Since its Broadway debut in 1965, Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple has remained his most popular play – “The biggest hit I ever had, and ever will have,” he said in 1997 interview. And it’s no wonder. Simon’s story of two mismatched roommates – incurable slob Oscar Madison and inveterate neat freak Felix Ungar – contains everything that has kept the author at the top of his profession for a half-century, and garnered him more combined Tony and Oscar nominations than any other writer. The eight characters in The Odd Couple – Oscar, Felix, four poker-playing buddies, and a pair of loopy sisters from England – are three-dimensional and all too human. Meanwhile, the play contains so many hilarious one-liners that Mike Nichols, who directed the original Broadway production, told Simon “if we put on this play, we may get charged with manslaughter, because people will be carried out of the theater dying of laughter.”
The new production of The Odd Couple marks the first time ever that this crowd pleaser is being presented at the San Miguel Playhouse. The creative and business directors of the Playhouse have been waiting until the ideal cast and director all were available, and that time has finally come. Fil Formicola, a veteran stage, film, and television actor (Splash, Law & Order), was born to play Oscar Madison; while Don Krim, an actor and countertenor from New York, who floored audiences in San Miguel in August 2016 with his comic turn in The 39 Steps, is the perfect Felix Ungar. Maggie Bunce, fresh from directing the hit San Miguel Playhouse production of David Mamet’s November, is once again at the helm. A strong supporting cast and scenic designer round out a production that is certain to be a highlight of this or any other theater season in San Miguel.
