Flighty farce touches down again

Classic Sixties airport farce Boeing-Boeing, whose admirers included the Queen, is back in the West End.

A trio of TV stars will play the flight attendants conducting affairs with the same Parisian playboy.

Former EastEnders actress Tamzin Outhwaite, Michelle Gomez of Channel 4 comedy show Green Wing and Daisy Beaumont of spoof TV show Star Stories are all appearing at the Comedy Theatre in the French farce by Marc Camoletti.

All three actresses make their West End debuts in leading roles. Olivier award-winning actor Roger Allam plays playboy Bernard and the cast also includes Frances de la Tour and Mark Rylance, former artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre.

West End producers Sonia Friedman and Matthew Byam Shaw, whose recent hit revivals include See How They Run and Donkey's Years, collaborate in this new bid to challenge the theatreland dominance of blockbuster musicals such as Spamalot, Wicked and Dirty Dancing.

The cast and producers hope Boeing-Boeing will stay aloft longer than recent casualties such as Bent and Summer And Smoke. The 1962 version, with Nicholas Parsons and Leslie Phillips, lasted five years.

Beaumont said: "It's the perfect antidote to the February blues. It's nice for the audience to enjoy a bit of nonsense that is not politicised." Outhwaite said: "It's very nice to do something that's entertainment for entertainment's sake."

Gomez added: "French farces are very different from English ones because we all get to keep our knickers on!"

Boeing-Boeing is directed by Matthew Warchus, whose Lord Of The Rings musical opens in the West End in May.

Boeing-Boeing opens at the Comedy Theatre on 15 February.