The advance sale on the highly anticipated revival now sits at $16.5 million. Seats were first offered to Amex users on June 6, and proved so popular that the show raked in roughly $7 million during its first day of sales.
The new block covers performances from Feb. 7 to April 2, 2006. Tickets will not go on sale to the general public until July 5.
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The cast of The Odd Couple was recently completed. Peter Frechette will fill the role of Roy—the final part to be cast in the Joe Mantello-directed production. He joins fellow poker players Lee Wilkof (Vinnie) and Rob Bartlett (Speed), and Pigeon Sisters Jessica Stone (Cecily) and Olivia d'Abo (Gwendolyn). In other news, the casting of Brad Garrett, of "Everybody Loves Raymond" fame, long expected to play Murray the Cop, has been officially confirmed.
Rehearsals are to begin on Sept. 6. Emanuel Azenberg, Ira Pittelman, Jeffrey Sine, Max Cooper and Ben Sprecher are producing. Lane and Broderick will play Oscar Madison and Felix Unger in Simon's classic The Odd Couple. Lane would be the sloppy sportswriter Madison, while Broderick would be the uptight photographer Felix Unger.
The original Broadway production of The Odd Couple opened at Broadway's Plymouth Theatre in March 1965. Art Carney and Walter Matthau starred as, respectively, Felix and Oscar. The production won four 1965 Tonys, including awards for Matthau (Actor), Simon (Author), Mike Nichols (Director) and Oliver Smith (Scenic Designer). Matthau then repeated his role on film opposite the Felix of Jack Lemmon. The long-running TV version of Simon's work featured Jack Klugman (Oscar) and Tony Randall (Felix).
