John Fischer's Philadelphia
Vol. 1 - Number 48 - 09/27/99
Don't let anyone tell you that theatre is dead in America, and least of all, here in the Philadelphia area. I'm not talking about those Center City theatres where you plunk down your $ 35 or more to see an off Broadway version of Phantom of the Opera or Cats.
Saturday night my wife and I, along with a very good friend from work and her family went to see a production of The Odd Couple (Female Version) produced by The Playmasters at their theater in Neshaminy State Park just off the Street Road exit of I-95.
For $ 7, yes, I repeat, $ 7, we were thoroughly entertained for two hours with fourth row center seats. The company producing the play is a mixture of highly experienced amateur and semi-pro actors, as well as those with somewhat less experience. This production, however, showed more enthusiasm and fun than you often see on the professional stage.
The play itself is 1985 adaptation by Neil Simon of his hit play which premiered at the Plymouth Theatre in New York City in 1965, almost 40 years ago. With a bit of additional modernization, the script of this 1999 version is timeless in its message of the meaning of friendship and personal interactions.
The true star of this "female" production of "The Odd Couple" is Kathy Garofano in the role of Olive Madison, (the Oscar Madison character in the male version). Garofano's performance is so strong that you soon forget any thoughts that you are watching a reworking of a role originally written for a male. The success of this play so much depends on her ability to hold the audience's interest, since she is on stage for the vast majority of the performance. I look forward to seeing her again in subsequent roles.
Cathy Leibars plays the role of Florence Unger (the Felix Unger character in the male version). The Unger character is not an easy role in that it is not prone to elicit much sympathy from the average person in the audience but Leibars performs admirably in this difficult role.
The supporting cast of the play is excellent. The four female friends of are played by Beth Konde (Sylvie), Heather MacHenry (Mickey), Gail Rosen (Renee) and Dottie Sulpizio (Vera). Sulpizio especially stood out in her ability to play the role of the ditzy friend.
The play has but only two male roles, those of the Constazuela brothers, Manolo, played by N. Charles Leeder, and Jesus, played by Mark Maratti. Both were excellent in the roles that really provide a comic relief in an otherwise somewhat tense portion of the play, where Olive and Florence are questioning their friendship.
Maratti was particularly excellent in the timing of his delivery and especially in his stage presence. His ability to look at his fellow actors and express his character's feelings without saying a word was superb.
So, who needs Broadway? We have great actors here in the Philadelphia area who deserve our support.
Performances of The Odd Couple will run through October 9, 1999. For more information call Playmasters at 215-245-7850.
Well, that's my spin on things. What's yours? You can join me in our chat room almost every evening - Philly Chat - or drop me a note at philadelphia.guide@about.com. Also, be sure to check out our new Philadelphia Forum where you can share your comments and feelings, ask questions, post classifieds and much more
If you missed any of our recent columns you can still catch them:
John Fischer's
Philadelphia 09/07/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/13/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/16/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/20/99
John Fischer's Philadelphia 09/24/99
