Village Theatre delivers a spot-on ‘Odd Couple’

Published 8:30 am Thursday, March 1, 2012

Think of a really funny play that’s been written in the last 40 years and chances are it was one of Neil Simon’s.

But none may be as famous, or as funny, as “The Odd Couple.”

Village Theatre is presenting Simon’s maddeningly funny comedy at Everett Performing Arts Center starting tonight. And though the leading actors are no Walter Matthau or Jack Lemmon — but c’mon, who could be? — they produced a satisfying number of belly laughs.

In fact, the laughs kept piling up, like dirty dishes during a dinner party, throughout this three-act performance. The show is broken up with three intermissions: one long one to clean up the set and two shorter ones.

Clean up the set?

For those of you nonbaby boomers who might not be familiar with “The Odd Couple,” let me catch you up.

The story focuses on the relationship of two men: Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar. Oscar is a slob. A huge slob. Felix is a neat freak. He’s fastidious to a fault and geeky enough to wear his seatbelt during a drive-in movie.

Oscar is also as sarcastic as he is slobby. Felix is all Boy Scout.

So when this mismatch is mixed together, comedy is produced.

The play is set in New York, so think thick-as-rice-pudding accents, in Oscar’s slovenly apartment, which in Act I looks like the place was just tossed.

Oscar, divorced, is hosting the Friday night poker game. Felix is late, leaving the gang of five guys to wonder where he is.

Turns out Felix is wandering the streets and close to suicidal since learning his wife wants a divorce. Felix makes his way to Oscar’s place where the concerned fellows worry he will kill himself. Oscar invites Felix to live with him.

By the end of the play, Oscar wants to kill him.

Of this odd couple, Oscar was always my favorite. Village Theatre’s Charles Leggett does not disappoint, delivering his lines with well-crafted comic timing and sardonic skill that will keep you in stitches.

Leggett’s physical comedy is also spot on, whether he was mocking Felix with an aerosol spray can or spilling the contents of an ashtray on the carpet.

Chris Ensweile produced a perfect amount of neurosis-nerd blend here as Felix. His Felix wasn’t annoying, which was good, with a persona that held the needle nicely between pitiful and endearing.

The poker party members also dealt a lot of laughs and included John X. Deveney as Vinnie, Eric Polani Jensen as Murray, Roger Welch as Roy and the hilarious Matt Wolfe as Speed.

This is not just a bunch of guys either. Adding that feminine silliness and wit were Caitlin Frances and Betsy Schwartz as the Pigeon sisters, Gwendolyn and Cecily.

The humor in this play is rather family friendly with no swear words uttered, no mention of drug use and only mild references to sex. There’s some alcohol use and smoking but the play opened in the 1960s.

“The Odd Couple” opens at 8 tonight at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett. Shows are 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday and 7 p.m. Sunday through March 25.

General seating starts at $38. Call 425-257-8600 or online at www.villagetheatre.org.

Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424; goffredo@heraldnet.com.