THEATER REVIEWS : These ‘Odd Couples’ Can’t Get Out of Their Rut

What’s to be done with a comic warhorse like Neil Simon’s 30-year-old “The Odd Couple”? Simon tried his best to breathe new life into it a decade ago, when he wrote a female version. But revivals here of both versions illustrate problems of over-familiarity and lack of invention that remain common to productions of this overdone comedy.

In the early ‘80s, a brash young director named Randy Bowser did something startling with “The Odd Couple” in Hollywood: He treated it as a drama, adding a depth of subtext.

Neither the female version at the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, directed by Robert Bubon, nor the male version at the Theatre District, directed by Mario Lescot in the group’s new larger space, attempts to dig under the simplistic, tried-and-true sitcom gloss that usually is the play’s fate. None of the actors goes beyond caricature and shtick to develop characters that might give the play a new bloom and the humor a fresh angle.

Lescot’s male version is more successful for several reasons. First is the strong, albeit uninventive, performance by Steve Howard as the unsightly, unkempt Oscar Madison. Howard’s Oscar could be the prototype of the jock slob, down to the slightly grayish undershirt and the noble inability to rise above a Neanderthal concern only for sports, poker and the pursuit of women. Howard’s head-on but fairly relaxed comic sense is a plus in this version.

The poker players (John Bowerman, Robert Germon, Jeff Bickel and Bill Adams), excusing Germon’s overdone Murray the cop and Bickel’s too-fidgety Vinnie, look like real human beings and let the Simon dialogue get the laughs. Karen Magano and Ilona Honeyman are reserved and funny as the Pigeon sisters.

When Brian Harvey, as the fastidious Felix Unger, is calm and collected, he also can be funny, but he has a tendency to explode into outrageous physical shenanigans with disastrous results. His extended non-conversation with the Pigeon sisters dissolves into gratuitous Jerry Lewis-level slapstick with enough mugging and grimacing to embarrass even the lowest comedian.

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Harvey’s counterpart in the Costa Mesa Civic’s female version has a similar problem: Kim Burnes’ statuesque and obsessive Florence Unger is a one-note gag. She looks mostly distressed and pained rather than dainty and prim, and she never settles into any sort of reality that would win sympathy.

Actually, it’s difficult for any actress to find much reality in the female version. Translating the macho aggressiveness of Simon’s men to the opposite sex was next to improbable, even for the playwright. These women almost always come out disagreeable and usually are less than attractive, especially the untidy Olive Madison, although this production features probably the tidiest Olive in the play’s history.

Even so, as Olive, Kelly Godfrey gets closest to the reality that Simon’s writing demands. She has a charm that helps one forget her rough edges, and the actress’s comic flair is rewarding.

The Trivial Pursuit players (Leigh Forrest, Maeva Garrett, Michelle Feynman, Debra Ann McCarthy) all are several layers bigger than they should be and don’t get the laughs that they might. Fred Shumake and Ross Burton are completely unconvincing with their Hollywood Spanish accents as the brothers Manolo and Jesus from upstairs. With so many talented Latino actors about, why wasn’t the casting more authentic?

Although David Scaglione’s Civic Playhouse setting is attractive and workable, it looks like the interior of a split-level home in Encino, not a Riverside Drive apartment in Manhattan. The Theatre District’s Big Apple-specific set, designed by Two Blue Chairs Inc., is as crowded and oddly shaped as some Riverside Drive apartments really are and looks very much like what Oscar would have turned his family’s flat into, after his wife walked out with the kids.

* “The Odd Couple” (male version), the Theatre District, 2930 Bristol St., Suite C-106, Costa Mesa. Thursday through Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m. Ends Sunday. $15. (714) 435-4043. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes. Steve Howard: Oscar Madison

Brian Harvey: Felix Unger

Jeff Bickel: Vinnie

John Bowerman: Roy

Robert Germon: Murray

Bill Adams: Speed

Karen Magano: Gwendolyn Pigeon

Ilona Honeyman: Cecily Pigeon

A Theatre District production of the original male version of Neil Simon’s comedy, produced by Bonnie Vise, directed by Mario Lescot. Scenic design: Two Blue Chairs Inc. Lighting design: David Jacobi. Stage manager: Bruce Beckman.

* “The Odd Couple” (female version), the Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse, 661 Hamilton St., Costa Mesa. Thursdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends June 25. $10. (714) 650-5269. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes. Kelly Godfrey: Olive Madison

Kim Burnes: Florence Unger

Leigh Forrest: Mickey the Cop

Maeva Garrett: Vera

Michelle Feynman: Sylvie

Debra Ann McCarthy: Renee

Fred Shumake: Manolo

Ross Burton: Jesus

A Costa Mesa Civic Playhouse production of Neil Simon’s female version of his comedy, produced and directed by Robert Bubon. Scenic design: David Scaglione. Lighting design: Leslie Barry. Sound design: Paul Sakredoff. Stage manager: Clive Rees.