Odd Couple 10/15 Matinee Review

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/15/05 at 8:19pm

Shelled out $25 for SRO and it was worth it. Too bad lightning didn't strike twice.

There's a scene in The Producers where Max Bialystock throws a cup of water in Leo Bloom's face. Bloom responds with "I'm wet, you made me wet." There's a scene in The Odd Couple where Oscar Madison throws a cup of water in Leo Bloom's face. Bloom responds, yet again, with "I'm wet, you made me wet."

I use that exchange to prove my point about The Odd Couple.

Nathan Lane is giving another kick-ass performance. He is not doing the carbon-copy of Max Bialystock that I expected, and seeing him in the tank-top and boxers was a hoot. If no competition comes along, the Tony is his again.

However, Matthew Broderick, who, after finally learning his lines, channels Leo Bloom at ever second of his performance. There is no depth at all. I spent most of scene 1 waiting for him to break into "I Wanna Be A Producer." He needs to find his legs. Desperately.

It was distressing to see that the chemistry that was so apparent in The Producers was totally gone. It was like they had never even seen each other before in their lives.

Brad Garrett is doing the same shtick as he did on Raymond, but he's great doing it.

Olivia d'Abo and Jessica Stone steal the show as the Coo-Coo Pigeon Sisters in their two scenes.

The company of men (Rob Bartlett, Lee Wilkof, and Peter Frechette) also deliver great performances.

Love the set, but I love all of John Lee Beatty's work.
Props to Marc Shaiman who's incidental music is perfect. Only once did I miss the traditional theme song, but that was at the beginning.

In the audience were Phil Rosenthal and Monica Horan (both late of Everybody Loves Raymond).

At the stage door, Lee, Jessica, and Peter didn't stop to sign for everyone. Nathan was the first person out (very surprising), signing for everyone, taking pictures, and was more personable than I'd ever expect him to be. Rob did his shtick with the crowd, urging everyone to sell their Playbills on ebay to make back what they spent on tickets. Brad was also very nice and thanked everyone who screamed out "We love you, Robert!"

According to Pat at the stage door, Nathan DOES come out after every matinee. He even did so on Wednesday, in the pouring rain.
Updated On: 10/15/05 at 08:19 PM

[WickedGeek28]

Posted: 10/15/05 at 8:22pm

Thanks for the review, I'd love to see this.

[ProducersFan]

Posted: 10/15/05 at 8:48pm

Nathan was super sweet at the stage door when I saw it last Sunday. He posed for a photo with me, but my POS digital camera crapped out on me so it didn't come out. Hopefully if I'm in NY sometime in the future I can get a retake.

I must admit I was worried to meet him in person, since he is one of my favorite actors. But he was so kind and when I told him what a huge fan of his I was, he looked me right in the eyes and said thank you. I could've died!

Isn't the set gorgeous! I've never seen one with a roof before - totally blew me away!

~Jessica

[Staci1818]

Posted: 10/15/05 at 10:54pm

I was there as well. I never saw them in the Producers, so I can't say how similar their preformances were to those in the Producers, but Matthew Broderick just didn't do anything for me. Nathan Lane was wonderful, and Brad Garret is just consistantly funny in his role. I'd love to see him in a different type of role, and see how he handled it. The rest of the cast worked well together, and the show was fun. Just a note, the stagedoor was very crowded, and people were even standing accross the street outside Absurd Person Singular.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 10/15/05 at 10:56pm

oooo, they have SRO?

When'd you get there?

[PJ]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 12:51am

I'm definitely going to do SRO but only after it opens and hopefully Broderick has his sh*t together.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/16/05 at 8:30pm

BSoBW2, I got there at 8:30 AM and was 10th in line. There are only 12 tickets per show.