RESURGENCE OF THE ODD COUPLE: THE ODD COUPLE CONTINUES MAY 13 & 14

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

 

By Kathy Carpenter

Associate/Youth Reviewer www.sdtheatrereviews.com

May 7, 2016 (El Cajon) – The Odd Couple is a case of opposing personalities coming together.and trying to work things out. The original movie was in 1968, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.  I can hardly believe it was so long ago. In 1970 they made the television series with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman, also a classic. Recently came the remake with Brian Cebrain as Felix and Matthew Perry as Oscar. Although I have only seen a couple of shows, it was also quite funny.

In the last year, I've seen the play round and about the East County and San Diego. They even have a female version, which I've yet to see. Grossmont College presented Neil Simon's The Odd Couple at the Stagehouse theatre to a packed house this past Thursday evening. It's possible the college students have connected with the new television show, deciding to give the live show a chance. Whatever got them to the theatre, the audience loved the show. Laughter sprinkled about the theatre, line after line.--humor that reached of all. Director Jeannette Thomas, as Oscar Madison would say, hit this one out of the park.

The play The Odd Couple takes place in the late 1960s in Oscar Madison's apartment. Five of the six friends are playing poker, worried about Felix because he has not shown up. They find out Felix’s wife has thrown him out. Oscar, who is a messy sportswriter living alone since his wife Blanche left him, winds up inviting the neat freak Felix to live with him. But that's only the beginning to Felix's annoyingness. You might compare him to Sheldon in "The Big Bang Theory"--the character you love to hate.

Timing is an important element to humor. This cast nailed it. Everyone was totally perfect and extremely funny. The cast features six males and two females.  Playing Oscar, Garrett Johnson; Felix, Christopher Torborg; Murray, Bradley McFarland; Speed, Xavier Daniels; Vinnie, Kian Kline-Chilton; and Roy, Brendan Cahalan.  The girls were Delia Mejia from Monte Vista High, who continues to impress me, playing Cecily and Casey McNellen, playing Gwendolyn, with terrific English accents.

For your weekly dose of humor, don't miss this show next weekend at the Stagehouse Theater Grossmont College in El Cajon.  Call the box office at 619-644-7234 for tickets.


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.