For centuries, France has produced such famous playwrights as Molière, Beaumarchais, Rostand, Sartre and Ionesco and such plays as Tartuffe, The Marriage of Figaro, Cyrano de Bergerac, No Exit and Rhinoceros.
And yet, according to the Guinness World Record organization, the most performed French play in the world is a 1960s sex farce about a swinging Parisian bachelor juggling three fiancées. The play is Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing, and the Santa Rosa Junior College Theatre Arts program has a production running through March 8.
The title refers to the Boeing 707 aircraft which revolutionized air travel in the late 1950s by cutting travel time for millions of passengers and flight crews. That’s the key plot point of the play as American bad boy Bernard (Jay Soto) counts on the extended travel time for air hostesses (we call them flight attendants these days) to allow him to “schedule” adequate time to be with three women: American Gloria (Shay Rudy), who flies for TWA; Italian Gabriella (Victoria Cunha), who flies for Alitalia; and German Gretchen, who flies for Lufthansa.
He’s able to do this with the reluctant cooperation of his French maid, Berthe (Hannah Fain), and a handy airline timetable.
Complications arise with the arrival of old school chum Robert (Jake McFadden), a Wisconsin innocent who soon wants in on the action. All hell breaks loose when changing schedules and bad weather lead all three women to be back in Paris at the same time and all headed for Bernard’s apartment. Cue the slamming doors.
I like a good farce as much as anyone (and the JC did an excellent job last year with Rumors), but this play has not aged well. The sexism and misogyny of the late ’50s, early ’60s remains. Only an Austin Powers-like approach might make it a bit more palatable today.
Director Justin Smith’s student cast does its best with characters that are literally foreign to them. Soto’s Bernard is a bit dry and lacks the oiliness necessary to make his late-play redemption believable. McFadden’s kid-in-a-candy-store Robert comes off a bit better and lands some funny bits. The three ladies have their moments, but they’ve been tasked to play caricatures with accents. Fain’s frazzled Berthe also gets a few laughs.
The real stars of the show are Kasey Vannoy’s set and Jessica Colley-Mitchell’s costumes.
While I appreciated all their hard work, Boeing Boeing just doesn’t fly these days.
‘Boeing Boeing’ runs Weds–Sun through March 8 in the Santa Rosa Junior College Burbank Auditorium Studio Theatre, 1501 Mendocino Ave. Thurs–Sat, 7:30pm; Sat & Sun, 2pm. $15–$25. 707.527.4307. theatrearts.santarosa.edu.
