Design Team of Lane-Broderick Odd Couple Announced

By Robert Simonson
02 Aug 2005

Kenneth Posner
Kenneth Posner

The Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick Broadway revival of The Odd Couple has its design team in place.

The highly anticipated production will have a set design by John Lee Beatty, costume design by Ann Roth and lighting design by Kenneth Posner.

The Odd Couple is produced by Ira Pittelman, Jeffrey Sine, Ben Sprecher, Max Cooper, Scott E. Nederlander and Emanuel Azenberg.

Lane and Broderick will play Oscar Madison and Felix Unger in Simon's classic The Odd Couple. Lane will be the sloppy sportswriter Madison, while Broderick will be the uptight photographer Felix Unger.

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 Brad Garrett (Murray), Lee Wilkof (Vinnie) and Rob Bartlett (Speed), and Pigeon Sisters Jessica Stone (Cecily) and Olivia d'Abo (Gwendolyn).

Rehearsals are to begin on Sept. 6. Performances begin Oct. 4. The official opening night is Oct. 27.

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).