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STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK PHOTOS BY KIRSTEN SHULTZ PHOTOGRAPHY Think things have been a little bumpy for the airlines this year? Fasten your seatbelts for “Boeing Boeing,” the high-flying farce about to take flight at The Liberty Theatre in Hailey. The Liberty Theatre Company will present this madcap comedy and all its manic mayhem beginning Friday, June 28, and running through July 13.
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The Lufthansa flight attendant, played by Naomi McDougall Jones, proves a little scary for Bernard’s college friend, played by Chris Harcum.
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It’s so funny that Director Veronica Moonhill says the audience will feel as if “they’re fizzing with champagne.” “I saw the Broadway revival in 2008 in New York City when I was in acting school and thought it was one of the funniest plays I’d ever seen. I was crying I was laughing so hard,” recounted Naomi McDougall Jones, the theater company’s artistic director. “Mark Rylance and Christine Baranski were part of an amazing cast, and it stuck with me as one of my favorite theater experiences of all time. We thought it would be a fun summer treat for everyone--something light and funny.” The play stars New York actor Timothy C. Goodwin as Bernard, a smooth talking, chauvinistic bachelor who lives a storybook life in 1960s Paris with three flight attendant girlfriends who know nothing about one another. And he means to keep it that way, meticulously scheduling their visits around flight schedules that never coincide. It works perfectly until a change in flight plans lands all three flight attendants at his door at the same time.
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The no-nonsense stewardess for Air Italia is played by Tiara Thompson.
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Well…make that doors. Bernard’s apartment has seven doors, all of which get used in an evening of door-slamming fun. Chris Harcum, of New York City, plays Robert—Bernard’s college friend—who is both befuddled and admiring of the arrangement. Tiara Thompson, of Challis, plays Gabriella, the no-nonsense Italian who flies Air Italia. Hannah Nye, who played Roxy Hart in TLTC’s “Chicago,” plays Gloria, a brash American working for TWA. And McDougall Jones plays Gretchen, a spirited German who works for Lufthansa. Andrew Alburger plays the French maid Berthe, whose wry observations about her boss’s arrangement will keep the audience in stitches.
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“Boeing Boeing” recalls the hit book “Coffee, Tea or Me?” the uninhibited memoir of two fictitious airline stewardesses published in the 1960s.
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“He’s so funny it’s outrageous,” said McDougall Jones. “Casting Andrew as the maid was a stroke of genius on the part of Veronica. She directed our radio play “Hammond Castle” where everyone was doing a lot of different voices and characters. And there were a couple times where Andrew played an older woman and she thought he was quite good at that.” Thompson recently worked with The Liberty Theater Company’s Tess Makena in Boise Contemporary Theater’s “Silent Sky,”, and Goodwin and Harcum are colleagues of McDougall Jones dating back about 15 years. The cast brought in dialect coach Joe Golden, an audiobook narrator, Idaho Shakespeare Festival actor and professor of Theatre at The College of Idaho, to craft their German, Italian, French and New York accents. “It’s hard enough if everyone is doing one accent in a show. If everyone has different accents, it gets quite tricky,” said McDougall Jones.
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The costumes will take you back to the Sixties.
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James Haycock, who designed TLTC’s “Desdemona” set and the costumes for “Chicago,” designed the “Boeing Boeing” set. “It’s unbelievable, stunning,” said McDougall Jones. “I’m so proud of the work we did at The Mint restaurant, especially for “Chicago,” but The Mint is no replacement for being in a real theater, especially when you’ve got seven doors you’re running in and out of.” The play by French playwright Marc Camoletti was first staged in London’s West End in 1962 where it ran for seven years. The longest running French play in the world, its 2008 Broadway revival won two Tony Awards, including one for Best Revival of a Play. “It’s been a blast to make,” said McDougall Jones. “We’ve laughed so hard in rehearsals—it’s been such a fun, wild process.”
Added Moonhill, the Los Angeles-based director: “The wonderful thing about ‘Boeing Boeing’ is that it is just sheer play and fun and silliness--the perfect morsel for a fun summer night at the theater. “In the tradition of true farces like ‘Noises Off,’ this play ramps up into ever wilder, ever more chaotic comedic madness until the audience will be weeping with laughter.” IF YOU GO… The show starts at 7 p.m. June 28-29 and July 5-6 and 10-13. Matinees will be held at 2 p.m. June 29-30 and July 7, at The Liberty Theatre in Hailey. Purchase individual tickets at https://www.libertytheatrecompany.org/. Or, purchase The Liberty Theater Company 2024-25 Pay-What-You-Feel Season Pass, paying any amount of money you wish in exchange for general admission tickets to this and four other productions in the upcoming season.
A Premium Pass for $1,500 guarantees behind-the-scene peeks and VIPs perks for those who want to support the theater at a higher level. Questions? Call 208-582-8388.
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