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Audience Guide

By Directed by Daniel Ellis

©2016 Lyric Arts Main Street Stage • 420 East Main Street • Anoka, Minnesota 55303 Audience Guide for ABOUT THE PLAY Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

Synopsis This classic comedy opens with a group of assembled for a game of poker in the apart- ment of Oscar Madison, a divorced sportswriter. Late to arrive is their friend Felix Ungar, a neurotic, neat freak news-writer, who has just been separated from his wife. Fastidious and depressed, Felix seems suicidal, but as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean-freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together with hilarious results as The Odd Couple is born. Production History The Odd Couple premiered on Broadway on March 10th, 1965 and transferred to the Eugene O’Neill where it closed on July 2nd, 1967 after 964 performances. Directed by , the cast starred as Oscar Madison and as Felix Ungar. The production garnered four in the categories of Best (Play), Best Author (Play), Best Direction of a Play, and Best Scenic Design, and was nominated for Overall Best Play.

In 1985, Neil Simon revised The Odd Couple for a female cast. The Female Odd Couple was based on the same story line and same lead characters, now called Florence Ungar and Olive Madison, played by Sally Struthers and , respectively. The poker game was updated to the popular 1980s game Trivial Pursuit, and their friends were gender swapped as well to Mickey, Sylvie, Vera, and Renee. The Pigeon sisters became the Costazuela brothers, Manolo and Jesus. The Female Odd Couple made its’ Broadway debut at the on June 11th, 1985, and closed on February 23rd, 1986 after 295 performances.

Neil Simon sold film and TV rights for The Odd Couple to in 1967. Paramount has since produced two films and three TV series based upon the play. In 1968, The Odd Couple was made into a highly successful film starring as Felix and alterW Matthau reprising his role as Oscar. Most of the original script is the same, although the setting is expanded: instead of taking place entirely in Oscar’s apartment, some scenes take place at various outside locations. A sequel was made with the original in 1998.

The success of the film was the basis for the original ABC The Odd Couple. Broadcast from 1970-75, the series ran for 114 episodes and starred as Felix and as Oscar. Klugman was familiar with the role as he had replaced Walter Matthau in the original Broadway run. Neil Simon originally disapproved of this adaptation, but by the series’ final season, he reassessed the show positively to the point of making a .

In 1982, ABC aired a new version of the series, entitled The New Odd Couple. Produced by , this revival saw diversity brought some much-needed diversity onto the small screen in the form of as Felix and as Oscar. Unfortunately this new version was not original enough to find a wide audience and was canceled after just 13 episodes.

The most recent adaptation of The Odd Couple was announced in December 2013. The comedy premiered on CBS on February 19th, 2015. stars as Oscar while Thomas Lannon stars as Felix. With mixed to positive reviews and above-average network ratings, the series has recently been renewed for a third season.

Page 2 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple ABOUT THE PLAY Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

CHARACTERS OSCAR MADISON: A slovenly, recently divorced sportswriter with a large apartment.

FELIX UNGAR: A fastidious, hypochondriac news writer whose marriage is ending.

MURRAY: One of Oscar and Felix’s poker buddies, and an officer of the NYPD.

ROY: One of Oscar and Felix’s poker buddies, and Oscar’s accountant.

SPEED: One of Oscar and Felix’s poker buddies, noted for his gruff and sarcastic personality.

VINNIE: One of Oscar and Felix’s poker buddies, a rather mild-mannered person.

CECILY PIGEON: A divorcee sister to Gwendolyn, and one of Oscar & Felix’s upstairs neighbors from .

GWENDOLYN PIGEON: A widow sister to Cecily, and one of Oscar & Felix’s upstairs neighbors from England.

SETTING

The play is set in an apartment in Riverside Drive, in the .

Page 3 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple ABOUT THE PLAY Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season The Playwright

NEIL SIMON (1927 - ), American playwright and screenwriter, is widely regarded as one of the most successful, prolific, and performed playwrights in the world. To date, Mr. Simon has received more Academy and Tony Award nominations than any other writer.

His most famous plays and musicals include , The Star-Spangled Girl, , Prom- ises, Promises, , Suite, They’re Playing Our Song, , , The Odd Couple (female version), , , , and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. His screenplay credits include The Out-Of- Towners, The Heartbreak Kid, , , Sweet Charity and The Star- Spangled Girl.

