Neil Simon died last summer, but his claim to immortality might be his tale of mismatched roommates Oscar Madison and Felix Unger.
Five decades after the American playwright wrote The Odd Couple, it’s still going strong. Lacombe’s Cow Patti professional theatre group is the latest to stage Simon’s comedy about an uptight neat freak and a slob who decide to share the rent when their marriages fall apart.
The show opens Thursday, Nov. 15, at the Lacombe Golf and Country Club.
It should be a sad plot, considering Felix is absolutely broken-hearted about his wife throwing him out of the house, said Cow Patti’s artistic director, AnnaMarie Lea, who’s directing the eight-person cast (and acting as one of the Pigeon Sisters).
Instead, Simon uses his insight into human nature to make it hilarious. She added, “He writes about real people in real situations and he allows you to see the truth through a comic lens.”
A lot of Central Albertans are familiar with The Odd Couple after the movie version with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and the TV series with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. (Cow Patti theatre even staged a female version of the play about five years ago).
This time out, Lea is assembling a cast of actors from Alberta and Ontario and is determined to take the audience back to 1965, when the original Broadway play was written.
The benefit of the earlier timeline is the audience can forgive the trifling way women are treated in this play — as well as the things men say behind their wives’ backs, said Lea.
The disadvantage is finding ’60s costumes. There’s a shortage of Fortrel pants left in the world, concludes Lea, who jokes that every wife must have thrown out every piece of her husband’s unflattering 1960s-era wardrobe.
But the director is continuing to ask around for double-knit polyester costume pieces, as well as checking out second-hand stores. In the process, she’s uncovering a lot of avocado-coloured glassware, harvest gold appliances and black velvet paintings.
Lea recalled her 22-year-old stage manager “said ‘wow’ about 100 times” while these pieces were unwrapped for use on the set.
While some of this reaction bordered on disgust, there were also nods to the vintage appeal of these articles: “It’s like ‘wow, these pieces are kind of funky now,’” said Lea.
Regardless of the decade, audiences seem to keep falling for the quirky chemistry between Felix and Oscar — and Lea hopes they will also enjoy time travelling back to the mid-last century.
“Everybody has enough problems in their lives… our job is to entertain.”
For more information about the show that runs until Dec. 16 — including dinner, brunch, wing or taco options, and charity performances — visit www.cowpatti.com.
Cow Patti’s spring show will be Halfway There, a comedy by Canada’s Norm Foster, which runs March 14 to April 7.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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