Brief Thoughts on “Boeing Boeing” 2008.12.23

[logan0215]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 1:42pm

My friend and I nabbed a pair of tickets to Boeing Boeing on TDF last week for last night’s performance (They were Balcony-Right, Row E for those curious). I immensely enjoyed the show, and after investigating the video preview available on BWW can say that (almost all of) the current replacement cast continues to convey these characters beautifully while the remaining OBC actors continue to grow in nuance and comedy.

Mark Rylance is who I am most referring to when I say “nuanced.” His Wisconsin accent and ho-hum attitude is so fabulously flat. From what I can tell, he has taken his character even further into the mundane. He actually reminded me very much of a Cirque du Soleil clown in the way he moped around the stage for his first few scenes of the show, very much like Slava’s clowns over at the Hayes. He has an amazing gift for timing and, especially in his scenes with Christine Baranski, can also hold the audience in the palm of his hands in moments of silences.

Ms. Baranski is hysterically sharp and exasperated in the role of Berthe. There’s not much to say here other than her sharp-tongued French-woman is fabulous and accurate! I’m dying 1000 deaths that I can’t see her as Charlotte in “A Little Night Music.”

Paige Davis was as bubbly as you would expect a former “Trading Spaces” host to be. She was shm-acting quite a bit which came off a bit awkward in the first scene, but her later scenes as the sultry temptress were hysterical.

Rebecca Gayheart was the revelation for me this evening. My only real memory of her acting would be in (edit) “Urban Legend” when she played the *spoiler* deranged killer (sorry to ruin the ending of a decade old C-horror movie folks) */spoiler.* Her Gabriela was outstanding. Having spent 4 months in Rome last spring, I can personally attest to the accuracy of her Italian woman. I especially loved in her first scene when she yelled at Robert like a fiery Italian, a fire I certainly witnessed there for myself.

Missi Pyle was, of course, outstanding. I have had a longstanding love affair with her ever since the fight scene in “Bringin’ Down The House” so I was excited to see her last night. She dove head first into extreme character-acting and brought the accent to such a heightened vernacular that it had my friend (who studied in Germany) and I in stitches.

The “almost all of the current replacement actors” clause from above unfortunately applies to Greg Germann. HEADACHE! I was so happy to see that he wasn’t around for the larger chunk of the middle of the play. His incessant howling and screaming throughout the first scenes were not only unrealistic, but obnoxious. Not that this comic farce really requires any sense of reality, but his uncontrolled screaming would have surely alerted the other fiancés, if not his neighbors, of what was going on. I just kept trying to picture in my head how Bradley Whitford would have delivered the lines. I was also trying to figure out where, from the text that was put in front of him, he would have derived such a delivery. I hope he has a good vocal coach because he will surely develop vocal nodes from simply screaming like that 8 shows a week.

Overall an side-splitting night at the theater that I was very happy to catch before going off the boards. Now I’ve got to find myself a bootleg of the London cast to see how things came off over there…

Updated On: 12/24/08 at 01:42 PM

[AdamBritten]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 1:47pm

I completely agree with what you are saying about Greg. When I saw the show about a month ago, my mind kept going back to "how can they not hear him!?!?" It kept taking me away from the show, and reminding me that I was watching a play because of how unrealistic his portrayal was.

[logan0215]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 1:53pm

IKR?!

Question for anyone in the know:

Are mics used at all in the show? I noticed speakers in front of me hanging from the balcony overhang but they may have been used solely for the music. There were a few times when I felt like some things they said were amplified, but I could be wrong.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 2:05pm

I'm so glad I'm catching this before it goes! THank goodness for the bizarre holiday schedule!

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 2:09pm

The cast are not amplified. The speakers are for music and such.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 2:35pm

My only real memory of her acting would be in “Final Destination”

I think you mean Urban Legend.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 2:54pm

Yep, she's the psycho is Urban Legends. Her breakdown in that film is quite delightful.