Simon grew up in New York during the Great Depression, with his parents’ financial hardships affecting their marriage, and giving him and his brother an unstable childhood. As a form of escapism, He often took refuge in movie theaters where he enjoyed watching the early comedians like Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy. After a few years in the Army Air Force Reserve after graduating from high school, he began writing comedy scripts for radio and early television shows. His earliest successes were working on The Show and ’s Your Show of Shows, where he worked alongside other young writers including and .

Simon made his Broadway debut in 1961 with , which took him three years to complete and ran for 678 performances on Broadway. It was followed by two immediate successes, (1963) and The Odd Couple (1965), for which he won a Tony Award. These plays made Neil Simon a national celebrity and “the hottest new playwright on Broadway.”

Throughout the 1960s to the 1980s, he continued writing for both Broadway and Hollywood, with most films being based on his already-successful plays. His writing style showcased a wide range of genres, from romantic comedy and farce to more serious dramatic comedy. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. For further proof of Simon’s magnitude, dur- ing one Broadway season, he had four successful plays showing at the same time, and in 1983 became the only living playwright to have a New York theatre, the Neil Simon Theatre, named in his honor.

Page 4 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple ABOUT THE PLAY Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season The Playwright

With regard to places, all but two of Simon’s plays are set his hometown of New York, which gives them a decidedly unique urban flavor. Within that setting, Simon’s themes, besides marital conflict, sometimes include infidelity, sibling rivalry, adolescences, bereavement, and fear of aging. Despite the serious nature of the themes, Simon manages to tell these stories with humor, developing a literary style that includes both realism and comedy. As Simon would often tell aspiring comedy playwrights,

“Try not to try to make it funny… try and make it real and then the comedy will come. I was almost always, with some exceptions, writing a drama that was funny. I wanted to tell a story about real people. My view is,’ how sad and funny life is’. I can’t think of a humorous situation that does not involve some pain. I used to ask, ‘What is a funny situation?’ Now I ask, ‘What is a sad situation and how can I tell it humorously?’”

The Neil Simon Theatre, pictured above and formly the Alvin Theatre, is a Broadway venue built in 1927 and located at 250 West in . The theatre was renamed after the award- winning playwright in 1977 after the purchased the structure. Since then it has been the home to many notable productions including , , , Big Fish, Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can and will be the home to the 2016 revival of .

Page 5 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple DESIGN CORNER Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

Lyric Arts Set Design Scenic Design by Travis Collins

Set Rendering for The Odd Couple

Theatrical designers create rendering to help effectively communicate their visual idea for the set, costume or props to the production team.

Ground Plan for The Odd Couple

The ground plan is a plan for the set at ground level but imagined as if you were seeing it from above.

PALISADES

OF 24 BRIDGE 2 #

Plan U CONDO TRASH 4' KITCHEN COUNTER PLATE Ground V FRIDGE

T AC UNIT G

STAGE W H S COLLINS SCONCE I LIGHT SWITCH Z Q 2 X 8 RUNNER RUG MASKING STREET

TRAVIS BOOKCASE Y C X CURTIAN ARM - J AA F LIVE OUTLET CHAIR TOILET BOOKCASE MAIN L E OUTLET K COAT OUTLET STEREO SIDE RACK M

DESIGN D CONSOLE TABLE R ARTS SHOWER CURTIAN RHEOSTAT SWITCH 6 X 4 DINNING ARM TABLE LYRIC 3 X 2 RUG CHAIR SCENIC B A LIGHT SWITCH CHANDELIER

TABLE LAMP 12 X 8 RUG TABLE 7' CONSOLE LAMP Couple

OUTLET 8' Sofa SIDE TABLE FLOOR 4 X 8 RUG LAMP SIDE ARM TABLE CHAIR ARM COFFEE CHAIR SIDE TABLE

The Odd TABLE

CL

Page 6 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple HISTORICAL CONTEXT Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

Welcome to the 60’s The sixties were a time of extreme upheaval. Here are some of the important events and the years in which they occurred:

1960 • Four black students begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter. • President Dwight Eisenhower signs the Civil Rights Act of 1969 into law. • Nikita Khrushchev pounds his shoe on a table at a United Nations General Assembly meeting, protesting the discussion of the policy toward Eastern Europe.

1961 • President Kennedy advises all “prudent families” to have a bomb shelter. • Construction of the Berlin Wall begins. • The officially begins.

1962 • Cuban Missile Crisis.

1963 • Martin Luther King Jr. issues his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

1964 • Malcolm X suspended from the Nation of Islam, says in that he is forming a black • nationalist party.

1965 • 190,000 troops are in Vietnam. • 32,000 people make 54-mile “freedom march” from Selma to Montgomery. • Malcolm X is assassinated.

