Review: BOEING BOEING at Antrim Playhouse

BOEING BOEING

ANTRIM PLAYHOUSE

SUFFERN, NY

"Boeing Boeing," a 1965 French comedy, has experienced quite a renaissance over the last decade. A smash hit Broadway production followed by hit productions all over the country. It is a brash, loud, madcap romp about a deliciously sleazy creep, trying to juggle three mistresses. On the surface, the plot sounds like a movie that could have starred Jerry Lewis, and the production that opened Saturday night at Antrim Playhouse is a resounding success.

The play is slapstick at its highest form and is propelled (pardon the pun) by some superb performances. The story is as follows: Bernard, played with devilish charm by Neil Battinelli, is an American businessman living in Paris. He is juggling torrid affairs with three airline flight attendants. How does he manage this? Well, the women only visit him during their layovers between flights. And of course, the three women couldn't possibly be more different: Gloria (the health-obsessed American, Emily Gardner); Gabriella (the uber-passionate Italian, Meaghan Flynn); and Gretchen (the dominant German, Megan Keefe). Bernard keeps close tabs on flight schedules to keep the women unaware of each other's existence. His hilariously grumpy housekeeper, Berthe, begrudgingly helps him keep his schedules straight - until Boeing's faster new jet throws a wrench into his plans.

The audience can tell right from the start that these three worlds are destined to collide. When they do, hilarity of the highest order ensues! To add to the hijinks, Robert, (Seth Kaplin) Bernard's childhood buddy arrives to observe and provide classic deadpan reaction, as he unwittingly fails to keep Bernard's various stories straight.

"Boeing Boeing," has more belly laughs in its script than pretty much any other play of the last 25 years. The characters are delightfully one-dimensional and stereotyped, and that is key to the play's appeal. The three flight attendants are drawn from a sort of fantasy, Playboy Magazine expose on the Airline industry of the 1960s. The nationalistic clichés are almost shameless but undeniably hilarious - no spoilers here!

The character of Berthe, played by Bea Pohl, is a French maid cum budding existentialist philosopher, who seeming lives to complain. She gets many of the play's best lines and delivers them with gusto.

The play is a true ensemble piece and the ensemble does not disappoint. The energy is kinetic and the comedy - while decidedly lowbrow - is not sleazy at all, rather it brings to mind some of Hollywood's best cheesy sex-comedies of the late 50s and early 60s.

All in all, Boeing Boeing is a sheer delight, full of pure, laugh-out-loud joy! One would be hard pressed to leave the theater without an ear to ear grin.

"Boeing Boeing"

Written By: Marc Camoletti

Directed By: Lauren Widner

Produced By: Kim Farewell

At Antrim Playhouse, Suffern, NY. Runs through October 11th.

Tickets at www.antrimplayhouse.com

Peter Danish