Susan Granger’s review of “The Odd Couple” (Brooks Atkinson Theater)
The long-awaited revival of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” reunites the dynamic duo from “The Producers,” Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. They’ve generated so much box-office excitement that the show is virtually sold out for the entire length of its so-far limited Broadway run. So it’s a shame that the comedy doesn’t quite live up to its hype.
Into the messy, eight-room Upper West Side apartment where Scotch-sodden, slobby sportswriter Oscar Madison (Nathan Lane) lives moves the meticulously prissy, nerdy neatnik Felix Unger (Matthew Broderick), whose marriage has just collapsed. The two old friends-forced-to-live together tandem reprises but never quite recreates the 1965 stage roles originated by Walter Matthau and Art Carney and the 1968 screen interpretations by Matthau and Jack Lemmon. And the terrific supporting cast includes poker buddies Rob Bartlett, Lee Wilkoff and Brad Garrett, making his Broadway debut after winning three Emmys for his role as the sad-sack cop brother on “Everybody Loves Raymond,” while Olivia d’Abo and Jessica Stone are charmingly ditsy as the giggly British Pigeon Sisters who drop by for dinner. Only Peter Frechette’s performance as a distressed accountant seems discordant with the comic rhythms of Neil Simon’s impeccable dialogue, filled with hilarious one-liners.
While director Joe Mantello milks every twist and nuance, he gives Nathan Lane a free hand, perhaps even encouraging his overplaying, which results in Matthew Broderick’s restrained, even stiff counterpoint. As a result, there’s little emotional resonance to their forced intimacy. Despite that inherent drawback, the production is superb with John Lee Beatty’s sets amusingly depicting both the pre- and post- Felix periods in Oscar’s rent-controlled flat, Ann Roth’s costumes and Marc Shaiman’s jazzy incidental music.
Inevitably, a revival of “The Sunshine Boys” looms somewhere in the future – for Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick.