Review: BOEING BOEING Soaring High in Maui

Among the many special productions presented by Maui OnStage at the Historic Iao Theater this year, Marc Camoletti's play Boeing Boeing, directed by Michael Pulliam, arrived at the theater for 2 comedy filled weeks.

Boeing Boeing is a light comedy, farce- to be exact, set in the 1960's of Paris and tells about a swinging bachelor named Bernard who manages to be engaged to 3 different women at the same time, all flight stewardesses, without them knowing about each other. All this is true until Bernard's long lost friend, Robert, arrives in town and visits Bernard's flat exactly when his perfect plan is starting to fall apart.

The minute you enter the wonderful theater you reach Paris, even before the play ever started, all thanks to the French music playing as well as the visible gorgeous set, revealing a chic and perfectly designed apartment. The entire feeling of the era and location is even greater once the play starts and we see the special props, by Virginia Sandell, and the costumes, designed by Vickie Nelson, though some costume changes for the men would've been much appreciated.

Although the play tells about Bernard's story it doesn't feel as if he is the main character here since all six characters have about the same amount of stage time and especially significant parts in the script, which all the actors handle smoothly while successfully keeping the ascending pace of the play.
Brian Connolly brilliantly plays Bernard, well and calm, just like you would expect a swinging bachelor to behave, though once we reach Bernard's different, stressed side in the 2nd act his reactions feel a bit less natural. In the exact opposite, it took a few minutes for Kalani Whitford who plays Robert to get into character, but once he got there no one could stop him- on point reactions, actually meaning what he's saying, natural pronunciation and mostly handling very fast dialogues. The most noticable one was with Lin McEwan who plays Gretchen flawlessly, especially given how easily her character's German stigmas can become too much if not being careful.
Such a risk exists for all the women in the play but they all handle it very well, Erin McCargar as Gloria and Sara Jelley as Gabriella, though for them in several cases acting more natural could've enhanced that.
Of course in such plays the audience's favorite is someone like Bernard's French maid, Berthe, played incredibly by Jamie Wilcox who gives the audience exactly what they expect, even if in her case while talking on the phone a few realistic expected pauses would be welcome.

This play might be over the top, highly exaggerated, improbable and very fast but after all it is a French farce and a most entertaining and enjoyable one for sure.

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