STAGE REVIEW : An Incompatible ‘Odd Couple’

When Neil Simon rewrote “The Odd Couple” in 1986 for Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno, it seemed mostly a curiosity for two actresses mired in curious careers. Struthers’ life after “All in the Family” was threatening to become one long TV pitch for “Save the Children,” while Moreno hadn’t been able to translate stage into film glory.

Nothing in the new version made anyone forget the old one, which in any case was only as good as the actors playing the incompatible roommates, slobby Oscar and neatnik Felix. Nothing in Struthers’ or Moreno’s performances made anyone forget Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon, either, and it seemed that the female “Odd Couple” was sure to have an even briefer stay in the limelight than the Equal Rights Amendment.

But perhaps because 1992 has been dubbed “The Year of the Woman,” the female “Couple” is back--at least at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo. Alas, director Gregory de Silva hasn’t remembered the Struthers-Moreno lesson and secured suitable actors for Olive and Florence. Though Erin Pipes injects some hard-boiled blood into Olive (who’s not quite in Oscar’s class as a dirtmeister), Monica Rowe plays Florence as one long whine.

It makes for one long evening. The overwhelming impression is of student actors just starting to learn how horrendously difficult comedy is, but getting through the final exam. Audiences who know “The Odd Couple” from stage or film or TV--it is the Simon franchise--will recognize what’s on Saddleback’s Studio Theatre stage. But they’ll probably wonder why they’re not laughing very much.

Part of the reason is that Simon’s gender-switching just doesn’t work, and the lack of the original’s smart, muscular writing suggests that Simon’s heart was never into the gimmicky adaptation. Right from the start, what was a poker game is now a Trivial Pursuit match, and spiky characters and acerbic bonding have been replaced by dumb puns on nothing but . . . Trivial Pursuit. (It’s a sign how short-lived the new version is that you can wager that poker will be around long after Trivial Pursuit.) Even worse, Oscar as a believable deadbeat dad is turned into Olive as an unlikely moneylender to her ex. And no matter what Simon does, Olive as a slob isn’t remotely as funny as Felix as the human vacuum cleaner.

So De Silva’s students are burdened with less than the best Simon can deliver. Not the ideal way to program college theater, which should always be putting students in touch with the outstanding repertoire. Still, it’s probably a good lesson for actors on how to make the most of a mediocre thing (a regular demand, after all, in off-campus theater).

Randall Dodge and Mark Anthony do this fairly nicely, adopting their best Andy Kaufman impressions as Olive’s and Flo’s Spanish dates. As the Trivial Pursuit-ers, Thalia McCargar, Ali Patrick, Jenna Ricker and Melissa Weinberger lack the essential chummy quality of “night out with the girls.” Pipes and Rowe, mediocre Simon or no, drop so many laugh lines that a meekly funny play becomes a shadow of its former self.

‘The Odd Couple’

A Saddleback College Studio Theatre production of Neil Simon’s comedy. Directed by Gregory de Silva. With Erin Pipes, Monica Rowe, Mark Anthony, Randall Dodge, Thalia McCargar, Ali Patrick, Jenna Ricker and Melissa Weinberger. Set design: Wally Huntoon. Lighting design: Kevin Cook. Sound design: Jason Hamlett. At the Saddleback Studio Theatre, 28000 Marguerite Parkway, Mission Viejo. Through Oct. 18. Performances Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinees at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. $7 to $8. (714) 582-4656. Running time: 1 hour, 50 minutes.