Can two divorced men – an irresponsible
slob and a self-righteous neat freak – live together without
driving each other crazy?
Once again, the question is answered with a resounding "no"
in the Heights Players’ revival of Neil Simon’s "The Odd
Couple," which opens their season, running through Sept.
21.
Helen Fein, best known for her roles in Heights Players productions
such as "Gypsy" (Mama Rose), "Call Me Madam"
(Sally Adams) and "Mame" (Vera Charles), makes her
main stage directing debut.
After many years of designing and directing productions – including
last season’s "Sweet Bird of Youth" – Robert J. Weinstein,
who first appeared with the Heights Players in 1971 as a child
actor, now makes his stage re-debut as the sloppy Oscar Madison.
And John Pepi, who takes the role of Felix Unger makes his third
appearance in a Heights Players’ Neil Simon revival, having already
played Jake, in "Jake’s Women," and Eddie, in "Lost
in Yonkers."
Add to this trio, Joe Cooper, Bruce Tyler, Sam Greene and Steven
Platt, who form the comedic chorus of Felix and Oscar’s poker
buddies; and Heidi Carofano and Vicki Grubman as the hilarious
Pigeon sisters (the divorced and widowed ladies who live upstairs),
and "The Odd Couple" becomes two-and-a-half hours of
nonstop laughter.
Weinstein and Pepi do a great job of not getting along so well;
it’s a pleasure to watch them torture each other. And both actors
are keenly aware that, despite Simon’s clever gags, they need
to be physically, as well as verbally, funny. Thus Weinstein
careens and Pepi cringes; Weinstein bellows and Pepi begs.
Bill Wood and Gary VanderPutten have recreated the casual messiness
of Oscar’s Manhattan apartment with careful attention to detail
– old take-out cartons adorn the tables, hangers are suspended
from bookshelves, and clothing is strewn everywhere. It makes
the transformation, after Felix has moved in and vacuumed, wiped
and washed everything, all the more dramatic.
"The Odd Couple" was written in 1965, fairly early
in Simon’s career, just after "Come Blow Your Horn"
(1961), "Little Me" (1962) and "Barefoot in the
Park" (1963). It starred Art Carney, as Felix, and Walter
Matthau, as Oscar, and ran for 964 performances at the Plymouth
Theatre. At that time, Simon was still struggling to establish
himself as something more than a gag writer (he learned his craft
writing for Sid Caesar’s "Your Show of Shows"). And
"The Odd Couple" certainly went a long way in helping
him toward that goal.
In "The Odd Couple," he creates two unforgettable characters
(immortalized in the 1968 film starring Matthau and Jack Lemmon,
and later further developed in the long-running 1970s TV series
starring Jack Klugman, as Oscar, and Tony Randall, as Felix).
Although Oscar has a typically "male" character and
Felix has a personality more commonly associated with what is
"female," Simon manages to avoid making the couple
into stereotypes, chiefly by their unique yet familiar way of
getting on each other’s nerves.
Felix wears a seatbelt in a drive-in movie, cleans ashtrays during
poker games and sends suicide telegrams to his wife (according
to Oscar). Oscar is irresponsible and inconsiderate (according
to Felix).
Even the most charitable observer cannot help but notice that
Felix makes life unbearable with his constant polishing and painful
self-recrimination, or that Oscar is, in fact, four weeks late
in alimony payment, that he has to search for his telephone until
he finds it buried beneath a pile of clothing on his sofa, and
that he is never seen without a (presumably smelly) cigar in
his mouth.
As if this weren’t enough to make the two incompatible, Oscar
longs to get a woman (hopefully one of the very available Pigeon
sisters) in the sack, while Felix longs to be back in the arms
of his estranged wife. Here the excellent Carofano and Grubman
provide a particularly welcome break in this otherwise exclusively
male show.
There’s lots of laughter in "The Odd Couple." And there’s
also a good deal of pain. But as we all know, there’s nothing
quite as funny as laughter that comes along with tears.
The Heights Players production of "The Odd Couple"
plays through Sept. 21, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm, and Sundays
at 2 pm. Tickets are $12, $10 seniors and students. The Heights
Players are located at 26 Willow Place between State and Joralemon
streets in Brooklyn Heights. For more information, call (718)
237-2752.
