The Odd Couple: Oscar and Felix come to life on LCLT stage

Published 5:48 am Thursday, February 9, 2017

Randy Partin said trying out for a role in Lake Charles Little Theatre’s “The Odd Couple” was an easy decision to make.

“Growing up watching the original series, I just loved the type of humor that it had and both characters,” Partin said.

The Neil Simon play focuses on two mismatched roommates: the neat, uptight Felix Ungar and the disheveled, easygoing Oscar Madison.

“I really wouldn’t have cared which character I was cast as, either the two primary or the core group because they all have a unique dynamic to them.”

Partin said the cast consists of six men — who portray the roommates and their four poker-playing buddies — and two women, who play Oscar and Felix’s giggly upstairs neighbors.

“You’ve got a policeman, you’ve got an accountant, you’ve got some whose jobs are unnamed,” Partin said. “Felix writes the news for CBS, Oscar is a newscaster but they come together and their friends but they’re kind of always at each other a little bit. There’s some sarcasm between members of the group and I just find that really humorous.”

Partin said despite the play’s early 1960s origins, the material is still timely.

“It’s comedy for the current world, it’s not all dated.”

The play originally premiered on Broadway in 1965. From there, the characters were revived in a successful 1968 film, starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, and later in a 1970s television series featuring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman.

“New generations will get all the references and all the jokes,” he said.

Partin said the play is “an adult show, but it doesn’t use any strong language.”

He said the cast started script readings on Jan. 2 and that progressed into six-days-a-week, three-hours-a-day rehearsals with the seventh day being used to construct the set.

“It’s very script-heavy, particularly for Oscar and Felix,” he said. “When we selected it, I had hoped I would be in a position to audition for it, and I was lucky enough to get the part of Felix.”

Partin said he will be putting his own unique spin on Felix’s character.

“There are aspects to his background that I have personal experience with,” Partin said. “There are parts of it that get emotional for me because it’s close to home. He’s going through a separation that’s leading toward divorce, and he ponders the fate of his children. I can’t think of kids and family without it eliciting some strong emotion and that reads in the play.”

“The play has its sincere moments, but it is really funny,” he said.

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Lake Charles Little Theatre will present “The Odd Couple” at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays, Feb. 10-12, 17-19, 24-26; tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors.