Review of Boeing, Boeing

The script of French writer Marc Camoletti’s Boeing-Boeing has very few laugh lines in its dialogue. Well, what can one say - the French are not noted for their repartee. What the script does have is an expertly crafted farcical structure, something at which the French are wizardly. Into this structure Mr. Camoletti has thrown the right combination of stereotypical characters – a roué, a rube, a philosophical maid and three stewardesses of international variety. Shake gently and voila – the perfect martini, smooth but biting, sophisticated but giddiness-inducing.

Matthew Warchus, an at times over praised director, has found the key to unlock the hilarity of what is basically just another routine sex farce. Invoking the period of the play when being a stewardess meant something more than handing out a bag of nuts and demanding that you return your tray to its upright position, Mr. Warchus and his design team (Sets and Costumes – Rob Howell, Lighting – Hugh Vanstone, Sound – Simon Baker with music by Claire Van Kampen) propel us into a stylishly kitsch environment when getting around the world was as easy as getting on… well, a Boeing. Letting his cast go for broke, i.e., invoking extreme stereotypes, but always ensuring they remain honest to their stereotypical souls, the inventive Mr. Warchus unleashes laughter of the best kind. For instance, imagine if you will a 60’s German stewardess played by someone like Elke Sommer (although I realize she’s Swedish). Pretty, but dull. Now, keep the pretty but imagine the same character played by the Lotte Lenya of “From Russia With Love.” Exciting, yes?

Mary McCormack does just that, her guttural accent taking on new dimension as she physically can’t contain herself. Gina Gershon as the Italian stewardess and Kathryn Hahn as the American one do similar transformations with winning results. As the roué, Bernard, Bradley Whitford is not my idea of a ladies’ man brimming with savoir-faire, but he still ably fulfills his duties with amazing double and triple takes while his well-oiled machine collapses. Only Christine Baranski, who has always struck me as this side of phony, can’t find the right mix of bourgeois superiority and desperate ingenuity to make Berthe, the maid, fly (and flying is what all these characters must do). She relies too heavily on landing - the jokes, that is, which as previously stated aren’t exactly abundant. The performance of the evening, however, belongs to Mark Rylance as Robert. Here is an actor I’ve seen mostly in intense character roles now taking on someone as light as air and zooming about the stage. Always in thunderstruck awe and grasping every moment in the moment, Rylance catapults around the grand Paris apartment with amazing alacrity turning this innocently horny hick into a cuddly teddy bear. What he does with a chair is worth the price of admission.

If you’re in need of some laughs and a good time, I suggest flying over to the Longacre Theatre as soon as you can.

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