The Odd Couple: Female Version

Reviewed by Holly Bartges

Merge a slob with a neat freak in close quarters and someone is headed for a train wreck at a speed called disaster. Combine poignant hilarious Neil Simon with Denver’s Maestro of Comedy, Chicken-Lips’ Bob Wells and the train wreck morphs into explosive giggles. Set Wells, as director, into the middle of a highly-proficient cast headed by such artistic comediennes as Pamela Clifton and Edith Weiss for a production of Simon’s The Odd Couple: Female Version and the walls will shake with laughter while the audience holds their sides hoping no one will split anything.

Pamela Clifton as Olive and Edith Weiss as Florence in Town Hall Arts Center’s production of The Odd Couple: Female Version.

The Odd Couple resonated strongly as a popular movie and TV series. Simon himself rewrote the script in the mid-1980s to encompass the female version. If he hadn’t someone would have. It’s a natural. Part of the laughter comes from recognition and identification, which is so much a part of Simon’s genius to take a string of events in every day life that for the most part spell disaster, and turn them upside down into a hilarious pool of fun and frolic.

The Odd Couple: Female Version opened last weekend at Littleton’s Town Hall Arts Center for a relatively short run. The wondrous historical building may never be the same.

Olive (Clifton) just doesn’t have time to be neat. Endowed with a huge amount of compassion, she surrounds herself with quirky but loyal friends who get together often to play Trivial Pursuit. Her compassion extends to her ex-husband Phil. He calls frequently for money. If he asks for $200.00, she offers him $650.00. So she doesn’t know if the brown sandwiches are old ham or new cheese, she cares about the people around her. She’s also lonely. Yes, she has friends, but “they go home at 11 PM.” Her things get put away where they’re dropped, on the floor, on the furniture, wherever.

On a particular Friday night in the middle of a hysterical game, they learn Florence (Weiss) has disappeared. When she shows up disheveled, disoriented, coming apart at the seams, the group doesn’t want her to know they were worried about her carrying on their antics, Weiss’s gyrations, incorporated into Florence’s off-the-wall personality distortion takes on a life of its own. She crinkles her face, her body and her voice in ways that wouldn’t seem humanly possible. Wandering over splitting with her husband, Florence waddles in devastation, a perfect seeding ground for Olive’s compassionate sloppy soul.

Now Olive has a roommate and won’t have to look for one on the bus tomorrow. She thrives on telling Florence she will be independent while defending her sloppiness. After all she got married in a “white dress with chocolate stains.” Little does Olive realize her compassion intends to turn on her biting her in the foot, or someplace else where pain is keenly felt. It doesn’t take long for Florence to recover, take over, and begin cleaning. Olive wants to go to bed. Florence wants to get organized.

Two self-propelled universes collide head on with the force of two comic geniuses: Clifton and Weiss. The more hyper clean Florence becomes, the sloppier Olive becomes. This play was written for these two to unleash their tremendous talent.

And that’s only the beginning, Cindy Schlager holds her own as the ditzy one light bulb short of a two light bulb light fixture, Vera. Sheila Swanson McIntyre attempts peace and control as Mickey, the cop, although hysterics frequently get in the way.

LuAnn Buckstein takes Sylvia for a bumpy comedic ride with her strong voice and strong opinions. Mary Secor plays Renee with secure pandemonium. Their lights shine brightly against Clifton and Weiss.

Michael Shalhoub and Daymond Caylo turn the two Spaniards Manolo and Jesus on their heads with hilarity revolving around language misuse and language distortion. Living upstairs, Olive met them in the elevator. Hungry for male companionship, tired of staying home night after night, she begs Florence to consider a double date with the two men. Florence agrees, except she will prepare the dinner. Jesus confuses nugget for no good, handing a box of candy to Olive, telling her the candy is no good.

Confusion reigns. Gentlemen always stand when the ladies do. The four play a hysterical game of hopscotch in their seats. Manolo explains, “It happens all the time in Spain. That’s why we have to take so many siestas.”

Michael R. Duran designed a most appropriate set captivating Flo and Olive’s distinct personalities floating back and forth between hurricane ramifications and elegance.

Fast-paced, the cast with all of its hilarity keeps the show moving at break neck speed from one laugh to another. Nothing can be taken for granted. They ask attention be paid and they get it.

The Odd Couple: Female Version is exquisite comedy at its finest. For hearty, honest laughter, this show should not under any circumstance be missed.