From curtain rise to curtain fall The Odd Couple delivers a hilarious show with moments instilling laughter, discomfort and dismay, all wrapped up into one enjoyable evening.
Though The Odd Couple is a hit Broadway show with a film adaptation and several television revivals, audience members not in the loop about past performances won’t have any trouble following the plot, choosing their favourite character or identifying with the shenanigans that seems to follow the leads.
Who hasn’t served inedible sandwiches, lived like a slob or been disappointed when their best friend just doesn’t have their back?
The Odd Couple, written by Neil Simon, chronicles an odd pair of roommates and their struggle to learn to live with one another, despite being complete opposites in almost every way. When neat freak News writer Felix Ungar’s (J. Sean Elliot) soon-to-be ex-wife throws him out, he finds refuge in his best bud and recent divorcé Oscar Madison’s (Richard Quesnel) sloppy apartment.
The second act picks up three weeks after the move and shows the “bromance” going downhill fast with each character learning how to push just the right buttons to get on the other’s nerves.
While male leads Elliot and Quesnel captured the unique chemistry between a neat-freak divorcé and a die-hard slob divorcé, their comedic efforts paled in comparison to sisters Cecily (Kristin Galer) and Gwendolyn Pigeon (Mairi Babb).
From the moment the duo steps on stage towards the beginning of the second act for a double date from hell, the audience was captured by their hilarious intonation, nuances and movements. It seemed that no matter what Galer and Babb did they had the audience in mind and did it in the funniest way possible. From creating a crying waterfall to moving in exact unison, the sisters stole the show and had the audience in stitches from start to finish.
In a play with just one set both the actors and director Marti Maraden face the challenge of insinuating contact with the outside world. Often in the first act Oscar takes phone calls from various players in his life whom the audience never meets face-to-face but feels they know because the one-sided conversation was done so realistically. When Oscar spoke to his five-year-old daughter it really felt as though there was a young girl on the other end of the phone who just wanted to speak to her dad.
Set designer Stephen Degenstein created the intricate and realistic bachelor apartment with doors leading to rooms the audience never sees but intuitively understands.
In numerous cases both Felix and Oscar would disappear into another room yet continue the conversation in such a way that their voices sounded distant but the audience never had to strain to hear the dialogue, a challenge for the actors, set designers and director.
Though there were no set changes, there were some longer than necessary pauses to rearrange the apartment contents. The first act ran smoothly but in the second there were two jarring interruptions where the audience was suddenly faced with the red curtain and no action. Though music was playing while the set was being prepped for date night and for the day after, the audience became restless as the pause lengthened and conversations broke out that were cut off when the action picked up once again.
All in all, The Odd Couple provides a hilarious evening that offers insights into love, friendship and the challenges facing two men living together post-divorce.
The Odd Couple runs until Aug. 29. Tickets are $42 for adults and $25 for youth under 20 years of age (plus HST).
Tickets can be purchased in person at the Dunfield Theatre Cambridge box office, online at www.dunfieldtheatrecambridge.com or by calling the box office at 519-621-8000 or toll free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866).
