Roles in THE ODD COUPLE

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/12/05 at 11:15am

I heard many rumors about The Odd Couple casting. I heard that they two would possibly be alternating roles...can anyone confirm this?

[baddadnpa]

Posted: 8/12/05 at 11:16am

Show art clearly defines their roles with Matthew playing Felix and Nathan playing Oscar. I bet this is no longer on the table if it ever was. Disappointing. It would've been much more interesting for them to play against type. This is now going to be Max and Leo as divorcees living together.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 8/12/05 at 1:37pm

Lane originally suggested this as a joke...I think he would have done it but Broderick made it clear that they weren't doing it. I frankly think it would be tough to pull off because the audience would not know what role the actor was playing on a given night and some people do NOT want to see them switch roles so they'd be hard pressed to do this and not upset the audience AND it would require extra work on the actors' part. Since Lane is currently doing Dedication, and they have less than a month in rehearsal for Odd Couple, I doubt there is time for them to rehearse two roles.

[JakeB]

Posted: 8/12/05 at 4:45pm

If it was going to happen I'm sure Lane said it would happen later in the run. I saw a very high-profile professional production of The Odd Couple a few days ago in Edinburgh and was trying to picture them both in each role. I don't see why role reversal shouldn't happen, it would be an acting challenge that Broderick should rise to.

[SamIAm]

Posted: 8/12/05 at 7:28pm

Actually Lane didn't specify when it might happen (and since he didn't know he was doing Dedication at that point, he wouldn't have even been thinking about that) he merely mentioned it as a 'wouldn't it be fun' kind of thing. But it has been denied as a reality by several of the principles so apparently they figured it wouldn't work for a number of reasons.

I think the audience will be happy to see them in the roles in which they've been announced, though I would have loved to have seen them cast them in opposite roles. As Lane and Broderick admitted, they are actually more like the other character anyway (Lane is a neatnik and Broderick is a slob)