Felix and Oscar bring laughs aplenty to the Willows stage in
Neil Simon’s comedy
classic The Odd Couple

Can two vastly different men share an apartment without driving each other crazy?  That’s the question Simon’s richly hilarious play answers
in one of the funniest comedies of all time.

Previews begin August 21 - running through September 24, 2006: tickets on sale now 

Concord, CA.  July 21, 2006 – Neil Simon's enduring comedy The Odd Couple will return to the Willows Theatre in Concord from August 21 – September 24, 2006. (The female version of the play was presented on our stage in 1996.)  It has been 40 years since Simon made The Odd Couple part of the language as well as a hit Broadway show, and the characters of Oscar (the slovenly, amiable sports writer) and Felix (the fussy hypochondriac) part of our popular culture.  Based upon the real-life experience of Simon's older brother Danny, the premise is simple: two men – one divorced and one estranged and neither quite sure why their marriages fell apart – move in together to save money for alimony.  The joke is that the new roommates are as impossible with each other as they were with their spouses.

Simon had just opened his first Broadway hit comedy – Barefoot in the Park, about the trials and tribulations of newlyweds in New York – and was eager to explore the comic possibilities of the other end of the spectrum: two divorcées living together.  The resulting play, The Odd Couple, opened on March 10, 1965, starring Walter Matthau as messy Oscar and Art Carney as fussy Felix, and went on to become the prolific playwright's most beloved and long-lived comedy.  The play spawned a hit film version, which starred Jack Lemmon as Felix and Matthau repeating his stage success as Oscar, and a long-running TV series starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar.  Last year, a revival of the play was seen on Broadway with Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in the starring roles.

The Odd Couple is about, of course, best pals Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar.  Oscar's a sloppy sportswriter, Felix is a buttoned-up neatnik.  Both have been thrown out of reasonably longstanding marriages by their (unseen) wives, for reasons that will become apparent as the play progresses.  Oscar's been divorced for a while and now occupies an eight-room apartment on Riverside Drive by himself.  When Felix is late for the Friday night poker game that he's never missed in years, Oscar and their other buddies — Murray the Cop, Roy the Accountant, Vinnie the Henpecked Husband, and Speed the Curmudgeon — all begin to worry; and when Felix's wife Frances calls looking for him, announcing that they've broken up and that Felix said he was going to kill himself, well, everybody gets more than a little panicky.

Felix turns up, of course, right on cue at this very moment, obviously perturbed but putting on as brave a face as he can under the circumstances – for a self-absorbed hypochondriac, that is.  Oscar, fiercely loyal, suggests that Felix move in with him, and a great comic idea — and comedy — is born!

Willows Theatre Artistic Director Richard Elliott will direct the show, which opens August 25 and runs through September 24, 2006, at the Willows Theatre, 1975 Diamond Boulevard, Concord, CA.  Preview performances begin August 21.

THE CAST

Christopher Hayes* (Oakland) will make his Willows Theatre debut as Oscar Madison.  He recently performed at Sierra Repertory in Charley's Aunt and in an East Coast performance of Joe and Betty.

Cassidy Brown (Oakland) will play Felix Ungar.  Mr. Brown is performing in his tenth show at the Willows, where he has also been seen in Noises Off, Deathtrap, Treasure Island, and You Can’t Take It With You.  He is also the Casting Director for the Willows and Director of Youth Programs for the Willows Conservatory, for which he recently directed Batboy: The Musical.

Some of the best scenes in the play feature the titular couple’s four poker-playing buddies.  These roles will be played by Warren McClure (Concord) as Speed; John Sousa (Castro Valley) as Murray; Edward Meehan (Oakland) as Roy; and Brett Sharenow (Oakland) as Vinnie.  Emily Jordan (San Francisco) and Diana Boos (Berkeley) will be seen as Cecily and Gwendolyn Pigeon, a pair of English sisters with whom Oscar and Felix have a demented date one evening.

*Member, Actors’ Equity Association

PRODUCTION TEAM

As artistic director of the Willows since 1986, director Richard Elliott has overseen the company’s growth from a small community theater to a nationally recognized professional LORT theater company, recipient of two NEA grants for the commission of new outdoor drama, and has overseen the development and production of more than 15 new plays and musicals.

Elliott has directed over 100 productions, garnered two Shellie awards, and won the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle director’s award for the West Coast premiere of Brimstone.  He has produced and directed the acclaimed musical John Muir’s Mountain Days, based on the life of environmentalist John Muir, and is currently overseeing the development of a newly commissioned piece, Sacagawea.  Mr. Elliott is a past recipient of the Arts Recognition Award from the Arts & Cultural Commission of Contra Costa County.  He holds a B.A. in Theatre from West Virginia Wesleyan College and a Master’s of Fine Arts from the University of Arizona, where he was a guest director in 2005.

The design team for The Odd Couple  includes Shaun Carroll (Properties & Set Dressing), Nicole Iannaccone (Lighting Design), Tom Benson (Scenery), B.J. Bandy (Costumes), and John Koss (Sound Design).  Allison Ward* is production stage manager.

Ticket and Schedule Information

Tickets are $30-$35 with discounts for students (6-18), seniors (65+), and groups (10+).  To purchase tickets call (925) 798-1300 or purchase online .  Performances are Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 7:30 p.m., with matinees Wednesdays at 3:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.

The Willows Theatre is located at 1975 Diamond Blvd. next to CompUSA and REI in the Willows Shopping Center in Concord, across the street from the Concord Hilton and one block east of the Willow Pass Road exit off Highway 680.

The Willows Theatre Company daytime box office is located at 1425 Gasoline Alley, Concord, at the corner of Bisso Lane, one block north of Concord Avenue.  The daytime box office hours are Monday-Saturday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. and Sunday Noon-5 p.m.  The theatre box office and will-call window, located in the theater lobby, opens one hour prior to each performance.