Outside of the Comedy Theatre, they’re still boldly publishing a carefully edited extract from Georgina Brown’s Mail on Sunday review for Boeing-Boeing that refers to “a Concorde cast”. But like Concorde itself, the original cast that gave rise to the quote have long been grounded (so perhaps fair trading officers could question the truth-in-advertising basis of it still being used); but seeing the show again on Monday evening, they’ve at least not been replaced by Easyjet alternatives…. yet.
One of the biggest challenges for producers is how to replace the seemingly irreplaceable: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick’s unique star power was never equalled during the subsequent take-overs in The Producers on Broadway, which led to that show running out of steam far sooner than it should have, as the producers floundered by merely finding identikit replacements who were made to give approximations of the same performances without being allowed to stamp their own identities on it (which was arguably the reason for Henry Goodman’s downfall in the part when he was Lane’s original Broadway replacement).
In the case of Boeing-Boeing, a hokey-seeming 60s French farce was gloriously transformed into the funniest show in town when it first opened back in February by the amazing trio of Roger Allam as Bernard, the lothario simultaneously juggling three fiancées, Mark Rylance as his panicked friend Robert and Frances de la Tour as his droll, deadpan housemaid Bertha. There was also a particularly hilarious turn from Michelle Gomez as his German fiancée Gretchen. Now, as the production has morphed through a series of cast replacements, the play still achieves lift-off, even with one significant minus amongst the cast but one more definite plus.
The minus is the seemingly commercially-driven imperative for a telly name in the case of Rhea Perlman, who starred as Carla in the 11-year series Cheers and appeared in all 273 episodes, according to her bio, and has taken over as Bertha to deliver a performance that’s all about eye-rolling rather than the real sense of world-weary disdain that de la Tour brought to it. On the other hand, Adrian Dunbar – stepping into the shoes of Bernard – is less bulky than Allam and therefore plays the physical comedy even faster and funnier. Doon Mackichan is every bit Gomez’s equal as Gretchen. But the stand-out surprise and triumph is Elena Roger, late of the title role of Evita who, after closing that show on a Saturday, took over the very next week here as Italian hostess Gabriella and proves to be a highly accomplished comic actress as well. When the show goes to Broadway, as is rumoured, perhaps Patti LuPone — Broadway’s original Eva Peron — could follow in her footsteps…. (She’s already played a maid in the show within-the-show in the Broadway transfer of the National’s revival of Noises Off).
But it’s starting to look like Boeing-Boeing may be on the way to becoming the new Chicago, with other screen and telly names being rotated through it in the coming months – including Jennifer Ellison, last seen in the West End in Chicago, in fact, taking over from Amy Nuttall in October as American hostess Gloria.
And talking of Chicago, I raced in to catch that again, too, last night, before Kelly Osbourne is parachuted in next month as Mama Morton, since I wanted to see real West End performers in it rather than cynically-manipulated stunt casting that here will see a 22-year-old personality, with no stage experience at all and no qualifications for fame other than being part of a dysfunctional family who have lived their lives out in the glare of reality TV: never will lawyer Billy Flynn’s line in the show about phoney celebrities resonate louder. Right now the role that Osborne will take over is being played by the estimable (and experienced) Susie McKenna; and I hope that McKenna hasn’t been shunted aside to make way for Osbourne but is leaving of her own accord.
Mind you, with this show there’s almost as much repeat business on the stage as I’ve done in returning to see it again and again: Josefina Gabrielle, currently playing Roxie Hart, is now on her 6th stint in the show. So I suspect that McKenna will be back once Osbourne is a fast-fading memory.
