Theatre Review: Boeing Boeing
If the heat is keeping you inside this weekend, what better way to do that than to take in a great farce, Boeing Boeing, at the Allstate Community Theatre. The show runs through Sunday.
Reviewed by Dennis Wemm
THEATRE CRITIC
Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti; translated by Beverly Cross and Francis Evans
Presented by Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble at the Allstate Community Theatre
Tickets $21.50
Show ends July 27, 2025
In 1959, the Boeing corporation introduced the 707 and changed the travel world forever. Airplanes did not have to refuel for trans-Atlantic international flights, and the change in schedules happened suddenly, shaking up the travel industry, its employees, and an opportunist named Bernard.
In 1963, French farceur Marc Camoletti figured out a way to make a hilarious piece of art out of the revolution of scheduling this allowed.
Okay, now for the review.
This production is a superior farce. Farce requires a ridiculous situation that is based on a really dumb idea that has a fascinating, attractive, or salacious basis. It builds from a complex beginning, reaches a crisis where it starts to unravel, and then bumps down a slope to disaster, taking the person with the dumb idea down like a skier who has lost a ski. The agony of defeat. The more ridiculous the idea, the person, or the situation, the more we laugh. It only really fails if it lets up, and the characters escape before a final insult on top of injury.
Our metaphorical skier is an architect named Bernard (Doy Demsic), who has figured out a way to have a sequential harem of fiancées who will live in his stylish apartment near Orly Airport in Paris. The women attend on three different airlines, representing three different countries. Gabriella from Italy (Samantha Rey); Gretchen from Germany (Clarisse Swartley); and Gloria from the good old USofA (Molly Lucas). Note that all share the same monogram so that Bernard doesn’t raise suspicions about what happens while the planes are in the air. They are vetted for Bernard by a friend who works at the airport, and helps Bernard with their schedules.
He has a faithful (?) maid Berthe who is bewildered, disapproving, and in a constant tizzy over what is to happen when. Should she serve Saltimbocca, Frankfurters and sauerkraut, or pancakes (with ketchup)? Whose picture graces the bedroom? Which bedroom? Sandra M. DeRocha just pops with Gallic disapproval. You can almost anticipate each “Oh, Monsieur” delivered with purse-lipped outrage, disappointment, and disbelief as she understands what the next complication is going to be. She’s what the French dramatists would call a raisonneur, the one who knows that there’s something wrong with the plan and who tries to talk some sense into the fall guy. Thanks to the muse of comedy she doesn’t succeed.
He has a trusted college friend who shows up suddenly and moves in with him. Robert (Abdel Hamid Shehata) is pure Wisconsin, clueless and eager. He also is a failed raisonneur. Since he cannot succeed in stopping Bernard, he might as well join him. So they both end up tumbling down the slope to disaster, or else reason would prevail, the slope would level out, and the play would end way too quickly.
And don’t worry, because the play ends well, with everyone getting what they deserve. There is no preaching, moralizing, or overt Camoletti; Cross, and Evans pull off a real hat trick here, and I can say this without spoilers. Justice is served, the world is put right, AND no one is a victim. The excesses of the scheme are both foiled and fulfilled.
Every time I see a successful production of Boeing Boeing, I’m reminded of a French version of the Roadrunner and Coyote cartoons because they operate under the same rules. No wonder this is the most often-produced modern French comedy.
So, FTE director Melissa Hennessey has crafted some great scenes for us, moving the play to the excesses of the early 70s: way too tight polyester pants with suspenders, cravats, white melamine furniture with futuristic room lights, preshow 70s music covers with non-English lyrics, vintage airline bags, white gloved flight attendants, and a prop that looks both a timetable and a clue board from Only Murders in the Building.
Lighting succeeds both in focusing on the whole stage and highlighting the areas with the most focus. While the play is not as outlandish as some have been this season, the relatively calm and stylish décor serves to provide a blank page for the comic-book characters the play needs to succeed. Sound supports the voices without obvious mics, but sometimes early on voices were drowned out by a fan. This ended quickly, though.
And doors. Doors that lead to many different rooms to deposit different people behind until they’re needed to pop in at the most inopportune moment. That close completely and slam convincingly.
And ridiculous props. And costumes that immediately indicate everything you need to know about a character.
And the entire production staff shows a single vision and individual creativity, a team effort. This play is designed and executed with simplicity, beauty and function.
So you should go see it with a loved one, or get a gang together. On opening night the crowd couldn’t help vocally joining in the fun. Fredericksburg Theatre Company does not disappoint.
Dennis Wemm is a retired professor of theatre and communication, having taught and led both departments at Glenville State College for 34 years. In his off time he was president and sometimes Executive Director of the West Virginia Theatre Conference, secretary and president of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, and generally enjoyed a life in theatre.
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