“The Odd Couple is a play by Neil Simon. Following its premiere on Broadway in 1965, the characters were revived in a successful 1968 film and 1970s TV series, as well as other derivative works and spin-offs. The plot concerns two mismatched roommates: the neat, uptight Felix Ungar and the slovenly, easygoing Oscar Madison. Simon adapted the play in 1985 to feature a pair of female roommates (Florence Ungar and Olive Madison) in The Female Odd Couple. An updated version of the 1965 show appeared in 2002 with the title Oscar and Felix: A New Look at the Odd Couple.” – Wikipedia

As the saying goes “what goes around comes around” and with this play that seems to happen on a frequent basis. The most notable performance would have to be the 1968 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Mathau. They followed that with their reprised roles in The Odd Couple II, directed by Neil Simon. Now, here we are in 2016 and the show is once again the inspiration for another TV series, oddly enough called The Odd Couple. Not to be outdone by Broadway or Hollywood the Cranbrook Community Theatre, under the direction of Bob McCue brings the iconic characters to life for local audiences.

Cast:

• Bob Wakulich                           –  Oscar Madison
• Peter Schalk                             – Felix Unger
• Alexander Gilmour                    – Vinnie
• Barry Coulter                             – Murray
• Barry Borgstrom                        – Speed
• Randy Tapp                               – Roy
• Michelle McCue                         – Gwendolyn Pigeon
• Andrea Grossman                     – Cecily Pigeon

Directed by Bob McCue and produced by Kristy Quinn

The Setting : Four acts in Oscar Madison’s apartment in New York City.

       

             

     

      

  

 

Two One Act plays at the Studio / Stage Door: rehearsal Wednesday, January 22, 2014, 8pm.

The Exquisite Hour – A one act play written by Edmonton playwright Stewart Lamoine (hurrah for Canadian content), Directed by Elizabeth Ross, staring Jennifer Inglis as Helen Darimont and Patrick Baranowski as Zachary Teale.

“He’s a big galoot” ! It is an expression that probably goes way back to the days of Mark Twain and it is a perfect descriptor for Zachary Teale. It is usually meant to describe some one who is socially awkward and clumsy. It’s not usually meant to be malicious. In in an appropriate context, such as in this play, it can be  term of endearment. Helen Darimont probably thinks of Zachhary Teale as a “big loveable Galoot”. Helen Darimont is a kind of Patti Page / Doris Day character straight out of a 1950’s TV sit-com. The setting of the play and the musical prelude to the play re-enforces that Dejavu notion. It appears to be set in the days when ladies wore dresses and colored co-ordinated ensembles. It is a tale of infatuation and shyness. Helen poses as a door-to-door encyclopaedia sales man (sorry, sales person) and, in developing a sales-pitch rapport,  proceeds to smooth away some of Zachary’s social awkwardness. The play is nicely paced as the characters, with some humor, navigate their way to a point when all is revealed. They are not exactly perfect strangers after all. The cast is perfect; Jennifer Inglis looks and acts like  she is straight out of a 1950’s sit-com; Patrick Baranowski has the right amount of awkwardness for the character he portrays. This is a play well worth giving up a night of television hockey.  Here are some more images from the play:

NEXT  a one act play written by the American actor and playwright Terrence McNally, starring Peter Schalk as Marion Cheever and Melodie Hull as Sergeant Thech and directed by Bob McCue.

Marion Cheever, played by Peter Schalk, is a man who is unfit, fat and 58 years old. He considers himself unsuitable for any role in the army. His task is to convince the Army Induction Centre examining officer, Sergeant Thech played by Melodie Hull, of his unsuitability. Peter Schalk, in a manner that he does so well, does that in a maniac tour-de-force. Melodie, in contrast, is a solid sea of stern calmness. During the Vietnam war era I am sure the army examiners were exposed to all manners of the absurd behavior by conscripts trying to avoid the draft. This scene reminds me of a scene in the classic cult  movie Big Wednesday when all the local surfers, in their efforts to avoid military service, show up as physical and mental head cases. All this in an effort to prove they are unsuitable material to serve in the army. For Marion, in the end,  the evidence is overwhelming but once declared unsuitable the outcome is a little unsettling for Marion. He has achieved what he set out to do but he seems to have some trouble accepting the rejection. Here are some images from the play.

