By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
“The Odd Couple (Female Version)” opens with the classic comic stall. Our title oddballs aren’t on stage when the lights go up. Rather it’s their quirky circle of friends, engaged in the weekly game of Trivial Pursuit.
With a few deft strokes of comic dialogue, the gang played by Deb Weiser, Kasandra Frasier, Colette Allred, and Ebere Okoro sets the scene and their characters. They joke about their discontents with men and about their host Olive Madison (Hali Malecki), who arrives on the scene to dazzle them by answering a sports trivia question and repulse them with delicacies from her broken-down refrigerator.
The Black Swamp Players’ “The Odd Couple (Female Version)” opens tonight (April 26) at the First United Methodist Church, 1526 E. Wooster St., Bowling Green. The Neil Simon comedy continues Saturday, April 27, Friday, May 3, and Saturday, May 4, at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 28 and May 5 at 2 p.m. Tickets for the production are $12 and $10 for seniors and students, available at the door or online.
The comedy closes in fitting fashion the Players’ season that almost wasn’t. Last spring, the community theater troupe, in the midst of its 50th anniversary celebration, announced it was suspending productions. It looked like curtains for the troupe that works without a curtain.
But faced with the prospect of losing a local entertainment option and the opportunity for local talent to strut about on stage, the community stepped forward.
Closing with this reliable comedy is an appropriate way to end — and an example of the vagaries of local theater. When the play that was scheduled to close the season wasn’t ready, the board called an audible. As has happened in the past, when making a last minute change it’s wise to go with a female-centric production.
The production also shows the Players’ success at reaching out for new talent. This is the first Players’ show for five of the eight actors.
That includes Alexandra Levine who plays Florence Unger. Levine is no stranger to local theater. She’s a regular with Lionface, and it’s great to see her in this new context in a classic comic part.
After Olive’s disappearance sets the gang in a dither, she arrives full of passive-aggressive fussiness.
I trust you all know the drill. Olive feels sorry for her, and despite being acquainted with her quirks, she suggests they room together, for at least a bit.
Then it seems Florence sets about to confirm all the reservations Olive signaled in the first act. Every bit of cooking and cleaning she does seems to come with an unspoken emotional price tag.
This irritation comes to a head when Olive, desperate for some male companionship, invites the Spanish brothers (Manolo and Jesus) from upstairs over for dinner. The evening starts with linguistic confusion, ends in tears and frustration. It’s all played with typical Simon humor, often silly and stiletto sharp when necessary.
The play ends where it began at the game table though Olive and Florence and the rest of the gang seem in a better place emotionally.
There’s a nice symmetry here for the troupe. The season started with a musical based on a board game “Clue” and ends at a game table. Give the Players’ leadership credit for rolling the dice on this season. As this show demonstrates, the troupe’s survival is a win for the Players and their faithful audience.
Next season they’ll be back treading the boards with “Psych” in November; the musical “The Drowsy Chaperone” in February; and “Leaving Iowa” in April-May.
