'Boeing Boeing' at TheatreWorks New Milford
2013-12-08
BOEING BOEING by Marc Camoletti opened this weekend at TheatreWorks New Milford. The "hysterical comedic romp" will run for four more weeks. I had a complimentary seat for the second performance with a pretty full audience that frequently laughed out loud.
BOEING BOEING is definitely a door-slamming farce. Bernard, played by Danbury resident and leading man handsome James Hipp, is an American architect living in an ultra-modern flat in 1960s Paris. The premise is that he has been successfully juggling three flight attendant fiancées: American Erin Shaughnessy plays the American Gloria. Vicki Sosbe plays the German Gretchen, and Reesa Roccapriore plays the Italian Gabriella . His long-suffering French housekeeper named Berthe, acted brilliantly by Jody Bayer, reluctantly plays romantic air controller. Then his college pal, played with comic gusto by Matt Austin, arrives for a visit. The faster Boeing jet has been introduced, resulting in changes in flight schedules, and the chaos that is inherent in many a farce ensues. Despite the fact that the script is very predictable, it remains very funny and highly entertaining.
Joseph Russo of New Milford served as director and set and costume designer. He clearly had his hands full with each one of those jobs, but it was apparent that he rose to the challenge. He writes "Three hundred years after Moliere made the French farce famous, author Marc Camoletti translated the art form using the idiom of the American screwball comedy: a stage full of doors, mistaken identities and a touch of sex combined with a non-stop pace that makes for an evening of sky-high hilarity."
"It's been seven years since TheatreWorks staged a farce, and I'm so happy, after all this time, that TheatreWorks is mounting one of the best of them all," writes TheatreWorks president Glenn R. Couture.
The perfectly period set did indeed feature six doors and sleek white furniture. A painting in the style of Andy Warhol even plays a role. The costumes and wigs designed by the director capture the sixties as well. Richard Pettibone and Scott Wyshynski worked together to light it all beautifully.
The cast is indeed made up of six of the area's finest actors. Danbury residents Mr. Austin and Ms. Bayer share a talent for improvisation. He almost stole the show in the role of Robert; he worked his Wisconsin accent and nailed the physical comedy needed. His "stage mom" worked with her son Peter on her thick French accent. Mr. Hipp as Bernard had even more pratfalls and pulled it off with Dick Van Dyke ease.
Ms. Shaughnessy, in her first mainstage production at TWNM, was a lovely TWA air hostess in red. Ms. Roccapriore is by her own admission the most petite of the ladies, but lacks nothing in the talent she brought to the role of the Alitalia hostess in blue. Ms. Sosbe, who coincidentally is a native of Wisconsin and of German descent, is the tallest and the loudest of the three and flies with Lufthansa dressed in yellow and black. So now you can match them with the Barbie dolls featured on the BOEING BOEING poster.