Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's Season Opener

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Milwaukee Chamber Theatre

Milwaukee Chamber Theatre opens its season with a breezy farce, Boeing Boeing, which bounces across the stage of the Broadway Theatre Center’s Cabot Theatre with jaunty momentum. The rhythm of the show’s effervescent physicality extends to well-executed use of pauses and silence within the dialogue for a sparkling comic experience.

Director Michael Cotey has found the right pace for this piece. Brian J. Gill is suitably precise as Bernard, a man living in Paris who must juggle his tensions and attentions with three different fiancees. Marcella Kearns is a captivatingly deft comedic genius in the role of Bernard’s housekeeper Berthe. Kearns’ masterful sense of comedy can find humor in even the slightest motion and transfer it to the stage subtly in a way that still manages to catch nearly everyone in the audience.

Playing to the other extreme is Ryan Schabach as Bernard’s meek, conservative old schoolmate from Wisconsin. Schabach is allowed some subtlety in his performance, but he is at his best while cleverly contorting himself through a bewildering labyrinth of lies prompted by the ever-increasing complexity of the plot. Schabach has found a way to play over-the-top awkwardness in a 20th century farce without making it feel stale or tedious, which is quite an accomplishment.

The ensemble is rounded-out by Amber Smith, Samantha Sostarich and Anne Walaszek as the three fiancees. Walaszek is fun as the crazy American woman. Sostarich is capably overpowering as the German. Smith is absolutely magnetic as the Italian. Her sense of subtlety and comic understatement smartly complement those qualities in Kearns’ end of the ensemble.

Through Aug. 30 at the Broadway Theatre Center. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com