You Will Roll In Your Seat Laughing--BOEING BOEING Now Showing At The James F. Dean Theatre

"Oh what tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" is an old quotation by Sir Walter Scott. When you tell lies or act in a dishonest way you create problems and complications which ultimately end up out of your control. Tragic as that may be, as an observer of such manic mischief, the resulting implications can be almost comical to witness, and what a tangled web of comedic foolishness was woven on the stage of the James F. Dean Theatre in its opening night presentation of Marc Camoletti's high flying parody Boeing Boeing.

The play is set in the 1960s. It centers around a American bachelor by the name of Bernard who has a spacious flat in Paris outfitted with more emergency exits than a 737. For some time now, he has been having his cake and eating it too all with a little coffee, tea, or me times three. He is engaged to three attractive air hostesses who are totally clueless to his nefarious arrangements. With the assistance of his housekeeper, Berthe, it has been smooth flying so far. Everything has been taking off and landing as scheduled. Then, Bernard's flight pattern enters some unexpected major turbulence when his friend Robert comes to stay, and a new, speedier Boeing jet disrupts his careful planning. With all three air hostesses having landed on his doorstep on the same day, Bernard's web of deception begins to unravel with a not so innocent Robert stepping in as a beneficiary. What happens next? The fasten your seatbelt light has been turned on, so take your seat, buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

Chrissy Eliason, a director who has a penchant for detail and an uncanny skill for matching real life personalities to their characters, added another winner to her list of triumphs. Boeing Boeing is a play whose success is based on the premise that timing is everything. Set designer Ernie Eliason provided Chrissy and crew with a beautifully drafted, functional set. Accented by 1960s style abstracts painted by his own hand and equipped with seven different doors spread across a curved stage furnished with a long bar outfitted with a ingeniously constructed motorized pop-up map, Chrissy masterfully directed the concerto of timely swinging doors from the numerous entrances and exits like an experienced air traffic controller with no noticeable blips. As for the cast, she had them fueled up and they were firing on all turbines.

With a devilish smile, black book in hand, and aided by a well planned pop-up map any respectable self made cad would envy, self assured Bernard (played by boyishly handsome Jonathan Quarles) was feeling pretty good about his arrangement as he explained it to a newly arrived and dumbfounded Robert. And then, the inescapable happens, his arrangements begin to spin out of control. Apprehensive Robert, now enlisted as his co-pilot, steps in to help steady the plane, but this is where the comedy begins and its fun to watch Robert go from being apprehensive to conspiring, the type of character that seems to suit Rusty Cooler just fine having just come off a spectacular showing as Beadle Banford in Sweeney Todd.

To say the least, the relationship between Berthe and Bernard is antagonistic. After all, trying to uphold her employer's demanding lifestyle and keep three young ladies of the airways with varying tastes happy is a tall order, and thespian Heather Jane Hogan as the French firecracker of a housekeeper uproariously juggles her duties and feelings with skillful simplicity.

Having engaged in conversations with all three leading ladies, I can rightly say they are perfectly matched to their characters. All three are as different as their hair color. Christiana Blun, a no-nonsense, straightforward individual, plays Gloria--a tall and leggy TWA dressed-in-red American who has a surprise of her own. Joy Springfield, a carefree and fun-loving sort, portrays Gretchen--the flirtatious German redhead of Lufthansa outfitted in yellow. Alex Shanko, a bubbly, sassy spirit, is cast as Gabriella--the voluptuous Italian dressed in the green of Alitalia. Newcomers Christiana and Joy, along with veteran Alex, were entertaining to watch as they seduced, flirted, and charmed their way from being the manipulated to being the manipulators after all was said and done.

The diverse cast handled their varying lingual accents and crucial cues well. The brightly colored 60s style costumes (costume designer Nicole Harrison) blended with the multi-colored set nicely. The props were era appropriate down to the smallest details. The lighting was complimentary and pleasant.

Yes, it is a play about a selfish cad who wants to have his cake and eat it too served with a little coffee, tea or me times three, but you can revel in the idea he reaps what he has sown and at the same time, smile at the irony of it all. The Flowertown Players presentation of Boeing Boeing accomplishes what the play's writer Marc Camoletti intended, to make you roll in your seat laughing.

