Attention all passengers: Arts Barn Airline would like to welcome you aboard flight Montgomery Playhouse 1969. Boarding now through the main stage boarding gate, this flight’s final destination is Paris. The in-flight entertainment will feature the uproarious farcical comedy Boeing, Boeing. Your flight’s Captain, Lisa Holland, ensures a roaring good time will be had by all throughout the duration of the flight. Please ensure to remain seated for the duration of the flight, except for when the captain gives the signal to move about the main stage cabin freely, as wildly engaging romantic turbulence is bound to occur!
This flight has been comfortably furnished to replicate a 1969 posh Parisian flat by Interior Decorator Kay Coupe and Interior Designer David Jones. Note the stylish approach to structure of these furnishings, particularly Jones’ use of depth. Created with exacting precision to detail and dimension, the space is fully operational for in-flight entertainment. Jones’ work creates a swanky atmosphere; Coupe’s dressing techniques infuse said atmosphere with a worldly artistic sense, eclectic but refined. From the mid-point ledge molding to the carefully patterned wallpaper, Jones and Coupe construct a visual masterpiece. Coupe deserves a bonus round of props for the upper-echelon motif featured throughout the flat’s décor. Works of art, both paintings and sculpture, are hung with an intriguing je ne sais quoi to feel like a lavish bachelor pad without the residual arrogance of a bourgeoisie aristocrat amid its inhabitance.
Modeling the latest fall fashions from Paris, Fashionista and Designer Maggie Skekel entices passengers with her newest line of designs featuring three popular airline stewardess models. Each more striking than the next, Skekel highlights the vibrant colors of the late 60’s in these trendy threads. Form-fitting, and luxuriously appealing there is something fabulous about her latest design work, particularly the bright bumblebee yellow and black stewardess set representing Lufthansa airlines. Radiant red represents America’s TWA and boisterous blue can be seen on Air France; all three vivacious colors are modeled to perfection throughout the flight for your viewing pleasure.
Translator Dave Dossey has boarded this flight to ensure the most authentic of communications during the in-flight entertainment. As the featured performance involves a plethora of accents it is critical that all passengers be able to understand them fluidly. Dossey produces convincing German, French, and American accents from the three airline stewardesses featured in said entertainment. He also manages to distinguish between the servant’s working class English and the charming polished bachelor English of Bertha and Bernard.
In-flight entertainment for you passengers aboard this two-hour journey is truly at its peak. Roaring comedy that clips along at a breeze will keep you laughing in your seats for the duration of the flight. See if you can keep up with the zany twists and turns of the entertaining and amusing plot as we follow Bernard (Jason Damaso) through his time tables to keep his three fiancées from discovering one another.
Bolstering with comic support and a knack for intensely animated facial expressions Bertha (Anne Vandercook) serves as Bernard’s household maid. Between her cheeky nature and zippy comic delivery, Vandercook spices up the performances with her own unique brand of entertainment. Mouthing off quite often and fiercely to boot at Robert, Vandercook’s general sassy nature ensures plenty of comedic moments throughout.
Janet (Cory Bolcik) is our tawdry American gem; a true diamond in the rough as far as classically cultured dames go. Bolcik, like her two female co-stars playing flight attendants, has a striking beauty about her physicality making her perfect for the role. Her deliberately slow speech augments her thick southern drawl and really helps ground the character in place. Bolcik has keen flirtation skills which are easily transferrable depending upon where she sets her eyes.
Jacqueline (Christina Fox) is an extraordinary little croissant taking on the French stewardess airs with ease. Fox is a natural in the role with her coy flirtatious nature and her congenial concern for love. Her delicate accent is the most precise of those featured in the performance and it rolls deliciously off her tongue whenever she speaks about adoring Bernard. But don’t be fooled by her adorable innocence, Fox brings a flourish of fury when she storms back into the apartment in Act II of the performance.
Judith (Netta Morelli) is a saucy minx and a force to be reckoned with. Morelli plays the representative for Lufthansa airlines, a devilishly dominating character with a thick German accent. Her temper is short, her passions exasperative, and her intensity thoroughly steeped in melodramatic theatrics. Her wild moments of engaging both Bernard and Robert never seem to cease. Working her sultry charms as easily as she does her tempestuous temper, Morelli is a blazing inferno of authentic woman in this performance.
Robert (J. McAndrew Breen) all but steals the show making it a comedy from his point of view rather than the bachelor pad of his best mate, Bernard. His jittery and indefatigable energy translates through his physicality, into his voice, and resonates throughout the performance as a perpetual motion that drives his character’s pacing. Nervous is an attribute that would be putting his portrayal politely; spastic and hysterically hilarious seems far more appropriate a descriptor. Barking at the top of his lungs, floundering with comedic intent to create diversions and fabricate excuses, Breen’s comic timing is impeccable and his nuanced delivery of anxiety is multi-dimensional. A true master of the stage, Breen is the man to watch as the shenanigans unfold around him.
The is one luxuriously romantic comedy that should not be missed during its brief run. In-flight entertainment changes frequently and it would be a dreadful shame to miss the one currently being featured on this particular flight. Book your tickets now for a mile-high experience like no other with Montgomery Playhouse flight 1969, it’s quite the doozey.
Running Time: 2 hours with one intermission
Boeing, Boeing plays through March 1, 2015 at the Montgomery Playhouse at the Gaithersburg Arts Barn— 311 Kent Square Road in Gaithersburg, MD. For tickets call (301) 258-6394 or purchase them online.
