Bernard, the playboy at the center of Playhouse 1960’s production of Boeing Boeing, has a pretty sweet setup. He has three airline stewardesses rotating through his Paris bachelor pad on a whirlwind schedule. Each woman believes she’s engaged to Bernard. His scheme has worked so far because of the women’s overlapping schedules; they’re never in town at the same time. But things quickly — and comically — fall apart when the airline begins flying newer, faster Boeing jets. Now the women are making the cross-Atlantic flight in record time, giving each more time with Bernard. How can he keep them from running into each other? “He can’t,” director Christine Weems tells us. “You know he’s going to get caught. It’s just a matter of when. And how bad it’s going to be when the women find out about each other.” Weems describes the comedy as a “fun farce, with somebody going out one door while somebody else comes in another. It’s just a split-second difference. Bernard’s doing everything he can to keep the women apart, but pretty soon he’s going in circles.”
Marc Camoletti’s Boeing Boeing is set in the 1960s, a time when everyone seemed more innocent. “He’s certainly not innocent, being engaged to three women, but he isn’t doing it to hurt them. He’s just doing it, well, because he can. And until the women’s schedules change, it seems to be working. I don’t think audiences will hate Bernard, even though he’s clearly not a good guy. In a way, you find yourself rooting for him, hoping he does get away with it.”
8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Through April 5. 6814 Gant Road. For information, call 281-587-8243 or visit ph1960.com. $18.
Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: March 14. Continues through April 5, 2014
This article appears in Mar 13-19, 2014.