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| Jeff Carpenter and Wade Moran |
Over the weekend I went to see Neil Simon's The Odd Couple at Desert Stages Theater. I saw the movie which the play is based on many, many years ago which starred Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. I also grew up watching the TV show with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, but I never saw the play. Well now I have thanks to Desert Stages. The play was funny, entertaining, and the whole cast was perfect, especially the actors playing Oscar and Felix.
Desert Stages also has the female version of The Odd Couple running on alternate weeks. Now I actually saw the female version in 1984 at the Shubert Theater in Chicago starring Rita Moreno as Olivia, and Sally Struthers as Florence. Okay, that was actually a very odd pairing, but I remember enjoying the female version of this classic play.
I have always saved my Stagebills and Playbills from every play or musical I have ever gone to see. So I just pulled out my Stagebill from the Shubert Theater to see who else was in this play. It's always fun to go back and see if you saw someone who eventually became famous. Well I discovered that Tony Shalhoub played Jesus Costazeula in the female version I saw. Interesting! I am so happy that I have kept all my Stagebills.
