Distaff ‘Odd Couple’ brought off with gusto

It’s best to be upfront about this. The first time I saw Neil Simon’s all-female version of “The Odd Couple,” I thought it was a bad idea. Not that I didn’t admire Simon for giving six actresses the chance to work. And not that he didn’t manage to get some of that good old Simon shtick into the script. But, for me, it felt all wrong. “The Odd Couple” is about men. It’s about poker games and baseball and dirty ashtrays and the unique way that men learn how to get along — particularly when they’ve just been dumped by their wives.

“The Odd Couple” is about Felix and Oscar. It’s about Art Carney and Walter Matthau (the original Broadway cast in 1965), or Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau (in the 1968 movie), or Tony Randall and Jack Klugman (in the TV series in the early 1970s).

When the names change to Florence Unger and Olive Madison, and there’s a gang of women sitting around a messy table playing Trivial Pursuit, drinking Dr. Pepper and dissing each other, it just doesn’t have the same bite. I’m sympathetic to the idea, but I’ve held my ground over the years with this show and I’m not planning to change.

So it may come as a surprise that I am about to totally endorse Winterport Open Stage’s production of the afore-cursed, all-female version of “The Odd Couple,” which plays Friday and Saturday at Wagner Middle School in Winterport. I still don’t like the premise, but director Reed Farrar has done a swell job with this snappy group of actors. Farrar could have made them look ridiculous in these made-for-men-and-rewritten-for-women roles. But he doesn’t. He lets them shine.

The great thing is that there aren’t any weak links in this cast. The actors occasionally miss the right rhythm with Simon’s jokes, and there are a few overly cartoonish costumes, but the performances are generally funny and even, at times, audacious. Plus the overall pacing has some pop to it, and that alone is a major triumph among community theater productions.

Fran Field’s Olive is a comfortable combination of tomboy and hot momma. Rose Marie Sweeney, as Mickey the cop, is blustery and blithe. Shari Gervasi’s Florence gets off to a dull start, but she picks up her pace in a big, big way by the middle of the show.

Amy Kulesza and Suzan Howard add their distinctive touches to the comic situations. So do Rudy Rawcliffe and Steven Douglas as a pair of Spanish wild and crazy brothers who live upstairs.

There’s no way I’m going to say I’ve warmed to the situation of this comedy. I’d still rather see a play written originally for woman than one refurbished for them. But Winterport Open Stage offers an entertaining evening of good-natured, high-spirited acting that’s a gas to watch — no matter what name you give the leads.

Winterport Open Stage will present “The Odd Couple” 7:30 p.m. March 7 and 8 at Wagner Middle School on Mountain View Drive in Winterport. For information, call 223-2501.