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Regulars fill cast of ‘The Odd Couple’
By GUY D’ASTOLFO
YOUNGSTOWN
Joe Scarvell didn’t need auditions to pick a cast for “The Odd Couple.”
Instead, it was the cast that picked him.
“John Cox, Jim McClellan and [Youngstown Playhouse operations manager] Bernie Appugliese were sitting around talking last year, and they said, ‘Let’s do ‘The Odd Couple,’ and we’ll be in it’,” said Scarvell. “Then they said, ‘Call Joe to direct it.’ They called and said, ‘You are directing us’. It was five card players looking for a director.”
The comic play opens Friday at the Playhouse and runs for six performances until March 19.
Playhouse uber-veterans Cox and McClellan play the starring roles of Oscar and Felix, the mismatched apartment mates. David El’Hatton, Christopher Fidram, Frank G. Martin, Emily Pasquale, John Pecano and Jackie Collins Stevens round out the all-star cast.
So with all that experience on stage, who else would you call to direct? Scarvell has been acting and directing at the Playhouse and other local community theaters for almost 60 years. In fact, the Playhouse will have a reception at Friday’s opening night performance to honor him.
Scarvell got started at the Playhouse in 1958. Since then he has appeared in or directed so many productions that he lost count.
But the 85-year-old takes the honor in stride, and with humbleness.
“Ask anyone over 80 years old how they’d feel about the honor,” he said. “It’s nice. But if you live long enough, you will get honors.”
The truth is, in the past few years, the honors have become steady. The Farrell High School Hall of Fame recognized Scarvell a few years ago, and Kennedy Catholic in Hermitage, Pa., will soon do the same. Scarvell has taught and directed plays at both schools. He also has taught at Youngstown State University and Westminster College.
“The Odd Couple” is a staple of community theater, and because Scarvell has directed the Neil Simon comedy before, he knows the gag-laden script.
He also knows how to get the most out of actors.
“I’m lucky to have this cast,” he said. “You don’t often get a cast who knows what you are talking about [without being specific].”
Scarvell said he is able to tweak a scene or point out ways to improve it with just a word or two, because the cast instantly gets it.
“If you start by saying, ‘Here is what I want you to do,’ you rob an actor of a moment in which he finds [his character’s] motivation for doing it,” he said.
Scarvell said both Cox and McClellan are great at listening to the other lines and then reacting. “John brings so much energy to this,” he said, “and Jimmy can adapt to any character. He molds into it.”