HIGH EYEBROW ARCH – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
By Neil Simon
The Dramatic Premise
Felix Ungar and Oscar Madison are the best of friends.
But they are nothing alike.
Felix is slim and well dressed. He feeds off his nervous energy. He’s the neatest of neat-freaks.
Oscar Madison is overweight and uncouth. He feeds off the junk food he shoves into his mouth. He’s the most slovenly of slobs.
Felix finds life a trial. Oscar embraces all the joys life has to offer.
But Oscar is worried. Felix is a no-show for the weekly poker game with Oscar and their pals. Where is he?
It slowly emerges that Felix has been wandering the Manhattan streets, contemplating ways to end his life. His wife has finally kicked him out of the house. So life is no longer worth living.
Felix finally presents himself at Oscar’s doorstep. But he has nowhere to live and he’s too much of a penny-pincher to pay for a hotel room.
Suddenly a solution presents itself. Oscar is also recently divorced and there’s room for Felix in his spacious apartment.
Why doesn’t Felix bunk with Oscar until he finds his feet?
What could go wrong? As Felix and Oscar attempt to negotiate their new reality as single, middle-aged men…what could possibly go wrong?
A Slick Production
This production of The Odd Couple was a joy from opening scene to curtain-call.
Shane Jacobson was compelling as Oscar Madison. His comic timing was excellent. He embodied the role.
Kudos also to Lucy Durack and Penny McNamee for their hilarious portray of the Pidgeon sisters (who live upstairs from Oscar’s apartment and play a surprising role in the resolution of the drama).
But, for me, Todd McKenney stole the show. His portrayal of Felix Ungar was as tight as Felix’s repressed personality.
There was a moment, mid-first Act, which has become embedded in my head.
Felix is cleaning Oscar’s apartment. He has a bottle of spray in his hand and a tea-towel over his shoulder. But Oscar is already irritated by Felix’s fastidiousness. So, when Felix heads into the kitchen, Oscar soils the table Felix has just polished.
We, in the audience, know what Oscar has done. But Felix is a step or two behind…
How will he react?
Now Felix bustles out of the kitchen, whinging and complaining about something Oscar has done. He glances casually at the table as he minces by. It takes a moment for his brain to process the detritus afflicting the tabletop. He stops in his tracks. He contemplates his options. But then his instinct takes over. He arrives at the table, just a split-second after the spray from his bottle has settled, whips the towel from his shoulder and starts scrubbing with vigour.
A small moment in a long-ish play, it may have been, but the execution was flawless and typical of McKenny’s sublime performance.
I had a great time enjoying the shenanigans onstage during The Odd Couple. My eyebrows sat in a Caterpillar Arch whilst some of the foundations for the drama were laid, but were fixed in a High Arch for most of the performance.
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