As soon as the jaunty, jazzy theme tune to ‘The Odd Couple’ movie and subsequent TV series started up on the stage of Sydney’s Theatre Royal, I was immediately in the mood for a good time. And judging from the Opening Night audience’s enthusiastic reaction to this classic comedy, they were of the same mind.
Written in 1965 by celebrated US playwright, Neil Simon, ‘The Odd Couple’ centres around Oscar Madison, a slobby, divorced New York sportswriter who in the opening scene, is enjoying his weekly poker game at home with his best buddies, Vinnie (Jamie Oxenbould), Murray (Anthony Taufa), Roy (John Batchelor) and Speed (Laurence Coy).
However one of their friends, Felix Ungar, is missing. As it turns out, Felix has been booted out by his wife, Frances, and has been wandering the city in a depressed state of mind.When he eventually shows up, his confusion and grief are palpable.
“I was a better cook,” he tells his buddies. “I cooked myself out of my marriage!”
It’s decided that Felix will stay with Oscar in his spacious eight-room apartment (a fabulously detailed set by Justin Nardella), while he pulls himself together and considers his future.
Unfortunately, Felix is a neurotic neat freak who can’t tolerate a speck of dirt and likes to eat home-cooked, nutritious meals, in contrast to Oscar, who lives on fast food and revels in his mess.
Oscar soon regrets his generous offer when it becomes clear the two are ill-suited as flatmates (“I don’t think two single men living in an eight-room apartment should have a cleaner house than my mother!”).
The final straw is when Oscar invites the two pretty English sister who lives upstairs to dinner, and Felix sabotages the evening with his tales of woe about missing his wife and kids, bringing them all to tears.
Veteran musical theatre star Todd McKenney is brilliant as Felix. His sad, slightly drooping face is just the right level of pathetic as he mopes around the apartment, always on the verge of crying. As a hypochondriac, he is constantly complaining about one or other of his body parts and embodies the forlorn yet fastidious Felix beautifully.
The quartet of male friends are also very well cast and their casual riffing off each other is hilarious.
Excellent comic timing is also displayed by Lucy Durack and Penny McNamee as sisters Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon, whose trilling, high-pitched squeals of laughter are always perfectly in sync.
Although I felt he was the weakest link and he occasionally drops his American accent, Shane Jacobson makes a likeable Oscar, bemoaning the carefree divorcé life he enjoyed before Felix moved in (“Everything you do irritates me!”).
As well as providing plenty of laughs, ‘The Odd Couple’ is also a love letter to friendship, and gently promotes the message (even more relevant now than when it was written) of accepting and supporting our loved ones as they are, neuroses and all.
At almost 60 years old, ‘The Odd Couple’ might very well have come across as dated. It is a credit to the actors, director and crew that this production remains engaging and entertaining, leaving its audience wanting more.
The Odd Couple
Theatre Royal
Sydney
Until 28 July, 2024
