By Robert Simonson | Playbill
Brad Garrett, of "Everybody
Loves Raymond" fame, will
play Murray the Cop in the
Broadway revival of Neil
Simon's The Odd Couple,
starring the golden duo of
Nathan Lane and Matthew
Broderick, the Chicago
Sun-Times reported.
The play will begin previews
on Oct. 4 at the Brooks
Atkinson.
Garrett told of his casting
in a May 11 interview with
the Chicago paper. "I am so
excited about this," he
said. "They're even talking
of having me understudy
Nathan. Hmmm. Now I just
have to figure out how to
poison him."
For nine seasons, Garrett
play Robert, the policeman
brother of Ray Romano of the
popular sitcom.
Reheasals are to begin on
Sept. 6. Emanuel Azenberg,
Ira Pittelman, Jeffrey Sine,
Max Cooper and Ben Sprecher
are producing.
Joe Mantello will direct the
staging, which would reunite
the stars of The Producers.
The venture would likely be
a limited run.
Broderick recently performed
Off-Broadway in The
Foreigner. Lane, meanwhile,
reprised his role of Max
Bialystock in the London
premiere of The Producers.
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.
In addition to his
Tony-winning roles in The
Producers and A Funny Thing
Happened on the Way to the
Forum, Nathan Lane has
starred on The Great White
Way in Present Laughter,
Merlin, The Wind in the
Willows, Some Americans
Abroad, On Borrowed Time,
Guys and Dolls, Laughter on
the 23rd Floor, Love!
Valour! Compassion! and The
Man Who Came to Dinner.
Matthew Broderick received
Tony Awards for his
performances in Brighton
Beach Memoirs and the
revival of How to Succeed in
Business Without Really
Trying. He was also
Tony-nominated for his work
in The Producers, and his
other theatre credits
include Biloxi Blues, Night
Must Fall, Taller Than a
Dwarf, On Valentine's Day,
Torch Song Trilogy and The
Widow Claire.
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).
