Surf City Theatre’s “Odd Couple”: Bachelorhood redux
Gary Kresca as Felix (right) shares his marital grief with Gwendolyn (Erin Beck-Acain) and Cecily Pigeon (Lindsey Jacobs). Photo
She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not
Surf City Theatre’s “Odd Couple” opens Saturday in Hermosa Beach
Every community theater eventually gets around to Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” and now it’s Surf City Theatre’s turn to give it a shot. I think it’s a litmus test for any company by way of its director and its two leads, as well as the supporting cast.
The current production, which opens Saturday in Hermosa Beach, was in rehearsals last weekend, and the cast was mightily impressive. By now they must be at the peak of perfection!
“The Odd Couple” is about two unlikely friends, manly but slovenly Oscar Madison (Darrin Reed) and nerdish but fastidious Felix Unger (Gary Kresca). Oscar’s been divorced and has resettled comfortably into the armchair of bachelorhood. Felix, on the other hand, is newly divorced, and all broken up about it. Since they’re good pals, Oscar invites Felix to move into his highrise apartment. Now, this being a Neil Simon comedy, the play is both witty and tightly constructed. Felix pines for his wife, which may be normal under the circumstances, but by doing so inopportunely he derails a double date that Oscar has arranged with two pretty neighbors, the sisters Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon (Erin Beck-Acain and Lindsey Jacobs, respectively).
During a break in rehearsals, the show’s director, Jeffery Caldwell, discussed the script and the challenges it posed, while Darin Reed and Gary Kresca commented on their desire to work together in this play.
Darrin Reed (Oscar), director Jeffery Caldwell, and Gary Kresca (Felix). Photo
Right combinations
“The Odd Couple,” Caldwell says, “was a project that Gary and I had talked about for a long time, and then when the opportunity came up with Surf City and Darrin’s passion to take on the role of Oscar Madison [I jumped at the chance] to work with two amazing performers.”
“I’ve been talking about doing a show with Surf City for a while,” Reed says, “but I made it very clear I would only do it if Gary did. I’m very serious. I was very concerned about who’d play Felix because it’s a difficult role, and there are very few actors that I thought could really pull it off.” In other words, “I’ve seen him in so much stuff that I felt he’d be great.”
Kresca, who’d actually directed Surf City’s last show, mentions that he’d teased Reed about their doing “The Odd Couple,” adding that “neither of us really wanted the work load.” It sounds as if each one was goading the other to commit, knowing that it’s a play with a lot to memorize.
They’re excited about it now, Reed says, “But in the beginning, when you’re reading (the script), you don’t think about it, and then you read a bit more [before the realization hits that] I have 800 lines!” He laughs as if to imply: What have I got myself into?!
“But it’s great,” he concludes, noting that the play’s been on his bucket list for some time.
As for Caldwell’s interest in staging “The Odd Couple,” “I was always familiar with the play and the movie and the TV show,” he says, “but I hadn’t actually sat down and read Simon’s writing. I opened it up and I was about two pages in and, ‘Yes, I would love to do this and work with these guys.’
“It’s been a great experience of really getting into a lot of the subtext of what’s going on between the two characters,” he continues. “They’re polar opposites of the male psyche, where you have got one who’s very controlling, has to have everything in its place, assiduously clean all the time, and you’ve got the other character who’s on the alpha male side, like a caged gorilla that’s been let loose in a room.”
Reed laughs. “That’s what my wife says all the time.”
“It’s a lot of fun in the play to see how those two characters end up complementing each other,” Caldwell adds, “and forcing each other to grow out of the behaviors that have gotten them into the situation that they’re in now, which is divorce for both of them. And it’s this phase, transitioning from what they were as adults in their earlier life, and how it’s imploded on them, (to where) they’re both forced out into the world and now have to learn how to cope and become more complete as human beings.
“That’s really what the two of them do together, complete each other’s deficiencies even though it’s in a really annoying way to the two of them. But it balances them both out, so that by the end of the play it has a really beautiful element of growth, and those two guys get to kind of ride off into the sunset and to the next stage of their lives.”
Oscar’s poker-playing friends try and console a distraught Felix. L-r, Bob Baumsten as Speed, John Mann as Murray, Gary Kresca as Felix, Chuck Chastain as Roy, Frank Pepito as Vinnie, and Darrin Reed as Oscar. Photo
Becoming one’s character
At the time of our interview, the actors seemed fairly comfortable with their lines and the accompanying gestures and emotions. One key ingredient that was still missing, however, were the props and the scenery. Yes, the characters would have to make minute adjustments once these were introduced, “But on the other hand,” Caldwell points out, “it’s given us a real chance to dive into the material and all the interpersonal connections that are going on within it, (and to) focus on the material and what the connection is that we’re making within the performance underlying the text.”
All of which rings true. After all, mental preparation and getting into the skin of one’s character takes precedence over how to handle a glass of water. However, the supporting players, Oscar’s late night poker-playing friends, were also rehearsing, but sitting around a table with real chips and a deck of cards.
“I like getting onstage as quick as possible,” Reed says. “It’s a starting point for me because I got to get the feel of the room and so the earlier I get in the better.”
“You’re the actor that’s stressed out, but you’re fine,” Kresca tells him.
Caldwell remarks that he thinks they’re pretty much ready to go, to step out in front of an audience.
Kresca demurs. “I’m not quite there yet, I’m not quite settled in yet. But it’ll happen. Darrin and I meet a lot, and we just run (through) stuff. It gets fun, and the pace is fast.”
But the goal is to reach a point where one isn’t simply thinking about one’s lines or how to express them. Or as Kresca puts it, “When you’re thinking you’re not listening.” Reed picks up the thread and says that in his moments of uncertainty, “I start to kind of stand still and just say the line. I’ll get the line, I’ll get somewhat of a line out, but I want to make sure that it’s the flow that we got. That’s going to be the key to the whole success of it.”
Delving into the meat of the story and into the hearts of the characters then brings the audience even closer to the poignancy of the performance and, as mentioned above, how well a director and the leads can manage this is a measure of the company as a whole. From all appearances, seen with these own eyes, this is going to be a show we won’t want to miss.
The Odd Couple, written by Neil Simon and directed by Jeffery Caldwell, opens Saturday at the Second Story Theatre, 710 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach. It also stars Bob Baumsten as Speed, Frank Pepito as Vinnie, John Mann as Murray, and Chuck Chastain as Roy. Performances are this Saturday at 8 and Sunday at 2 p.m. Also Friday and Saturday, June 16 and 17, at 8 and Sunday, June 18, at 2 p.m., then closing on June 23 and 24 at 8 and June 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets, $25. Call (424) 241-8040 or email surfcitytheatre@gmail.com. ER