THE ODD COUPLE

I'm a member of The Springville Center For The Arts, and I've worked with both actors who play Felix and Oscar in their current production of THE ODD COUPLE, so I took a drive out on sunny Sunday to catch the show. I've also worked with the assistant director, the set designer, costume person, stage manager, the hostess who served the wine, the guy who gave me my ticket, someone who waved to me on the street, blah, blah, blah, - it's community theatre, where everyone's an usher, and a star at heart.
The Odd Couple, Dave Danielson, left, (Oscar Madison) and
Ted Pinneli, (Felix Unger)



The play was spirited and fun with a very able and enthusiastic cast charming a friendly and receptive full-house audience, (there had to be upwards of a hundred people in attendance!). Neil Simon's zingers were delivered with the aim of an archer; the direction, clear, crisp and lively; the set design - a bright and perfect picture of a bowling alley influenced bachelor pad circa 1960's, and those tiny finger sandwiches they served at intermission, (crab?), were as scrumptious as anything out of Felix Unger's kitchen.





Good show, guys! With cast members Sean Farrell, back right, and Gwendolyn and Cecily Pigeon.

Theatre Review, THREE MURDERS AND IT'S ONLY MONDAY

Theatre Review

THREE MURDERS AND IT'S ONLY MONDAY

Springville Center for The Arts

February 1, 2009



* * * Three Stars



Here is a silly private eye romp of murders in a sanitarium. The jokes are often so bad they beg for mercy. The doctor of the sanitarium, for instance, answers an inquisition about the cleansliness of the hospital by proclaiming, "this is a sanitary sanitarium!", and then repeats the line as if pondering the playwright's lack of creativity. A hospital worker enters with a tray of breakfast cereal just as someone announces the murders may be serial murders. This two-act comedy prides itself on being bad, and comes close to collapsing under it's own sardonic weight.



Director Joanne May however, keeps the gumshoe comedy carefully tongue-in-cheek with exaggerated and amusing performances, and often, exceptional comedic timing from the cast of 12, (13 if you count the puppet Howdy Doody). Lead player, gumshoe Harry Monday, (Troy Lester), in a debut performance, carries off the private eye schtick with ease and a cool way of talking out of the side of his mouth, ("it's like this, you see"); Scott Hill, as Dr. Morrissey, is a fine comic player, never fearing to take his bit to outrageous heights while keeping his romp within the confines of the staged silliness; Mike Sharrar, as Larramore Mandrake sweeps the stage with his skilled delivery and timing, and possesses an outstanding singing voice; Pam Morley, as Tara Dallaise, does the sexy femme fatale bit with just enough voluptuous swash and sway. Howdy Doody doesn't move his mouth, while his ventriliquest does. It's a joke, son.

Often this trite takes itself too seriously as if the audience really cares 'who-did-it'. What is most appealing is the sound effect thunder and lightning, lights going off and on, candles being lit, farce-like entrances and exits, and the sheer fun that the cast is having infecting the audience with sometimes undeserved giggles. It all reaches a satisfying conclusion.