Guess Whos Coming to Dinner

Boeing-Boeing, Marc Camoletti's lively farce, which ran to acclaim in 2008-9 at New York's Roundabout Theatre, sees Bernard, an enterprising rake, juggle trysts with three comely international stewardesses. His system? A meticulous timetable which enables him to chart and anticipate their comings and goings with cynical, if sometimes breathless, precision. That is, until the newer, faster Boeing jet upends their schedules to disastrous, hilarious effect, forcing Bernard to enlist the bumbling help of his old friend Robert. Their frantic improvisations flounder, however; the game up, Bernard and Robert respectively pair off, sheepishly making do with one woman each. Camoletti's heroes are relieved perhaps, but reformed?

Not quite, as we discover in Don't Dress for Dinner, Camoletti's sequel, currently being revived (also by the Roundabout) following an unrelated, successful run in Chicago. Bernard has since married, though little else has changed: he plots to swap his wife (ex-stewardess) for his mistress (Parisian model) for the weekend; Robert drops in unexpectedly; an attractive cordon bleu chef Bernard hired to cater the fling arrives early. Identities are duly mistaken, clothes shed, doors opened and shut loudly. Bernard and Robert, seasoned prevaricators both, have their work cut out for them. The peaceful marital hearth? Out of the frying pan... MAX CARTER