This play is another good reason to miss a TV hockey game.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Enchanted April, full dress rehearsal at the Studio/Stage Door, Wednesday April 10, 2013, 8pm.

It’s a fairly common theme in life and in art. Women, mostly middle aged,  become disillusioned with their hum drum  life and husbands that no longer pay attention to them. They look for a way out, or at least some diversion to color their existence, and often this comes in the form of travel. To turn the old saying on it’s head “a holiday is as good as a change”. I suspect there is a whole sector of the travel industry that caters to these needs. In Australia the The Australian Woman’s Weekly, now a glossy monthly magazine with a circulation of over 500,000/issue,  for years sponsored guided world tours for these jaded ladies. Any casual observation, and an ear for Aussie accents, will detect  hundreds of these ladies getting off the tour buses in Jasper and Banff during the summer. In art, the play and the movie Shirley Valentine explored the jaded female theme. If you remember Shirley had resorted to talking to the wall until she packed her bags and headed off to Greece for a bit of sunshine and whatever to spice up her life. She leaves behind a well meaning, but unaware, husband who she hopes will get the message. The play Enchanted April revisits, with some variations,  that same emotional territory. Lotty Wilton, played by Tracy Maguire, after a chance encounter with Rose Arnott, played by Jennifer Inglis, schemes to use her pin money to head off to Italy for some much needed R&R. To defray the cost of the castle they wish to rent they enlist the help of a very colorful but  jaded socialite, Lady Caroline Bramble, played by Michelle Lemay,  and an older lady, Mrs. Graves, played by Nicola Kaufman. The first half of the play revolves around their schemes, anxieties and apprehensions. Lotty is all gungho while Rose is not so sure. Meanwhile the husbands Mellersh Wilton (Sean Swinwood) and Frederick Arnott (Peter Schalk) are mostly oblivious to the ongoing emotional dynamics. The play is set in the years immediately following World War I and the great ‘flu pandemic of 1919. There is sense of loss and aloneness that pervades the first half of the play. The director Terry Miller has done a great job of enhancing these emotions as well as invoking a dreary England with it’s never ending rain and dull interiors. He skillfully moves the first half of the play through nine scenes and eight locations with only slight variations of a single set. All of that changes when the action moves to sunny Italy. I wish I hadn’t left the room for the intermission when they changed set. The contrast between dreary England and sunny Italy is astounding.  I spent a good portion of the second half of the play trying to figure out how they changed the set so quickly and dramatically. The Italian sunshine, the castle, the setting, the maid Constanza (Andrea Grossmand)  and the owner Anthony Wilding (David Popoff) all work their magic on the ladies as they slowly undergo their respective transformations towards happy resolutions at the end of the play.

Even before the play started, while waiting for the curtain to rise (so to speak), the choice of music, prepared me for a wonderful evening. The choice of Dick Hyman, one of my very favorite  piano players, created the appropriate atmosphere for the opening act. For those of us who notice these things Dick Hyman, although not a household name,  is a favorite of Woody Allen and has often been featured on the sound tracks in many of his films. He is an incredibly skillful musician whose repertoire virtually run the whole gamut of jazz piano. Later, in keeping with the switch to sunny Italy, Dick Hyman took a rest and the music became decidedly Italian with a great selection from the  Italian operas. Even the piano music, though not Italian (maybe Spanish),  that Mellersh Wilton was “playing” off stage towards the end of the play was a delight.

Here are some more images from this delightful play – first dreary England
(click on the images for larger views).

                                                                       – and in Sunny Italy:

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@