American actress Rhea Perlman, best known for playing Carla in long-running American sitcom Cheers, makes her West End debut at the end of this month when she joins the cast of Boeing Boeing. Perlman replaces Patricia Hodge in the French farce on 25 June, joining a cast that includes Adrian Dunbar, Doon Mackichan, Amy Nuttall, Elena Roger and Neil Stuke.
Perlman appeared in every single episode – 273 in total – of bar-set American comedy Cheers during its 11-year run, receiving 10 Emmy nominations for her performance as straight-talking waitress Carla Tortelli and winning four. Before the career-defining role in Cheers, Perlman made her name in another sitcom, Taxi, in which she appeared with husband Danny DeVito.
Though this is Perlman's first outing in the West End, she has previously taken her talent to the stage in America, where she appeared in death row drama The Exonerated, The Tale Of The Allergist's Wife and The Last Night In Ballyhoo.
Boeing Boeing is the tale of Bernard, an architect with a complicated love life. He is engaged to three air stewardesses who, through careful planning around their flight schedules, he keeps apart. But when Boeing introduces a faster plane, Bernard's life gets a lot more hectic.
Boeing Boeing is currently booking at the Comedy until 20 October. em>MA