(Photo: Ken Jacques)
By Eva Trieger
LA MESA, California — Neil Simon, American Jewish playwright is well-remembered for bringing us stories that combine humor, family struggles and laden with Jewish themes and sensibilities. Growing in New York, Simon, a youngster during the Depression, experienced the tumult of a multigenerational home and the chaotic and sometimes quixotic interaction of family. Lamplighters Community Theatre invites us to recall this multiple award winning writer with their current run of The Odd Couple: Female Version.
1n 1965, Simon introduced us to the original play The Odd Couple. This story of male roommates with polar opposite personalities soon became a popular television sit-com series, starring Jack Klugman as the slovenly Oscar Madison, and Tony Randall as the persnickety Felix Ungar. Twenty years later, Simon rewrote the play to reflect the female perspective. Olive Madison was played by Beth Marlowe and Florence Ungar’s role was filled by Kassidy Catron.
Lamplighters’ cast is dynamic, spirited and evinces some great chemistry. Olive (Erin Grayce) and Florence (Yvone Nguyen) are beautifully complementary and it is easy to see why they make each other mashugga. Olive is a slob, happy to eat take-out nightly, and enjoys a laid-back approach to life. Newly separated Florence is uptight, a neat freak, and enjoys showcasing her culinary and decorative arts.
Olive hosts a weekly Trivial Pursuit game in her apartment, attended by Mickey the NYC cop (Kat Fitzpatrick) Renee (Murphy Walsh) a rather ditzy Vera (Emily Talerman) and the sarcastic Sylvie (Sasha Foo). The women, clearly good friends, alternately support and trash talk each other as they exchange clever one-liners, while demonstrating pretty amazing knowledge about Science and Nature, Entertainment and Arts and Literature!
The hilarity really ramps up when Olive attempts to cultivate a little romance with the two Spanish brothers she met in the elevator. Florence is hesitant, as she only has eyes for her husband, Stanley, and really isn’t ready to date…yet. She is cajoled into having dinner with the two men, Manolo Costazuela (Raymond Evans) and Jesus Costazuela (River Baig). The halting conversation, innuendos and baffling idioms are almost as charming as the body language and butchered English that issues from the two patriotic Spaniards.
The small theatre has a big heart, and audience appreciation was high judging by laughter and applause. Under the direction of Diane Jones and Assistant Director, Ruth Russell the performance is fast paced yet contains tender moments. This show is the perfect antidote to our current climate of angst and stress. Lamplighter has cultivated a great cast to bring Simon’s heartwarming and relatable story to their stage.
The Odd Couple: Female Version will run through July 28th and tickets may be purchased by phone at 619.303.5092, or online at www.lamplighterslamesa.com
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Eva Trieger is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts.
Very good review. We do need a dose of humor, these days.