The Odd Couple 2008

Union Street Players kicked off 2008 with an updated American comedy classic. Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” has been a favorite of audiences since it first appeared on Broadway. It was eventually made into a successful film and television series. Simon rewrote his comedic masterpiece with a gender twist in the 1980’s and turned Felix Unger and Oscar Madison into Florence Unger and Olive Madison.

The action takes place in Olive Madison’s pig-sty of a New York apartment. It’s mid-summer in the mid-eighties and the girls are gathered for their weekly game of the popular new game, Trivial Pursuit! The obsessive-compulsive Florence Unger is late for the game, and it’s soon revealed that Florence’s husband of fourteen years has left her. The ultra-slob, Olive, invites the ultra-neat-freak, Florence, to move in with her. Let the laughter begin!

Director: Tom Vander Well

Cast:

(in order of appearance)
Sylvie – Jana DeZwarte
Mickey – Cyndi Atkins
Renee – Sheryl Vander Linden
Vera – Lana Pol
Olive Madison – Wendy Vander Well
Florence Unger – Suzi Jones
Manolo Costazuela – Mark Moreland
Jesus Costazuela – Greg May

Attendance figures for “The Odd Couple” (numbers do not include cast & crew):

Thu: 85
Fri: 154
Sat: 100
Sun: 62
Total: 401

How does that compare? This is very typical attendance for a February show, which is the generally a smaller cast and least attended show of the season. The director’s proposal estimated attendance would be 400. Not a bad guesstimate, Tom!

Many thanks to the cast and crew who helped bring the production together. Along with the stellar cast, we had invaluable help from Shawn Jensen, D.C. Felton, Pat Moriarity, Peg Moriarity, Doug DeWolf, Jamie Kacur, Martin Wesseman, and Cheryl De Heer. Thanks also goes out to the many who volunteered to help usher.