Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield
Written by Marc Camelotti
Translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans
Directed by Julianne Boyd
“There aren’t too many like Monsieur.”
“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” Words uttered all around me in the theater tonight. Words loudly sounded by me also. “Boeing Boeing” has always been one of the funniest plays I have ever seen since 1962. This is only my third production (not counting the films), and each and every time it has caught me and impelled me toward hilarity. This very fine production by Barrington Stage Company has taken me a step further, bringing me to the brink of peeing in my pants from laughing too hard. I think everyone should see it and find out what great professionals can achieve with great material under the guiding hand of a great director.
I have always said that this is a play about an overworked housekeeper, and it still is, but in this production, that becomes shared space with an American visitor in Paris who simply cannot contain himself, so he spills out all over the stage. Debra Jo Rupp plays Berthe, the housekeeper/maid, and Mark H. Dold is Robert, the American in Paris. Christopher Innvar plays Bernard, Berthe’s employer (“she came with the apartment”) and his college pal who lives in Paris. The three of them drive the play’s comedy, each in a different manner. That they have all worked together in the past must make a difference, for their harmonies are absolute perfection.
Bernard has three mistresses: an American named Gloria, an Italian named Gabriella, and a German named Gretchen. All airline Hostesses for TWA, Al Italia and Lufthansa, each one believes she is engaged to Bernard, shares his home, and has a name beginning with “G.”
All three women have dynamic personalities, and Bernard has managed to keep them apart with no knowledge of the others. He keeps their schedules close by. However, the same day that Robert begins his visit, things go wrong and all three women show up for an overnight stay. Seventy-five percent of the comedy happens because of this awkward timing in Bernard’s carefully crafted lifestyle. The rest is pure Mark Dold, whose physical comedy is at its absolute best. I have known him to be a good comic actor at times, but here he excels. Verbally funny, physically outrageous, he collapses over luggage; divests himself of dignity over a kiss; loses himself on chairs, couches, and doorframes; and generally moves without stopping for most of the second act.
Debra Jo Rupp has the verbal humor with an accent that betrays the many people she has worked for in the past. Berthe is overworked, over-careful about the girlfriends and overwhelmed by her own care for details. Whether Rupp is opening a door, putting on a coat, or handling a letter, she is funny, funny as funny can be. I still think the play is about Berthe and not about her “monsieur,” and Rupp makes me believe I am right. And the ending of the play convinces me.
The three delicious fiancées are played by Gisela Chípe (Gloria), Stephanie Jean Lane (Gabrfiella), and Kate MacCluggage (Gretchen). All three are perfection. MacCluggage, however, is exceptionally glorious in her role as the German stewardess whose strength is absolute in every way. Bernard has been a lucky man, and by the end of the play, so is the exhausted Robert.
Director Julianne Boyd has stepped out of the way of her actors and given them room to be as physical as possible, and the result is a carefully constructed farce comedy that works from top to bottom. There isn’t a moment that can’t provoke a laugh. She clearly understands the form as well as she understands her actors. She has matched each one to their moments.
The setting, designed by Kristen Robinson, with its six doors is ideal for a French farce, and extremely inviting as well. You feel you could live there. The costumes designed by Sara Jean Tosetti range from ordinary to outrageous (including Dold’s). David Lander’s lighting design provides us perfect time-and-place sensibility. Fabian Bispo’s sound design is grand, ranging from normal to outrageous.
There is a quiet moment in the play where Dold and Rupp get to move their funny characters into a serious chat that gives us their honest, human sides, otherwise rarely seen in this play. Rupp’s unanticipated warmth and Dold’s peculiar humanity make this a highlight moment of calm in the play that rages most of the time. It is a welcome respite that prepares us for what will follow. I loved it.
You might say I loved the whole production. If you figured that out, good for you, and hopefully good for this theater. Everyone should let themselves go, see the show (forget it is called a farce—just think comedy), and laugh as much as you can. That is what it is for: laughter, a much-needed commodity in this peculiar time we are living in.
“Boeing Boeing” plays at the Boyd-Quinson Stage on Union Street in Pittsfield through August 3. For information and tickets, visit Barrington Stage Company’s website or call (413) 236-8888.
