The Odd Couple

What’s odd about The Odd Couple is how this classic Neil Simon comedy has all but disappeared from the scene.After saturating stage, film and television for a decade, The Odd Couple has been MIA for years. If you figure the play debuted in 1965, the movie debuted in 1968, and the TV show ran until 1975, it’s been almost 30 years since the oddly matched roommates have exchanged barbs. That also means the average person younger than 35 isn’t familiar with Oscar and Felix, much less their theme song.

Not only is this comedy rarely on screen of late, it’s also seldom staged. It’s a shame, really, because The Odd Couple is one of Simon’s most uncomplicated and genuinely funny plays; the one-liners aren’t forced, and the shtick actually works. And, when you combine the winning script with a winning production, such as the current Chautauqua Playhouse version, it’s a win-win scenario all the way around.

For the uninitiated, The Odd Couple revolves around the unlikely relationship between the slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison (Ken Koch) and his persnickety, anal-retentive friend Felix Unger (John David Rambo). The two poker buddies find themselves living together after newly divorced Oscar invites newly separated Felix to share his quarters temporarily. Oscar knows his friend has irritating habits, but what seem like innocent idiosyncrasies during a poker game become unbearable annoyances on a daily basis.

It’s true that some of the dialogue spouted by the two roommates and their poker buddies is dated, especially when it comes to women and marriage. But, because director Gregory Hanson wisely keeps the 1960s time setting, it’s merely time travel back to a more clueless era.

What does come out loud and clear in the play—much more so than in the movie or TV versions—is how The Odd Couple is an ode to friendship. It’s a look at how friends really care about each other, even if they express it in an awkward, manly kind of way.

Much of the credit for this male-bonding sentimentality goes to the Chautauqua’s great cast. The two leads, Koch and Rambo, don’t rely on their TV and movie counterparts and instead bring originality and pathos to their parts. And the poker buddies—Amir Sharafeh, Jes Gonzales, Mike Jimena and Phrank MacDonnell—are charming in their rough sentimentality and physical-comedy routines. Rounding out the characters are the silly Pigeon sisters, playfully rendered by Sara Lorraine Hanson and Dana Lee Strickland.