Melissa Whitworth plays role of Vera in ‘Odd Couple: Female Version’
On stage now through October 29 in the Off Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre is The Odd Couple: Female Version. You know the story. A neurotic neat freak moves into the home of a messy, uncouth friend following a marital split. Within days, their differing lifestyles and outlooks on life begin to clash as they ruefully discover that even the best of friends can make the worst of roommates.
Melissa Whitworth plays Vera, a literal-minded girl who always seems to be a few beats behind the conductor. Playing a character who is a bit slow to get a point that everyone else understands instantly is quite a departure from 
Whitworth’s last role. She ended last season in the lead of Mary Poppins the Broadway Musical, where she received rave reviews from Broadway World’s Emily Yorgey, Florida Weekly’s Nancy Stetson and The River Weekly’s Di Saggau. [Read what they said here.]
Melissa made her Off Broadway debut last season in the role of Carol in Another Night Before Christmas. She has also appeared at Delray’s Show Palace Dinner Theatre as Cindy in SUDS: The Musical (directed by SUDS alumni Steven Flaa). Other favorite credits include Princess Fiona in Shrek (at Theatre Winter Haven, for which she received a Broadway 
World Orlando Best Actress nomination) and Elizabeth in Young Frankenstein (at Entracte Theatre in Delray).
Three seasons ago, the 5-foot-8-inch green-eyed performer was honored to sing as part of the Orlando Cabaret Festival at Mad Cow Theatre in their “It Was a Very Good Year” Series. Prior to t
hat, she performed in St. Charles, Missouri with the Center Stage Theatre, at Florida State University, and on Cape Cod with the College Light Opera Company, where she received the Mrs. Box Office Award for “outstanding contributions to the company.” Favorite credits there include The Drowsy Chaperone (the Drowsy Chaperone), The Student Prince (the Grand Duchess Anastasia), and Lee Hoiby’s 
one-woman opera, The Italian Lesson. Whitworth has also appeared in The Music Man, South Pacific, Anything Goes and the female version of The Odd Couple.
Whitworth graduated from the Florida State University College of Music in 2013 and has been teaching and performing since that time. She has worked as an actor for Universal Studios with performers playing everything from wizards and to a’ cappella singers (the scariest). Most recently, she received a Broadway World Orlando nomination
for her work as Thomas Jefferson in 1776 at the Mad Cow Theatre (which presented the show with an all-female cast). Regional credits include Chekhov’s Three Sisters (in the role of Olga), How I Learned to Drive (as L’il Bit), and The Next Fairy Tale (as Glinda).
September 22, 2017.
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About the Author
Tom Hall is both an amateur artist and aspiring novelist who writes art quest thrillers. He is in the final stages of completing his debut novel titled "Art Detective," a story that fictionalizes the discovery of the fabled billion-dollar Impressionist collection of Parisian art dealer Josse Bernheim-Jeune, thought by many to have perished during World War II when the collection's hiding place, Castle de Rastignac in southern France, was destroyed by the Wehrmacht in reprisal for attacks made by members of the Resistance operating in the area. A former tax attorney, Tom holds a bachelor's degree as well as both a juris doctorate and masters of laws in taxation from the University of Florida. Tom lives in Estero, Florida with his fiancee, Connie, and their four cats.