Pocket expects lots of laughs with upcoming production of Neil Simon's 'The Odd Couple'

The Odd Couple

Life got you down? Is the current state of the pandemic putting a frown on your face? The Pocket Community Theatre has just the thing to cheer you up: The classic 60's comedic production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple.

As the first Pocket production of the year, Odd Couple director Steven Mitchell said the show is sure to get laughs.

"The way I look at it is if they would like to escape from the pressures of the virus right now and all the constrictions we have, this is an excellent way to go and just have a really good laugh," Mitchell said. "It's good for the soul."

The Odd Couple will be showing the first two weekends in February. Tickets can be purchased here. Running at two and a half hours, including intermission, the show is geared toward adult audiences.

"It's a classic tale that's been around since the 60's and it still today is a funny, funny story," Mitchell said.

"It concerns a divorced man living in a big apartment that his wife left him from, and he has friends that he plays poker with on Friday nights. The story is that they're playing poker and their one friend Felix hasn't shown up and so the story centers around what happened to Felix.

"Then we find out that his wife kicked him out and they broke up, so he's out feeling suicidal, and he finally comes to the apartment where the guys are and it ends up that he is saved by all of them in not wanting him to hurt himself.

"He ends up moving in with Oscar, who is the owner of the apartment.

"It all starts out great, but we find out that Felix is a neat nut and he wants everything clean and spotless and he loves to clean and we see it start wearing on Oscar because Oscar is basically a slob and he doesn't care where anything falls.

"So we have this contrasting personality going on through the relationship that they've established.

"It ends up, of course, they have a huge fight and separate, and Oscar kicks Felix out. So it's just a fun story, but it ends up not such a tragedy in the fact he kicked him out because Felix actually learns a lot from it and he understands why things are the way they are and they welcome him back again for another card game. So it ends kind of on a real happy note."

In what sounds like it could be considered a dark story, Mitchell said Neil Simon did "such a wonderful job" writing this story by adding "so much levity to it that really it's hilarious."

"It's a good, good story, and everyone seems to like it," he said. "It's been around since the 60's, and I can guarantee for decades to come it will still be a big star in the theatre."

This will be Mitchell's third production with the Pocket, following Sleepy Hollow and The Miss Firecracker Contest.

The Odd Couple assistant director is Jason Moore and producer is Barbara Morgan. The cast includes Dan Breshears (as Oscar), Keith Bell (as Felix), Kevin Day, Garrett Brenenen, James Kendall, Lanie Carlson, David Flemming and Casey Chandler Wylie.

"We have two ladies in the show, and they're really the high-comic part of the show," Mitchell said. "They are the two sisters that live upstairs from the apartment that Oscar lives in, and they come down for a date with Felix and Oscar and it's just hysterical; it is so fun to watch. Lanie and Casey play the roles of the Pigeon Sisters. They're British, and they're just hysterical."

For more information, and upcoming production schedules or acting/volunteer opportunities, visit pockettheatre.com.

Update

The first show scheduled for Feb. 4, 2022, has been cancelled due to inclement weather road conditions. The first showing will now be Feb. 5, 2022.