Written by orange• July 16, 2025• 2:02 am• Costa Mesa, Costa Mesa Playhouse, Uncategorized

Boeing Boeing @ Costa Mesa Playhouse – Review

photo credit: Michael Serna

Written by Patrick Chavis

Boeing Boeing is playing now at the Costa Mesa Playhouse, July 11 – 27, 2025.

This fast-paced French sex farce about bachelor Bernard (Adam Ferguson), who schemes to date three beautiful flight attendants simultaneously in his Paris flat, received first-class treatment from this cast and crew in this historic final performance at Rea Elementary, marking four decades in the space.

Story:

Boeing-Boeing has been a very popular farce since the 1960s and even spawned a film of the same name in 1965, starring Tony Curtis and Jerry Lewis. While the concept is rather simple and straightforward, the sharp writing and its earnestness in embracing what it is, especially with the help of good direction, make it effective. Nothing incredibly distinctive from director Jill Johnson but she more than covered the essentials and then some.

Little details, like having the flight attendant introduce the show at the beginning as if you are about to take off, added a lot of character to a show. While the apartment has a vintage look, especially with the fine art pieces displayed on the walls, the lack of additional French atmosphere was noticeable, aside from the evident French wit from the maid, Berthe (Lorie Georgeson), who is delightful in this role. This apartment could have been almost anywhere. This is my biggest criticism of the set design by Jill Johnson, which features a six-door, count ’em, six-door apartment with chic couches and ’60s decor that does the era justice at the very least.

Boeing Boeing, with all of its stereotypical and misogynistic jokes, never feels underhanded in tone. The quick-witted writing also mitigates the fact that it’s a one-joke show, keeping it from easily being an exercise in monotony. The majority of the show stays true to the almost cartoonish antics of the guys, but in the second act, when Robert (Tevin Phelps) turns down an opportunity to continue, well, you’ll have to see it to find out.

Phelps’ performance with a glance and a few words brings a much-needed dose of heart and perspective to the show. Phelps could have easily made this line more comedic, but I think the more romantic delivery was the right choice.

Costume/Acting:

Costume design by Nicholas Hirata featured bold colors and personalized outfits for the flight attendants, as well as well-fitted business attire for the two friends. I particularly liked the red outfit worn by Italian flight attendant Gabriella (Nadine Salina Salvia), complete with a red suit jacket as fiery as her character. Fiery, yes, that’s the perfect word to describe Salvia’s red-hot performance, from sweet to off the handle in a matter of seconds, which could give anyone whiplash if they weren’t ready for it.

How would I describe Kendall Sinclair (Gloria) every time she comes on the stage?

The only reasonable word is KAPOW!!!

Explosive, uncalled for, and never predictable! With a kissing technique that could only be reasonably called the Georgian Woody Woodpecker kiss.

Tall, German, and not into any funny business, Stephanie Savić (Gretchen) plays oblivious so well that it’s truly charming, and as I mentioned before, performs one of the most touching parts of the play.

Ferguson is the glue, no, the super glue that holds all the chaos together.

If you haven’t visited the Costa Mesa Playhouse in the last 40 years, this is a great opportunity, and you don’t even have to fly.