Odd Couple Review

Friday, June 1st, 2012

(Review written by Nickolas Dirkes)

The Fort Peck Summer Theatre opens the 2012 season with Neil Simon’s “The Female Odd Couple”. In this 1985 update to the 1965 classic, Simon brings a new perspective to the story of unlikely friends Oscar and Felix by reversing the gender of all of the characters in the cast and setting the story in a more contemporary time. While the story is familiar, easy-going Olive Madison, a messy sports fanatic, and neurotic Florence Unger, a neat-freak homemaker, become unlikely roommates after splitting from their spouses; Simon’s updating to the script makes the story feel fresh and exciting. While Olive and Florence carry the show with Olive and/or Florence on stage the ENTIRE show, a quartet of female archetypes supports them during scenes when the pair gathers with their friends for game night. Rounding out the cast are the zany Costazuela Brothers who join our differing duo for a double date . . . of sorts.

As the Fort Peck Theatre turns a new page under the leadership of new Artistic Director Andy Meyers and a staff of nearly all new faces to Fort Peck, one might expect a “settling in period” as the new staff gets their feet under them, but this is not the case. Meyers opens strong, showing clear signs of an outstanding first season at the helm. Meyers trusted his first at bat to director Eric D. Hersh, a director that obviously understands the character driven nature of a Neil Simon comedy. Though many characters are on stage for only a short amount of time, Hersh provided the opportunity for each actor to shine as they tell this classic story. In the lead roles of Olive and Florence are Winslow Rumph and Danielle Gendron, both deliver solid performances.

Rumph as Olive elicits many laughs as she delivers a slew of one-liners, most of which are aimed at the ever-nervous Florence. Gendron as Florence is a riot as her facial expressions and physicality lend itself well to the never-ending rollercoaster of neuroses that is Florence Unger. Though separately, the two deliver strong performances, it is the chemistry exhibited through their quarreling that makes the show a success. Some of the funniest moments of the play occur when

Olive and Florence have guests over to the apartment. The quartet of game night gals brings two Glasgow Natives back to the stage. Marie Fahlgren as the delightfully ditsy Vera and Quinn Vaira as the doctor dating Renee make up one-half of the wise cracking quartet.

The remaining pair are Skye Bennett who plays Mickey a likeable cop and Jessi Little as Sylvie queen of salacious gossip. While their appearances do not arrive until part way through the second act, the Costazuela brothers, Manolo, played by Zac Thomas, and Jesus, played by returning company member Jamie Parnell, certainly standout. These two do a hilarious job of butchering the English language, as their mispronunciations and misappropriations of a variety of words and phrases create for some sidesplitting dialogue.

On the technical side, the show was also a success. The new sound and light equipment purchased this year by the Fort Peck Fine Arts Council will not be put to full test until the theatre opens its first musical of the summer (ALL SHOOK UP opens June 15), but the additional sound equipment certainly improved the audiences ability to hear the actors. The set was well-dressed with all of the elements needed to convey the slovenly living conditions of Ms. Olive Madison, down to the stained wallpaper and greasy hand prints on the kitchen door. The costumes were true to the 80s, the denim was acid washed, the shoulder pads were fit for football players and the hairstyles deserve their own credit in the program.

Overall, The Female Odd Couple at the Fort Peck theatre is an enjoyable experience, bound to make you laugh. Be sure to catch it before it closes on June 10, performance times are at 7:30 on Friday and Saturday and 4:00 on Sundays.

(Or you can read it here.)