EDMONDS — Three gorgeous airline hostesses — Gloria from TWA, Gretchen from Lufthansa, Gabriella from Alitalia — each believe they are engaged to marry Bernard, an American playboy who lives in Paris.
Between their flights around the world, the women spend their layovers in his apartment, where his housekeeper Berthe must change her menu to suit each woman’s taste, flip their portraits on the wall and generally keep the ruse going.
Bernard manages to keep his jet-set bachelor lifestyle straight and the women from knowing about the others with the help of his handy schedule of flights in and out of the Paris Orly Airport.
He’s got “one up, one down and one pending.” That is, until the airline companies begin buying Boeing jets, thus making the trips faster and the layovers longer. When schedules change and the women show up at Bernard’s apartment all at the same time, there’s turbulence ahead.
Winner of the 2008 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play, “Boeing Boeing” is a 1960s farce by French playwright Marc Camoletti and translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans.
Edmonds Driftwood Players, under the direction of Ted Jaquith, are having a ball with this comedy. The play runs through July 28.
Opening night of the production on June 12 was performed in front of an appreciative packed house. It was great fun.
Set in the mid-1960s, the play also pokes at the polarized nature of society during that time (and now).
“In most farces there’s an unbelievable series of coincidences, and in this play the coincidences are believable for the most part,” said Jaquith. People should be able to relate.
All the action takes place during the course of one day in Bernard’s flat, which conveniently has several bedrooms and all sorts of elements that lend well to the physical comedy of the play, such as slamming doors, etc. I agree with the publicity for the show, which said that, “the cast masterfully captures the physical nuance of the classic farce as they each immerse themselves in characters that are funny, sharp, sexy, silly completely enjoyable.”
Jordan Fermstad, who was seen at Driftwood in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” plays the suave Bernard, who eventually becomes the frazzled Bernard.
The talented Greg LoProto, who was last at Driftwood in “Oblivion,” is Bernard’s friend Robert. He comes to visit Bernard, is shocked by the arrangement and then falls for the German stewardess. Gretchen is played by Sara Schweid, who last performed at Driftwood in “Noises Off,” does a good job with her “come here, go away” flirtations with Robert.
Jennifer Makenas, who also appeared in “Noises Off,” is the wild American airline hostess. Makenas is especially fun and crazy in the second half of the show.
Her first time at Driftwood, Veronica Tuttell is delightful as Gabriella, the passionate and beautiful Italian.
Driftwood veteran Cindy Giese French doesn’t want to steal the show, but she does very naturally, with her hilarious portrayal of Berthe, the housekeeper. Her timing is perfect, her shocked expressions priceless.
The crew of this production has done a good job as well.
Go to the show, fasten your seat belts and prepare to laugh.
Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.
If you go
“Boeing Boeing,” presented by the Edmonds Driftwood Players, continues through June 28 at the Wade James Theatre, 950 Main St., Edmonds. Performances are 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays. To buy tickets, $25 for general admission, go to www.edmondsdriftwoodplayers.org or call 425-774-9600, option 3.
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