Boeing Boeing

CHRISTINE BARANSKI IN THE CURRENT BROADWAY PRODUCTION OF BOEING BOEING

A French farce turned 1962 London smash turned 1965 Broadway flop turned 1966 Jerry Lewis vehicle has finally become a bona fide Broadway hit. Got all that?

Translated into English, Marc Camoletti's lowbrow sex comedy debuted in London and ran for seven years and over 2,000 performances. When it came to Broadway, it closed after a miserable 23 performances; the Hollywood adaptation, starring Lewis and Tony Curtis, fared little better (despite the brilliant tagline of "The Big Comedy of Nineteen Sexty-Sex!").



The current production at Broadway's Longacre Theatre finally restores this play to American audience's good graces. Switching the two male leads from Frenchmen to Americans in Paris, the plot revolves around playboy Bernard (Bradley Whitford) who is engaged to three different "air hostesses" (as they were referred to in the play's early 1960's setting): TWA's Gloria (Kathryn Hahn), Alitalia's Gabriella (Gina Gershon), and Lufthansa's Gretchen (Mary McCormack). With the grudging help of his caustic French maid Berthe (Christine Baranski), Bernard manages to organize his romantic schedule according to the international flight timetable, so that each girl is blissfully unaware of the others' existence. The sudden arrival of Bernard's fresh-off-the-Wisconsin-turnip-truck school friend Robert (Mark Rylance), the introduction of the faster Boeing jet (rendering the old timetables invalid), and unforeseen weather delays ensure that mayhem ensues.

Obviously, with a plot like that -- all taking place during one 24 hour period, on one set -- success depends almost entirely on the comic timing and physical agility of the cast. Fortunately, with one or two minor quibbles, the entire company delivers. Mark Rylance won a Tony for his role as the hapless Robert, and he deserves it 200 percent. His hangdog expression, deadpan delivery, and sudden mood swings from agitated to euphoric, are all dizzyingly brilliant to witness. All three "hostesses" are excellent, with Mary McCormack standing out as the scenery-chewing (and, at one point, literally carpet-munching) Gretchen. Gina Gershon nearly steals some of McCormack's thunder with her eerily on-point evocation of a 1960's Italian starlet -- Claudia Cardinale, is that you? Kathryn Hahn veers periously close to flat-out overacting as the voraciously sexual Gloria, seeming extremely contemporary and out-of-sync with the 1960's setting; but some of her bits of business are so funny, we'll forgive her.

MARK RYLANCE


KATHRYN HAHN


GINA GERSHON


MARY MCCORMACK

Now, for the nitpicking. Bradley Whitford does perfectly well by his role, and matches Rylance's extraordinary physical comedy pratfall for pratfall; but he's physically not dashing enough to justify these three Glamazons' apparent devotion to, and sexual appetite for, Bernard. (And our skepticism is not just because the real-life Mr. Whitford buys his ill-fitting orange dress shirts the day of his red carpet events, leaving the store-fold marks intact. But it doesn't help his case any.) We haven't seen the 1966 film version, but it's not hard to imagine that Tony Curtis' patented blend of leering smarminess and genuine sexiness is better suited to the role.


BRADLEY WHITFORD IN BOEING BOEING


BRADLEY WHITFORD AT THE MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO, 2006


TONY CURTIS & THELMA RITTER IN THE FILM VERSION OF BOEING BOEING (1966)

Finally, it pains us to say that we just weren't feeling Christine Baranski as a French maid, no matter how funny her lines or readings. She was born to play brittle society dames, either madcap (Mame) or dissippated (Maryanne on TV's Cybill) or a little bit of both (Tibby in Regrets Only), and despite her absolutely unassailable chops (or her top-billing), she's the weakest link here. You never quite shake the feeling that you're watching Christine Baranski play a wacky maid, and all the effort and acting that entails.


ABFAB: CHRISTINE BARANSKI IN THE MANHATTAN THEATER CLUB'S REGRETS ONLY (2007)

Still, as a whole, Boeing Boeing is one of the most enjoyable ways to spend an evening in town. Even at the risk of being abducted into a Middle Eastern sex ring.