[george95]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 3:23pm

I was thoroughly impressed with Rebecca Gayheart as well. I only knew here from Urban Legend, Scream 2, and the Noxema commercials back in high school. I was expecting her to be bad just because of horror-movie acting stereotypes, but she was terrific as the Italian FA.

The German flight attendant was also hilarious, and easily got the most laughs out of the audience.

I mostly went to see it though for Paige Davis (huge fan of trading spaces) and she was pretty good. I think that since her character didnt' seem so different from her real self presented on Trading Spaces, she didnt seem to be acting so much- but she seemed to be having so much fun, it was fun to watch her too.

Mark Rylance, the British actor who plays the dumpy guy from Wisconsin, did get on my nerves a lot. The audience went absolutely nuts when he walked onstage. Then when he said his lines in the monotone, flat delivery, the went bonkers, berzerk,insane again. That ruined it for me---I mean it was funny, but seriously everybody around me was having trouble catching their breaths, and clapping after his lines, and just going nuts. It actually made me start to hate when he talked because I knew the audience would just love whatever he did or said.

Overall, the show was very funny, sharp, and entertaining.

[jennamajig]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 3:50pm

Mark Rylance, the British actor who plays the dumpy guy from Wisconsin, did get on my nerves a lot. The audience went absolutely nuts when he walked onstage. Then when he said his lines in the monotone, flat delivery, the went bonkers, berzerk,insane again. That ruined it for me---I mean it was funny, but seriously everybody around me was having trouble catching their breaths, and clapping after his lines, and just going nuts. It actually made me start to hate when he talked because I knew the audience would just love whatever he did or said.

Ah, Mark Rylance made the show for me. I thought he was easily the funniest thing on stage and would see it again if I could just for him. But I saw this the show this summer, pre-replacement and the audience reaction wasn't quite as over the top as you described. I could understand it affecting enjoyment (I also saw the Little Mermaid in that trip which wasn't good, but it wasn't helped by the fact that audience starting clapping the second they heard the opening note to any of songs from the movie score).

[logan0215]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 3:52pm

Yes! Urban Legend.

My work's internet is so slow that I didn't want to google it...

Edited.

[Parks]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 4:02pm

I had no idea Rebecca was in the show!! She's gorgeous. I wish I had gotten to see the show again before it closes .

[logan0215]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 11:29pm

She was especially striking done up as an Italian.

I saw on her "inspiration board" in the backstage tour with Paige Davis on BW.com Sophia Loren which she accomplishes quite nicely.

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 12/24/08 at 11:41pm

Anyone else remember Rebecca from the movie, Jawbreaker?

She was also on a television show where she played a blind woman...

EDIT: Ah! Nip/Tuck.

Updated On: 12/24/08 at 11:41 PM

[LadyRosecoe]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 12:17am

Great in Dead Like Me as well!

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 12/25/08 at 1:08am

Jawbreaker is one of my favorite "rainy day" movies. Always makes me laugh. Must be all the camp.

Rebecca was a big surprise for me. She was really fantastic. The accent got a little out of control from time to time (not in a comedic way like Missi Pyle's German), but the portrayal was excellent. Paige was not very good. Her jokes fell completely flat and she just doesn't seem to get Gloria. Missi was absolutely incredible. A truly remarkable comedic performance. Greg is just... bleh. His character is vital, yet it's surprising how little he matters. At the end of the day, it's everyone else you remember. Christine is uproarious as Berthe, taking a pretty tiny, underwritten role and fooling you into thinking her role was much bigger than it was. And Mark has grown with every performance I've seen. Every time I have seen it, he, Christine, and Missi have found nuances and new elements to add to their performances that truly amaze me. He has proven himself VERY worthy of that Tony.

I'm going to severely miss this show knowing full well I will never see a production of this kind ever again. Thank God I was blessed to have seen it 5 times.