the Rice Thresher

Issue date: 4/18/08 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: MIchael Rog Slovenly Oscar (Raines Taylor, Will Rice '06) hashes it out with poker buddies Murray, Vinnie and Roy (Will Rice freshmen Justin Lin, Kyung Oh and Abhishek Nag) in Will Rice's sophomore theatrical production, The Odd Couple.

The Will Rice Players' production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple may sound like an unassuming little play, but it manages to deliver a highly entertaining experience for fans of comedy and drama alike.

Written for Broadway in 1965, the play centers on a man named Oscar who has been divorced for some time and lives alone in an eight-room apartment. He decides to take in his friend Felix, who has recently separated from his own wife. Eventually, their polar-opposite personalities begin to clash, and this conflict forms the humorous centerpiece of The Odd Couple.

In a show with little action and no musical numbers, the strength of the presentation lies solely in the believability of the actors, and they perform admirably. Each character has his or her unique quirks, and the play especially shines when the whole cast is onstage.

Raines Taylor (Will Rice '06) plays Oscar, messy, and cynical, yet lovable, who uses weekly poker night with his friends as an opportunity to scrounge up enough cash to pay for the alimony checks to his wife and kids. Taylor is obviously very comfortable in the character's role and is able to play both the caring and carefree sides of his character with ease, giving advice one moment and yelling in frustration the next.

Oscar's foil is played by Rice music graduate student Robert Trussell, who brings the whiny, uptight, clean-freak Felix to life. He scrooges over Oscar's finances, insists on cooking meals as opposed to eating out and transforms the apartment from a greasy bachelor pad into a sparkling abode. Like Taylor's, Trussell's role also fits him like a glove, and as a result, the two together onstage are very enjoyable to watch.

While the play loses some steam during these one-on-one spots, the supporting cast ensures that the excitement is never too far away. Oscar's poker buddies - Speed, Vinnie, Murray the cop and Roy the accountant (Will Rice College freshmen Nathan L. Ross, Kyung Oh, Justin Lin and Abhishek

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