VARIETY Review: ‘The Odd Couple’
@blowryontv
February 2, 1993 | 11:00PM PT
Jack Klugman’s game performance despite recent throat surgery added a poignant touch to Monday’s splendid one-time-only revival of Neil Simon’s defining play, to benefit the National Actors Theatre, founded by star Tony Randall.
Jack Klugman’s game performance despite recent throat surgery added a poignant touch to Monday’s splendid one-time-only revival of Neil Simon’s defining play, to benefit the National Actors Theatre, founded by star Tony Randall.
Once the audience became acclimated to Klugman’s raspy voice, there was little left to do but sit back and enjoy the reunion. Klugman and Randall seemed so comfortable it was as if they’d never left the TV series, other than (as Randall noted after the show) that they couldn’t have afforded their cast of Orson Bean, Christine Baranski, Bill Macy, Mercedes Ruehl, Dick Van Patten and Abe Vigoda in the theater or even the small screen.
The “Odd Couple” series, which ran on ABC from 1970-83, has the rare distinction of being a TV show that equaled and in some ways surpassed its source material, due largely to the perfect characterizations by its two leads–Klugman as the disheveled Oscar, Randall as the finicky Felix–whose own personas perfectly mirrored their respective alter egos.
Both were in fine form Monday, with Randall particularly willing to vamp up Felix’s more feminine traits, sashaying around the cozy living room set. The poker games were also notably spry as handled by director Harvey Medlinsky and the various old sitcom pros, with Macy sufficiently hyperkinetic as Roy and Vigoda wonderfully droll as Murray.
Then again, “The Odd Couple” would be hard to mess up too badly, possessing Simon’s best array of nonstop one-liners in any of his stage work and aptly suited to translation to film or TV. It’s remarkable, in fact, how well the characters and lines hold up despite the play’s slightly dated notions regarding male and female roles.
The show also remains perfect for a small theater, yet the characters don’t get lost in a venue the size of UCLA’s Royce Hall, which had little in the way of the acoustical problems that have plagued some past productions.
For those reasons, someone will probably still be staging “The Odd Couple,” somewhere, well into the 21st Century. As long as Randall and Klugman are around , however, to the TV generation there will only be one Felix and Oscar.
Proceeds from the evening benefited the National Actors Theater (of which Randall is artistic director) and the UCLA School of Theater, Film & TV, which was endowed to the tune of $ 100,000 for playing host to the production.
The Odd Couple
(Royce Hall; 1,892 seats; $ 1,500 top)
Production
The National Actors Theater presents a comedy in three acts by Neil Simon. Exec producer, Manny Kladitis; director, Harvey Medlinsky.
Creative
Lighting, Ken Billington; costumes, George Potts; sound design, T. Richard Fitzgerald. Reviewed Feb. 1, 1993. One-time-only benefit performance.
Cast
Oscar Madison … Jack Klugman Felix Ungar … Tony Randall Roy … Bill Macy Murray … Abe Vigoda Speed … Orson Bean Vinnie … Dick Van Patten Gwendolyn Pigeon … Mercedes Ruehl Cecily Pigeon … Christine Baranski
To read the related Bernard Fox story, click HERE
