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Oddballs

A A A Comments By Elaine Liner Thursday, May 3 2007

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An oldie but a goody pops up at Theatre Three. Doug Jackson and Bob Hess play Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar, divorced, middle-aged journalists sharing a big, cheap (it's 1965) apartment on Manhattan's Riverside Drive. With their poker buddies serving as ad hoc Greek chorus, the men bicker over Felix's obsessive housecleaning and penny-pinching. Oscar's habits eventually take on strains of Felix's fussiness and the ensuing conflicts show playwright Neil Simon’s mastery of the quick quip. With a heavy laugh-to-line ratio, this two-act comedy creaks only toward the end, when Simon writes his characters into a corner. During tryouts in Boston 45 years ago, it was a theater critic who suggested to Simon that the fluttery Pigeon sisters, who have a short visit to the apartment in the first act, reappear to wind things up. That worked then and it still works now. Through May 13 at Theatre Three, 2800 Routh St., Suite 168. 214-871-3300.
Fridays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2:30 & 7:30 p.m.; Mon., April 16, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, 2:30 p.m.; Wed., May 9, 2 p.m. Starts: April 13. Continues through May 12

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