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Neil Simon’s comedy
'The Odd Couple' kicks off Vista's Broadway Theater's 2007 season
Can two vastly different men share an apartment without driving each other crazy? That’s the question Simon’s play answers in one of the funniest comedies of all time.
It has been almost 42 years since Simon made The Odd
Couple a hit Broadway show, and the characters of Oscar (the slovenly, amiable
sports writer) and Felix (the fussy hypochondriac), part of our popular
culture. Based upon the real-life experience of Simon's older brother
Danny, the premise is simple: two men – one divorced and one estranged and
neither quite sure why their marriages fell apart – move in together to save
money for alimony. The joke is that the new roommates are as impossible with
each other as they were with their spouses.
Simon had just opened his first Broadway hit comedy –
Barefoot in the Park, about the trials and tribulations of newlyweds in New
York – and was eager to explore the comic possibilities of the other end of
the spectrum: two divorcées living together. The resulting play, The Odd
Couple, opened on March 10, 1965, starring Walter Matthau as messy Oscar and
Art Carney as fussy Felix, and went on to become the prolific playwright's
most beloved and long-lived comedy. The play spawned a hit film version,
which starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Matthau repeating his stage success as
Oscar, and a long-running TV series starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack
Klugman as Oscar. A recent revival of the play was seen on Broadway with
Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the starring roles.
The Broadway Theater version stars Broadway Theater owners Randall Hickman as Oscar and Douglas Davis as Felix. The duo staged this production in the Avo Theater in 2000. “The show was a huge success, selling out every show during it’s two week run”, states Hickman. “In fact, for several weeks after the show closed we were still taking calls about tickets, so, (seven years later), we are bringing it back, and ticket sales are once again through the roof. This play is a testament to Simon and his brilliant writing."
The intimate, 49 seat Broadway Theater has, as of late, staged
some large scale shows such as the two story Medieval loft of John Barrymore
in Paul Rudnick's, I HATE HAMLET. Hickman continues, "We have
found that bringing these large shows into our small space brings a whole new
life to play." In the Broadway Theater, audiences
surround the stage like a horseshoe. The furthest seat from the stage is
no more than 20 feet. "Audiences don't just watch the shows in
our space, they actually get engulfed and become a part of the show because of
the close proximity. You can see every facial expression on the
actors faces." In the case of The Odd Couple, Hickman, (who
also directs), has found that toning down the broadness of the comedy
and making it subtle garners even larger laughs from the test audiences
they have brought in to watch specific scenes work. Hickman concludes,
"I don't want to hit the audience in the face with jokes I want the
jokes to sneak up on them. Case in point, Felix and Oscar's
hysterical fight scenes have made our test audiences, (local college
theater students), feel like they are eves-dropping from an apartment
across the street. The spontaneous guttural laughs completely took us by
surprise. We are very excited".
The remainder of the cast is a 'who's who' of San Diego County
actors. Michael Grant Hall of Pacific Beach stars a Murray the cop;
Robert De'Lillo of San Marcos as Vinnie, the hen-pecked husband; Toni Billante
of Escondio as Speed, the jumpy curmudgeon; and Joe Palen of Oceanside as
Roy, the 'scent sensitive' Accountant. The 'sisters upstairs' are played
by Michelle Panek of Vista, (Cecily Pigeon), and Suzanne Oswald of La Mesa, (Gwendlyn
Pigeon).
The Odd Couple will have a six run in the Broadway
Theater, February 15 through March 25. Performances are Thursday through
Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sundays at 2:00 p.m.
Due to high ticket sales 12 of the 30 dates are already sold
out. Calling early for best seating is advised. (760) 806-7905 --
Tickets are $16.50. If you want to bring a group of 10 or
more, group rates are available. On Saturday, March 10th the
Broadway Theater will be serving cake during the 2:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
intermissions to commemorate the plays 42nd birthday. The Broadway
Theater is located at 340 East Broadway in Vista, (directly behind Vista's Avo
Playhouse).
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