Boeing Boeing Question.

[skibumb5290]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 7:13pm

What is Boeing Boeing about. and it is a play or a musical? Also are there any inappropriate scenes in it? and will they have tickets at the TIKS booth on the 17 of may

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 7:18pm

Don't know much about it.

But it's a play. A farce to be more exact.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 7:34pm

It's about a guy living in France with 3 Fiances who are all flight attendants on three different airlines. He plans his life by their flight schedules so they never meet, but one day their airlines choose to put new engines in which speed up all of their aircrafts and messes up their schedules- aergo, disaster for the guy.


It's funny, not too inappropriate, and I think I saw it on TKTS if I remember right - I'll be in the area on wed and take a closer look

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 5/5/08 at 7:37pm

shh82 just about summed up the show...

BoeingonBroadway.com has a summary. And yes, I'd say there's a really good chance of it being on TKTS on the 17th. There are however, multiple discount codes available online (Broadwaybox.com, theatermania.com, etc etc) that offer half price tickets.

[dayao]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 12:15am

Boeing, Boeing was originally a phenomenally successful late 1950’s French language sex comedy written by Marc Camoletti. It was translated and adapted in English by Beverly Cross and first played in London in 1962 where it was just as successful as the French version. Boeing Boeing has been filmed twice, in 1960 in French and most famously in 1965 in English with superb, hilarious performances by Tony Curtis, Jerry Lewis & Thelma Ritter. Boeing, Boeing is one of the best comedy films of the 1960’s and the new production will have to go a long way to equal, much less top, this great film.

Although the amoral tone of the play was shocking for the early 1960's, there is nothing offensive in the show and the sharp double entendre dialogue is fast, furious and very funny.

Updated On: 5/7/08 at 12:15 AM

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 8:32am

A phenomenally successful sex farce that was a hit everywhere except Broadway.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 9:35am

hopefully that will prove to change with this production :]

[dayao]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:06pm

The fact that this play was a hit everywhere except Broadway says a lot more about the immature and prudish attitude American theatergoers in the 1960's had towards subject matter of a sexual nature than it does about Boeing Boeing. The most popular nonmusical play of the period was American playwright Jean Kerr's "Mary, Mary", also billed as a sex comedy, but one whose plot and dialogue, although very witty, was G-rated even for the time. Boeing Boeing may still be too sophisticated for today's American theatergoers. This play requires that the audience actually listen to the dialogue and assumes that they are of sufficient intelligence to comprehend it. I hope that does not prove to be the cause for Boeing Boeing to fail again this time around. It is about time American audiences caught up with the rest of the world in accepting and enjoying sexual farce without discomfort or dumbing the material down to some antiquated notion of what is acceptable.

Updated On: 5/7/08 at 11:06 PM

[etoile]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:46pm

Sweet Lord, did that generalization make your ego feel any better? Perhaps next time you can try and be a little more condescending in your assumptions as to why a particular production didn't succeed.

Updated On: 5/8/08 at 11:46 PM

[shh282]

Posted: 5/7/08 at 11:51pm

etoile - their next thoughts will be on Glory Days


and that will be a HUGE ego boost.

[Corine2]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:03am

It is wildly entertaining and the entire cast are hysterical.
It is a must see. I loved every silly second.
If you like:
39 STEPS
IS HE DEAD? (Before it sadly died which kills me because I loved it so very much!)
Forbidden Broadway

You will love this. Also Adrift In Macao which I also adored.

It is the funniest show currently running on Broadway. 39 Steps is also right on up there.

SEE IT AND 39 STEPS.

[etoile]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 12:15am

The entire cast are hysterical.

What more needs to be said?

[turquoisefish]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 5:52am

I saw the show in London with Rhea Perlman as Bertha (the maid) and loved the show.
The timing of everything was great and the simple set with several doors meant I could concentrate on the story and action.

I can't remember how inappropriate it was but it is more farce than anything else really.

Go see it

[monestere]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 6:14am

It is a well documented fact that the 1960's Broadway production of "Boeing Boeing" failed because audiences of the time simply did not get it and many people were uncomfortable with the cavalier moral tone of the play. It was simply ahead of its time, at least for Broadway. Edward Anhalt (Becket), who wrote the screen adaptation of the play for the very successful 1965 film version stated this as the reason he reworked the material to make it more acceptable to American audiences by making the lead character less amoral than in the original and the film benefited from still unsurpassed comedy performances by Tony Curtis and Thelma Ritter.
For those who might be interested, the film of "Boeing Boeing" is being shown on TCM (Turner Classic Movies) on May 18. It is worth checking out even if you have not seen the current production.

Updated On: 5/8/08 at 06:14 AM

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 8:18am

"Boeing Boeing may still be too sophisticated for today's American theatergoers."

Sophisticated?

"It is wildly entertaining and the entire cast are hysterical.
It is a must see. I loved every silly second.
If you like:
39 STEPS
IS HE DEAD? (Before it sadly died which kills me because I loved it so very much!)
Forbidden Broadway

You will love this. Also Adrift In Macao which I also adored.

It is the funniest show currently running on Broadway. 39 Steps is also right on up there.

SEE IT AND 39 STEPS."

Corine also describes this play as "...a better "Three's Company" with great side splitting fun."

So, obviously you are right, Dayao.

[dayao]

Posted: 5/8/08 at 4:27pm

You got me wrong, SueleenGay. I am very happy that audiences are responding enthusiastically to "Boeing Boeing". It has always been a fast, frenetically paced, howlingly funny play. But its subject matter was sophisticated and somewhat shocking for its time, at least within the framework of a stage comedy. We have come a long way since then and most television sitcoms today appear racier than "Boeing Boeing", but not nearly as well written. But I don't like the comparison to "Three's Company". "Saved by the Bell" was Shakespeare compared to that show, which was redeemed only by the late John Ritter elevating the material with his extremely funny performances each week. Corine may be referring to the set, which is reminiscent of the apartment in "Three's Company". But getting back to “Boeing Boeing”, I have seen at least 5 productions of it in England, Canada, and a revival of the original French version in Paris plus the wonderful 1965 film version with Tony Curtis & Jerry Lewis (he plays the role of the friend who shows up and his reactions to all the crazy stuff going on is great). The show is everything you say it is and is funny even when you see it again. There is so much going on that each time you can discover something you missed the last time because you were laughing so much. Very few plays can achieve that connection with its audience.

Updated On: 5/8/08 at 04:27 PM