By Russ Tarby
Contributing Writer
Actress Chelsea Lembo returns to Syracuse as a cranky French maid in the CYN Playhouse production of “Boeing-Beoing,” a 1960s French farce running through Jan. 19 to Jan. 27 at Shoppingtown Mall in DeWitt.
Lembo, who was raised in Central New York, headed to Boston, Mass., 14 years ago to study drama at Emerson College. After earning a post-graduate degree in education at Lesly University in Cambridge, she remained in Bean Town working as a lead drama instructor for Southeastern Massachusetts Arts Collaborative and as an elementary school teacher in Wilmington.
While she made her living in the classroom, Lembo continued acting on the side, appearing in a 2009 independently produced comedy film “A Lovely Lady,” and in “The Time of Your Life,” staged by the Fort Point Theatre Channel in Boston, where she played a pinball fanatic named Willie.
Luckily for Syracuse theater audiences, Lembo returned to Syracuse last June after accepting a position as a curriculum associate at the Redhouse Arts Center in Syracuse and was cast in CNY Playhouse’s current production of the bedroom farce, “Boeing-Boeing” by the late playwright Marc Camoletti.
Lembo, a petite, cherubic faced actress, portrays Berthe, the French maid who’s “monsieur” is Bernard, an American in Paris juggling relationships with three airline stewardesses from three different countries, each of whom think he plans to marry them.
As Berthe, Lembo emphatically rolls her expressive, big brown eyes at Bernard’s crass philandering. She stomps to and from the kitchen complaining in her thick Parisian accent about the varied cuisines demanded by Bernard’s international harem. Like any good domestic servant, however, Berthe does her best to keep her boss’s secrets even while the multiplying subterfuges threaten to drive everyone crazy as a bedbug.
Newbie director Noelle Hedgcock hit the jackpot when she auditioned Lembo whose devil-may-care characterization of the over-worked and under-appreciated housekeeper effectively steals this show out from under leading actors Derek Potocki as Bernard and Christopher Lupia as Robert, Bernard’s old buddy from Wisconsin. After Robert arrives to crash at Bernie’s Paris flat, a new, speedier Boeing jet disrupts the bachelor’s careful planning, and before long all three stewardesses descend simultaneously, and catastrophe looms.
Potocki, a dark-haired handsome actor, mugs more than necessary, but he’s clearly having fun with his role. So is the rubber-faced Lupia whose Robert is a portrait in exasperation.
Bernard’s three fiancées alternate between seduction and suspicion. Jessie Dobrzynski plays the American, Gloria, with a broad Brooklyn twang. Leggy Elizabeth Klink portrays the sensual Italian, Gabriella, and big Liz Stanistreet plays the sauerkraut-soaked German, Gretchen.
As local theater’s top fight choreographer, Potocki staged an exciting bit of slapstick when Bernard and Robert briefly struggle over the stewardesses. While Potocki impresses with a complete flip, Lupia will be the one showing off bruises after the play’s run. Robert takes beatings from a bean bag chair, a Lufthansa bag and an Italian purse. While the conflicts briefly rage, no one will be surprised when a happy ending ensues.
And audiences will be happier to see Chelsea Lembo in future productions, humorous and otherwise.
“Boeing-Boeing,” produced by Keith Arlington, runs at 8 p.m. from Jan. 19 to Jan. 20, at 2 p.m. on Jan. 21 and at 8 p.m. on Jan. 25 to Jan. 27 at CNY Playhouse, located near the Macy’s entrance at on the second level of ShoppingTown Mall in DeWitt. Tickets cost $17 on Thursday and Sunday and $20 on Friday and Saturday. For more information, visit cynplayhouse.org.
