
BY JENNY SEJANSKY
On Tuesday-Friday, March 5-8, DeLand High School’s Hill Street Theatre will present two versions of Neil Simon’s most successful play, The Odd Couple — male and female versions. The thespians have been working since early January to produce both shows for our school and community.
PHOTO BY MADISON OWENS
Come laugh as we look into the personal lives of Oscar and Felix and their female counterparts, Olive and Florence. Both plays follow the same storyline:
Felix Ungar’s wife has thrown him out. Dejected, hurt and all alone, Felix (played by Daniel O’Leary) seeks the help of his best friend, Oscar Madison (Logan Laguer), who, for several reasons of his own, invites Felix to live with him.
The men are complete opposites of each other. Felix is a compulsive cleaner, and Oscar is an absolute slob. Oscar is a habitual gambler, while Felix is more conservative with money and spending.
Oscar, who has been divorced for several months, is behind in his alimony/child support and needs to figure out a way to save money and avoid legal penalties. Felix, on the other hand, is uptight, nervous and too attached to his estranged wife to let her go and move on with his life.
With the help of their poker-playing buddies (played by Emily Taylor, Carter Shaw, Giovani Baez and Jarrell Rodriguez), Felix and Oscar try to make life seem “normal”; however, after a very short time, their differences pull them apart.
Oscar desires to have a date with two English sisters (played by Mariah Marino and Mars Torres) who live upstairs. Things go terribly wrong, with Felix infuriating Oscar enough to put Felix back out on the street.
Will poor Felix ever find happiness again? Will Oscar avoid jail and live up to his paternal duties?
Florence (played by Caroline Savage) is going through exactly what Felix is going through. Her husband has abandoned her, leaving her no place to turn except her best friend, Olive (Evey Flatley). It is the night of their weekly Trivial Pursuit bash with the girls (Rocky Good, Isolde Hernandez, Tyra Gibbs and Rhyleigh Bradley-Earegood).
Olive is lonely enough to invite Florence to stay with her. But things start to unravel when Olive decides both ladies will host two Spanish brothers (Luis Caquias, Harrison Ithier-Brana) who live upstairs. Will the ladies work through their problems?
If you don’t know already, then you’ll have to come join us as we celebrate one of America’s National Treasures, Neil Simon. Shows are at 7 p.m. each night in the DeLand High School Auditorium.
Tickets, which cost $5 for students and $10 for adults, will be available at the door.
The Odd Couple originally opened on Broadway on March 10, 1965, with Walter Matthau as Oscar and Art Carney as Felix. The show won two Tony Awards, best playwright for Mr. Simon and one for best actor, Walter Matthau. The play ran on Broadway for two years, with 964 performances.
The film version was released in 1968 with Matthau as Oscar and Jack Lemmon as Felix. It became the third highest-grossing film of 1968. Due to the film’s success, a TV show was born, starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar. The show ran for five seasons, 1970-75.
The female version opened on Broadway June 11, 1985. The production starred Rita Moreno as Olive and Sally Struthers as Florence. The show enjoyed 295 performances, closing one year later in February 1986.
See you at the Theatre!