1966 • U.S. troop strength in Vietnam.

1967 • Strangler is convicted. Muhammed Ali refuses military service.

1968 • Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. are assassinated.

1969 • Members of a cult led by Charles Manson murder Sharon Tate and others. Page 7 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple COFFEE BREAK CONVERSATIONS Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

Before the Show 1. Based on what you know about the play, what do you expect to see onstage? 2. Why do you want to come to see this show? Why see it at Lyric Arts? 3. How do you expect the design elements (props, costumes, set, sound, and lighting) will help to achieve this goal?

After the Show 1. In your own words, what happened in the play? 2. What was the most moving to you? Did anything make you cry or laugh out loud? 3. What surprised you the most? What, if anything, confused you? 4. Which design elements were the most memorable? Why? 5. What, if anything, about the show changed how you feel about illness and fear?

PAGE & STAGE - DIG DEEPER

Pre-Show Discussion About the Script 1. What was the most moving to you? Did anything make you cry or laugh out loud? 2. Which design elements (as described in the script) were the most memorable? Why? 3. How does this effect how you see the characters and understand the language? 4. What might you expect from a play in the magical realistm style?

Post-Show Discussion About the Production 1. How believable were the performances of these characters? Did they remind you of people you’ve met? 2. One defnition of the literary style of magical realism is “what happens when a highly detailed, realistic setting is invaded by something too strange to believe.” Which aspects of the production (directing choices, acting choices, design choices) were successful in communicating this idea? How were they sucessful? 3. How were the design elements (props, costumes, set, sound, and lighting) similar or different to what was described in the script? Why do you think the production team made these choices?

Page 8 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple ANOKA LIBRARY RESOURCE PAGE Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

To help enhance your experience of Lyric Arts’ production of The Odd Couple, before or after seeing it, here are resources from Anoka County Library that you might find helpful or enjoyable. Try out some of the following:

--Watch the original film version of the play on DVD, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, as well as The Odd Couple 2 sequel.

--Read Neil Simon plays, such as Brighton Beach Memoirs, , , Come Blow Your Horn, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, , Plaza Suite, Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Star-Spangled Girl, Sunshine Boys, and They’re Playing Our Song. You might also read a female version of The Odd Couple in The Collected Plays of Neil Simon, Volume 3.

--Watch DVDs of film versions of other Neil Simon plays (Barefoot in the Park, Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Lost in Yonkers, Sunshine Boys, and Sweet Charity) and screenplays (, The Goodbye Girl, and Murder by Death).

--Read Neil Simon’s autobiographies, Rewrites: A Memoir (1996) and The Play Goes On: A Memoir (1996).

--Watch Simon and early television comedy he wrote in The Sid Caesar Collection: The Buried Treasures, The Lost Episodes DVD set. And watch other classic TV comedy from the 1950’s and 1960’s on Golden Age of Comedy.

--Listen to Promises, Promises: The New Broadway on CD, with book by Neil Simon, music by , lyrics by Hal David, and starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.

--Explore the craft of comedy via DVD interviews with great comedians (Neil Simon, , George Carlin, Mel Brooks, Buddy Hackett, Rob and Carl Reiner, Dennis Miller, Garry Marshall, and Jerry ), on Alan King: Inside the Comedy Mind.

--Look into more about Neil Simon and his plays in library online resources, such as Gale Virtual Reference Library and MasterFile Premier, available in-library or with your Anoka Library card from home.

--Check out other great humor DVDs, both old (Buster Keaton, Dr. Strangelove, Harvey, Laurel And Hardy, Modern Times, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, A Night at the Opera, Roman Holiday, and ) and new (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, Airplane, Hall, Blazing Saddles, Borat, Brother from Another Planet, Fargo, Groundhog Day, Happy Go Lucky, Harold and Maude, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, The Office, This Is Spinal Tap, Time Bandits, and We Are the Best). www.anokacountylibrary.org

Page 9 of 10 Audience Guide for The Odd Couple RESOURCE PAGE Lyric Arts 2015–2016 Season

The information in this study guide was pulled from the following sources. Samuel French: http://www.samuelfrench.com/author/114306/neil-simon

Koprince, Susan (2002) Fehrenbacher, Understanding Neil Simon, University of South Carolina ISBN 1-57003-426-5

http://www.tv.com/news/news-briefs-matthew-perry-is-rebooting-the-odd-couple-at- -138697063215/

https://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/4375

https://www.ibdb.com/Production/View/3230

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