In The Spotlight

The Odd Couple launches Central Park Players’ 50^th season

 Central Park Players opens its 50^th season Oct. 17 at the Grand Haven Community Center with a salute to the 40^th anniversary of the film debut of Neil Simon’s classic comedy The Odd Couple.

The play, film, and subsequent TV series gave America two of its most memorable iconic characters in the messy Oscar Madison and neat freak Felix Ungar. The Broadway play, which opened in 1965, featured Art Carney as Felix and Walter Matthau as Oscar. In the hugely successful1968 movie for which Simon earned an Academy Award nomination, Jack Lemmon played Felix with Matthau reprising Oscar. The Odd Couple TV series ran from 1970 to 1975 and starred Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar.

The play has more than just stereotypes, says CPP director E. Fred Finke. “Neil Simon is a master observer of the human condition and finds humor in it. These characters are neurotic to a fault, which allows the actors not to push the lines or behavior to get the jokes across. There is so much depth beyond  (Full story)