Odd couple certain to draw laughs as play opens Friday at RC Theater
by Richard Lamb, Advance Editor
The latest effort of the Rogers City Community Theatre is one to get the audiences laughing. The ?Odd Couple? female edition opens Friday for the first of six performances at the Rogers City Theater. Director Bob Starnes said the cast has been working on their parts for several weeks, with practices wrapping up with a dress rehearsal tonight before Friday?s opening. ?It is basically very similar to the original ?Odd Couple? play by Neil Simon. Only it has been slightly updated to take place in the 80s and of course the characters are all women,? Starnes said.
Simon wrote the female version as well with many of the characters similar to their male counterparts. Instead of Felix and Oscar it is Florence and Olive, played by Andrea Shadbolt and Laura Winkle respectively. They meet up with a regular group for a weekly of game of Trivial Pursuit, substituted for the regular poker game in the original version. That group of women includes Julie LaBar, Riconda Lamb, Val Schalk, and Sheela Welch Allum.
?The two neighbors are men, instead of women and instead of being from England, as in the male version, they are from Spain. So there is a lot of translation-type jokes,? he said. Charlie Harp and Dave Crull play the neighbors. ?Everything takes place in the one apartment so there are not any actual scenery changes,? Starnes said. The second act opens two weeks after the first act ends after Olive moves in with Florence. This is Starnes? second shot at directing a play, the first coming with the somber ??Night Mother? from 20
The ?Odd Couple? is refreshingly upbeat, in contrast to the last play Starnes directed. ?This time what I have been doing is experimenting with minimalist direction because it is kind of the way I would like to be directed. As an actor, you feel like you know your character because that is what actors do. They also know what their character would and wouldn?t do in certain situations,? Starnes said. ?Just let the actors act and if they need guidance, then give them guidance,? Starnes said of his directing style.
Simon?s original play starred Walther Matthau and Art Carney on Broadway in 1965. Matthau reprised his role for the 1968 movie, which co-starred Jack Lemmon. The 1970-75 television series starred Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. The 1985 opening of the female version starred Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno. The Rogers City version will be performed April 23, 24 25, 30 and May 1 and 2. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. while the Sunday performances begin at 2 p.m. Tickets are available at the theater box office or at a few locations in town including the Advance office.