USA: Popular Broadway duo, actors Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, team up again for the revival of the play, "The Odd Couple".

A revival of Neil Simon's classic comedy, "The Odd Couple", brings together actors Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick in an effort to rekindle the magic of the duo's successful pairing in the Broadway hit, "The Producers". With this play, both actors return to Broadway for the first time since their performance in Mel Brooks' "The Producers". "The Odd Couple", which first debuted on Broadway in 1965 and ran for a total of 964 performances, centres on Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar, a pair of mismatched roommates. Oscar is sloppy, while Felix is obsessed with cleanliness. Their varied lifestyles lead to some conflicts, which in turn become the chief source of humour in the play. Directed by Joe Mantello, the play opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway on Thursday (October 27), with an after-show party and red carpet appearances at the Marriott Marquis hotel. Broderick had wife, actress Sarah Jessica Parker, best known for her titular role in "The Sex and the City" series, by his side. The actor said it is hard to decide what the best part of "The Odd Couple" production is and added: "I love the play you know. I don't know what the best part is. I love working with Nathan again and Neil Simon, who I worked with a long time ago, and to work with him again, just starting now." While Broderick welcomed the fact that "The Odd Couple" has attracted monumental ticket demand, in part owing to the popularity of his previous pairing with Lane on Broadway; he also wanted to underline the fact that the play sees them in a completely "different" setting, as opposed to the "The Producers" musical. When asked which part she liked her husband more in - as a producer or as the neatness-obsessed Felix in "The Odd Couple", Parker said: "They're very different shows. One is a musical, and one's a straight play, well not straight play, but it's a comedy play. I don't know, I love them both. They both very different, I would never compare them. And the performances are very different too. I love them both." Meanwhile, while referring to the great expectation that the audience has from his pairing with Broderick and the inevitable comparisons with "The Producers", Lane said, "You try to do your best and serve the play and hope that people like it. The rest is all - people are going to say what they want to say but you know, you're just trying to do the best job you can and give them the best experience of the play you can." On the opening night of the play, that "experience" was shared by actress Kathleen Turner. She said she prefers the play version of "The Odd Couple" to its film form. "I always prefer stage, I always prefer the play I think. There's just something that happens when you're watching it live - that to me is just more delightful and more touching than a film," Turner explained. Playwright Neil Simon couldn't agree more. Not surprisingly, he too prefers the play version of "The Odd Couple" to its silver-screen avatar. "I always like the play most because that's the origin of it, that's the beginning. When you do the movie, it's great because we have Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. But can't top this, for me - anyway," he said. Another person for whom it appears that the "The Odd Couple" experience can't be topped, is Brad Garrett. Best known for his role as Robert Barone in the television series, "Everybody Loves Raymond", the actor made his theatrical debut in this play. "It's a whole different discipline but working with Nathan Lane, and Joe Mantello directing and Neil Simon writing, and Matthew Broderick, it's a dream. So, it was my first time on Broadway and I'm having the time of my life. I'm lucky, I'm a lucky pup," he said. According to some reports, the play has already made a huge advance, numbering several millions. Meanwhile, the Broderick-Lane duo goes on strong, with an upcoming film version of "The Producers" by Universal Studios.

ITN Source | November 5, 2005

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