Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, Live on Stage
Long Beach Playhouse - MainStage (5021 E. Anaheim St. Long Beach, CA 90804)
- Full Price:
- $20.00 - $25.00
- Our Price:
- $10.00 - $12.50*
* Additional fees apply.
All offers for The Odd Couple have expired.
The last date listed for The Odd Couple was Saturday August 20, 2005 / 8:00pm.
1 Goldstar Member Review
Bernie B
Enjoyable production with pretty good acting and sets, comfortable & convenient venue.Written on Jul 18 2005
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More Information About The Odd Couple
Quotes & Highlights
- "Fresh, richly hilarious, remarkably original, wildly irresistibly and continuously funny." --New York Daily News
Description
When The Odd Couple appeared on Broadway in March of 1965, Neil Simon was already a fairly well-known playwnght. His successful comedy, Come Blow Your Horn, had initiated his Broadway career in 1961 and Barefoot in the Park in 1963 had been an even bigger hit. But The Odd Couple, with its unforgettable pair of mismatched roommates, made Simon a cultural phenomenon, and he subsequently became in his own lifetime the most commercially successful playwnght in the history of theatre.
After its long run on Broadway, The Odd Couple was turned into a successful film in 1968 and then became a popular television series (on the American Broadcasting Company network) running from 1970 to 1975. Thus, Oscar Madison and Felix Ungar, the odd couple of the title, were steadily prominent in the popular entertainment industry for ten years and, as a result, became a part of American culture. Though some may forget which one was "sloppy" and which one "neat," almost everyone understands the phrase "odd couple" as a way of descnbmg a mismatched pair.
The television show is still syndicated in reruns, the movie version appears frequently on television, and regional and local theatre groups mount productions of the play with great regularity. In 1985 Simon responded to the continued popularity of his odd pair by writing a female version for Broadway, in which all the characters' genders were reversed. Though not as popular as the original play, this new version helped perpetuate the "odd couple" as one of the most memorable pair of characters in the history of commercial theatre.
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).
About the Ticket Supplier: Long Beach Playhouse
Seventy-five continuous years of quality live theatrical entertainment have established the Long Beach Playhouse as a landmark in the City of Long Beach. The Playhouse produces 16 shows annually with a new play or musical every three weeks on the the Mainstage or upstairs in the Studio Theatre. Long Beach's flagship professional theatre cuts across age, gender, ethnic, and cultural boundaries while being entirely self-supporting through ticket sales and membership support.