Showing May 25, 26, 31, June 1, 2 at 8pm May 27 and June 3 at 3pm
Purchase tickets for Boeing Boeing.

A One Of A KInd Architectural Wonder--Farmers' And Exchange Bank

East Bay Street, from the Old City Market to Broad Street, is one of the busiest pedestrian
thoroughfares in Charleston aside from Meeting and King Street. Its walkways are the commercial lifeline of the famous French Quarter. Tourists and locals on any given day flood the many eateries, galleries, and shops housed in the numerous old buildings overlooking this concrete river. Among its numerous architectural wonders stands a one of a kind. You no doubt have walked past it many times just throwing it a passing glance and not giving it a second thought. But, if you were to stop, take an inquisitive gaze at it for a few moments, you will gain another perspective. It is a surviving reminder of the beautifully diverse history that makes Charleston what it is today.

Located on the west side of East Bay Street near the Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, this peculiar two-story masonry building, built out of brick and varying shades of brownstone--one a solemn tone from Connecticut and the other a soft hue from New Jersey, is exceptionally different. Architecturally designed in the most flamboyant of the nineteenth-century exotic revivals, its motif was a radical departure from the traditionally favored styled buildings of similar institutions.

Its main facade is dominated by three distinct but identical sections with muqarnas features. Its three first floor entrances are trimmed by a trefoil arch with intricately carved double doors featuring decorative iron work and topped by large, circular windows with an inlaid daisy pattern. The second-floor has three large multi-pane fixed windows with the upper circular portion edged in a Moorish inspired scalloped design. The roof line is lined with a double rowed horseshoe-shaped entablature and topped off with a sheet metal roof and a Spanish and Moorish style muqarnas dome. The rear wing has the conventional Classical Revival style. There are two chimneys in the rear. On the interior, there is pine board flooring and a paved vestibule leading to the main banking room. This opulent space is twenty-one feet wide and nearly fifty feet in length and features arcade walls, elaborate plaster ornamentation, and a coffered ceiling and skylight.

Farmers' and Exchange Bank was chartered on December 16, 1852. The design of the building was the work of architects Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee. Its construction began in 1853 with its completion in 1854. Their design is thought to have been influenced by illustrations from Washington Irving's Tales of the Alhambra, a book about his three-month stay at a Moorish palace in 1829. It was published around the time the building was constructed.

Alhambra Castle--you can see the similarities in architecture.

The Farmers' and Exchange Bank's denominations ranged from $5 - $100. Both the $5 and the $10 notes from this bank depicted scenes of the antebellum South. In the 1860's, the Federal bombardment of Charleston forced the bank to move to Columbia. The Civil War took a toll on the bank and in time, it closed. Overtime, the building was used as a telegraph office by Western Union. U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings once owned the building and used it for office space. The structure was considered for demolition in the early 1970s due to deterioration, but Charleston banker Hugh Lane Sr. contributed $50,000 toward its restoration. It was declared a National Historic Landmark on November 7, 1973.

In the 1990's, it became home for the Saracen restaurant and a second floor drinking establishment called Little Charlie's Bar. In time, the restaurant closed, but the bar remained. The bar was rumored to be a den of drugs and money-laundering and described as being "smoky, full of slutty college chicks and horny frat guys. A place where the bartenders played favorites with the beautiful people, the music was all over the map," and a few other things I will leave unmentioned. Charlie's Little Bar closed in 2005.

The Balish Family purchased the building in that same year. They owned restaurants in Savannah called The Olde Pink House and Garibaldi and for three decades, Charleston's Garibaldi Cafe at 49 S. Market Street. It was renowned for serving crispy flounder to tourists and locals alike. The restaurant closed after 33 years because its lease had expired, so they were looking for a new space to locate their restaurant. They were considering two locations--a vacant waterfront lot they owned on Concord Street beside Dockside Condominiums or the recently purchased iconic Farmers' and Exchange building.

They chose the iconic building and planned on calling it Farmers and Exchange Restaurant, which had a planned opening in late 2015. So far, it has not come to fruition and the building remains eerily quiet except for some spurious activity from time to time.

The Farmers' and Exchange building at 141 East Bay Street is one of the few surviving Moorish Revival structures in the United States, and Charleston has it.