The Odd Couple Tickets

The review-proof, already a hit and then some The Odd Couple opened last night, and despite their opinions not mattering to the show's financial success - the critics have weighed in. So what'd they say

For the NY Post, Clive Barnes calls it "SHOW OF THE YEAR" and writes that "STEAL tickets if you can - the chemistry's still there. Burdened by nearly impossible expectations, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick proved the right couple for Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," which opened last night at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre."

The Washington Post says "This 'Odd Couple' Is a Perfect Match" and writes "The play, its sensibility over the hill and the agitated characters familiar from the TV workout, is not much of a stretch for the talented ensemble, although Broderick seems as if he's still groping for a handle on Felix. Even so, it all goes down surprisingly smoothly."

Variety writes "The comedy threads together one-liners into a flimsy construct in which very little happens. If there's a soul to be found in the superficial story of two men whose marriages have failed finding comfort and reciprocal positive influences in their friendship, Mantello and company fail to unearth it. Which makes this reteaming of golden duo Lane and Broderick after two selloutsellout runs in "The Producers" seem nothing more than a moneymaking enterprise without creative justification."

For the Associated Press - "Does anyone do a comic explosion better than Nathan Lane Not likely. And the proof of Lane's combustible expertise can be found on stage at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where the actor is erupting nightly as the perpetually sloppy Oscar Madison in a laugh-filled revival of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple." Lane is the spark that drives this high-powered production, which also stars Matthew Broderick as the ultra-fastidious Felix Ungar, Oscar's mismatched roommate. The two performers, who cemented their professional partnership in a little something called "The Producers," have now honed their interplay into high comedic art."

USA Today writes that "Lane, Broderick ladle it on" and says "Lane plunges into the alternately grouchy and garrulous Oscar with predictable relish, and Broderick makes a sweetly droll fussbudget. But it's the rapport between them that truly delights. When this Felix begins dusting around his and Oscar's pals in the middle of a poker game, or details a list of bizarre ailments, Oscar's reactions are as amusing as his roommate's antics."

Ben Brantley for the New York Times opines that "if you were lucky enough to see Mr. Lane and Mr. Broderick in the hit musical "The Producers," you have definitely already experienced more satisfying versions of the performances they are giving here." He also writes "Perhaps because of this inverted equation of character, the men are reduced to batting their one-liners back and forth, as in a Ping-Pong game that has been going on for days. Only in the final scene, when Oscar's and Felix's animosity gets physical, do the actors seem to relax."

NY Newsday says "Lane is a delightful thug as the divorced Oscar, a role created on stage and film by Walter Matthau and imprinted in our homes by Jack Klugman. Broderick has his just-hatched pallor and ungainly grace in the part that belonged first to Art Carney, was filmed by Jack Lemmon and was so identified with Tony Randall that it was hard to see where Felix ended and the actor began. If this Oscar is an alpha-bulldog, this Felix is a lamb in a tie and rubber kitchen gloves."

About The Odd Couple

The Odd Couple is the hilarious story of two dramatically different roommates, one messy and one neat. The two newly single friends decide to live together, but the idea is sure to be a failure because of the "odd couple's" clashing personalities and habits. Neil Simon's characters are compelling and their relationship is hysterical. Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, original stars of the Broadway smash hit "The Producers", team up again in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple".

The Odd Couple first appeared on Broadway in 1965 when Simon was already a fairly well known playwright. However, The Odd Couple with its memorable duo of mismatched roommates made Neil Simon a cultural wonder, as well as the most commercially successful playwright in the history of theatre. After a long run on Broadway, The Odd Couple was turned into a movie in 1968, and later into a television series that from 1970-1975. Therefore, Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar, the "odd couple" of the title, were readily prolific in the popular entertainment industry for ten years, and thus became a part of American culture. Though some may not remember who was "sloppy" and which one "neat", almost everyone understands the phrase "odd couple" as a way of describing a mismatched pair.