Florida Rep’s new season takes off with ‘Boeing-Boeing’

I may not have approved, but over the years I’ve known a couple guys who’ve juggled more than one girlfriend at a time. For some, it was a matter of not being able to commit; for others, it was purely a matter of conquest. One man claimed to love both and couldn’t make up his mind. In rare instances, the women knew of each other’s existence, but most thought they were in an exclusive relationship.

In “Boeing-Boeing,” Bernard is juggling not two, but three women at a time. And not only that, he’s engaged to them all.

Each one is an airline hostess. There’s Gloria (Deanna Gibson), an American who works for TWA; Gabriela (Christina Lynn Phillips), an Italian with Alitalia; and Gretchen (Rachel Lomax), a German who works for Lufthansa.

By keeping careful track of their flight schedules, Bernard (the amiable Brendan Powers) is able to keep them from finding out about each other — even though they all live with him in his Paris apartment.

Christina Lynn Phillips and Mark Chambers in “Boeing- Boeing” at the Florida Repertory Theatre. PHOTO It’s the swinging ’60s, and Bernard is definitely doing his part to make sure the era of free love lives up to its name. The set-up has all of the benefits of marriage with none of its obligations or responsibilities, he explains. It’s every man’s adolescent fantasy.

It’s credit to Mr. Powers’s skillful acting abilities that we actually like his character, Bernard. While a playboy in lifestyle and philosophy, he comes across a nice guy — a gentleman, even. He’s just so full of boyish charm that we can’t help but like him, even as he lies and cheats.

He’s assisted in his deception by his French housekeeper/cook Bertha, played with perfect deadpan by Carrie Lund. With her smart black bob, glasses and bright red lipstick, she looks like Edith Head, the famous Hollywood costumer.

Ms. Lund knows how to do a lot with very little: a look, a walk, the way she says “beasts” or, in talking about Bernard, the way she declares, “He’s in a class of his own.”

For some reason, the play didn’t take off immediately on opening night. Initially, Ms. Gibson’s accent was so over the top it was difficult to follow what she was saying. (The couple sitting behind me didn’t help matters any, giving a running commentary on the action and repeating lines to each other, as if they were sitting in their living room watching TV.) But soon the farce hit its stride and was swiftly gliding along at cruising altitude.

Ms. Gibson, who is all sharp elbows and hipbones with an in-your-face attitude, helps us understand in a flash why the French disdain some Americans. She’s so crass you suspect she noisily chews bubblegum while having sex. And you wonder what the suave Bernard sees in her, when he has so many women to choose from.

But her character grows on us as the play progresses. And she has a knockout scene later on involving whipped cream.

Set designer Jim Hunter has given us a sophisticated European apartment, with cream walls and brown accents. The chairs are black leather, and circular bronze medallions of varying sizes hang from the ceiling like love beads.

And, as in any good farce, there are doors: seven of them. Very soon, people are entering and exiting through them at rapid speed, slamming them and trying to keep others from opening them.

When Bernard’s old college friend Robert (Mark Chambers) shows up unexpectedly for a visit, Bernard cavalierly explains his system and invites him to stay for a week.

Mr. Chambers’s Robert is the epitome of timidity: soft-spoken and so shy he can barely make eye contact, especially when meeting Bernard’s sky hostess harem. Thanks to Roberta Malcolm’s costuming, he looks every bit the Wisconsinite he proudly proclaims himself to be, dressed in Midwestern earthern tones, with tweed jacket — complete with elbow patches — and vest. Even the way his exposed shins glare whitely while he’s seated is in marked contrast to Bernard’s fashionable European dress.

The entire ensemble is gifted with spoken and physical humor, with not a weak link in the cast. While these actors know how to deliver a line, they also coax laughter without saying a word.

Robert is so out of his element that he can’t even sit in Bernard’s chairs comfortably. Each time he struggles to stand up, it’s like a pregnant woman attempting to get out of a beanbag chair. Then there’s a scene where he grapples with his luggage, setting up a one-two-three-four-five beat as he sets down his trunk, his suitcase, another bag, his newspaper, his hat.

And watch when Bernard’s carefully maintained schedule is suddenly disrupted, how he explodes with kinetic energy. His meltdown is thoroughly enjoyable, as he careens around the stage like a balloon that’s quickly losing air.

Ms. Phillips plays Gabriela, the Italian flight attendant, like a young Sophia Loren. Exuding a sultry sexiness, every sentence she utters sounds like a come-on or a declaration in an opera.

Ms. Lomax, on the other hand, plays her role of Gretchen, the German air hostess, with stern Teutonic zeal, striding about as if she’s 9 feet tall, or a figurehead on the prow of a ship cutting through the ocean. Though not physically large, she gives the impression of being statuesque, of commanding the space around her.

When Gretchen and Robert meet, we discover — and perhaps Robert is just discovering this himself, bless him — that he likes a woman to take control. The more aggressively physical she gets, the happier he grows. You get the impression that every time she barks a command or pokes him in the chest while making a point, it’s foreplay for him.

Written by Marc Camoletti, “Boeing- Boeing” was a big hit in Paris when it opened in 1960. It ran for 19 years there and, as adapted by Beverley Cross, for seven years in London. When first introduced on Broadway, it ran for only 23 performances. But its recent revivals (London in 2007 and New York in 2008) were very popular. It was nominated for two Olivier Awards and won a Drama Desk Award and a Tony for Best Revival of a Play.

Florida Rep is one of only eight theaters in the nation to obtain the rights for the show. And they don’t disappoint.

Is the play sexist? Sure. It’s sexist like a James Bond movie, or those old commercials for National Airlines where a stewardess would chirp, “I’m Tracy! Fly me!” It reflects its time.

Is it funny? Hell, yeah! This hormone-drenched farce is a couple hours of continuous laughs, as the humor keeps getting ratcheted up and everything spins out of control.

To paraphrase another old airline tagline: Is this any way to run a farce? You bet it is! 

If you go

>>What: “Boeing-Boeing”
>>When: through Nov. 21
>>Where: Florida Repertory Theatre,
2268 Bay St., between Hendry and
Jackson, in the historic Arcade Theatre
in downtown Fort Myers
>>Cost: $38 and $42
>>Info: 332-4488 or www.FloridaRep.org