apartment looks like the Space Needle had conjugal relations with the Jetsons’ TV show, and then gave birth to a circular living space with all the necessary properties for a fast-moving farce. Turquoise and faux leopard never looked better. Many surprises here, and again, I am not going to reveal the antics of Wong’s artistry, you’ve got to see this set design to believe it. Speaking of artistry, “uniforms” is hardly the right word for Costume Designer Frances Kenney’s razor sharp stewardesses’ outfits. Kenney’s knows the power of a silhouette and dashing colors, and she uses all her wiles to give Roget, DiMarco, and Casebier gendered weapons disguised as fabric and clothes. The lilac and ostrich-feathered hostess gown Gabrielle wears to ‘get comfortable” is a wonder of movement and color, as are the lightning fast costume changes and each and every chapeau. L.B. Morse’s lights are a bit distracting, a little too much concept tries to illuminate the high tech capabilities of the Parisian apartment; the imprecision can disrupt the action. But his lights are otherwise perfect for the world, and for its comedy.
The Rep provides all the text of the play on a closed caption system, for hearing impaired audiences and for anyone who misses a line here or there. When I read them, I was really struck by how thin the writing is, how base the comedy, how shallow much of the dialogue. But this only puts into high relief how important the interpretive task of direction can be, and how great acting and wonderful designs can carry a script which doesn’t have that much going for it with the exception of a high loaded premise.
Boeing Boeing, by Marc Camoletti, translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. Directed by Allison Narver. Set Design by Carey Wong, Costumes by Frances Kenney, Lights by L. B. Norse, Sound by Robertson Witmer and Dialects coached by Judith Shahn. Starring Bhama Roget, Richard Nguyen Sloniker, Anne Allgood, Mark Bedard, Angela DiMarco and Cheyenne Casebier. Runs through May 19. www.seattlerep.com