B'way Update: The Odd Couple with Steve Carell and John C. Reilly

Steve Carell and John C. Reilly will star in a new production of Neil Simon's classic comedy The Odd Couple beginning previews at  the Stephen Sondheim Theater on March 3, 2027 at the Stephen Sondheim Theater, opening on March 23. Tony winner Thomas Kail (Hamilton, Sweeney Todd) directs.

Joining Carell as Felix Ungar and Reilly as Oscar Madison are Tony Award winner Laura Benanti (Gypsy, She Loves Me, My Fair Lady) as Gwendolyn Pigeon; Tony Award nominee Kevin Del Aguila (Some Like It Hot) as Roy; Tony Award winner JamesMonroe Iglehart (Disney’s Aladdin, Hamilton, A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical) as Murray; Tony Award nominee Rob McClure (Chaplin, Mrs. Doubtfire) as Vinnie; Heléne Yorke (American Psycho, Bullets Over Broadway) as Cecily Pigeon; and Tony Award nominee David Zayas (Cost of Living) as Speed.

The Odd Couple, Simon's comedy of two mismatched divorced men sharing an apartment, opened on Broadway in 1965 with Walter Matthau and Art Carney and ran for 964 performances. Simon rewrote a new version with female leads in 1985 which starred Rita Moreno and Sally Struthers. The 1968 film version starred Matthau and Jack Lemmon. A 2005 revival was headlined by Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. Jack Klugman and Tony Randall played Oscar and Felix in the long-running TV series and there were two subsequent TV versions as well as a cartoon series featuring a sloppy dog and a fussy cat voiced by Paul Winchell and Frank Nelson.

B'way Update: Chicken and Biscuits, Plaza Suite, Harry Potter

A new show, a revival, and an altered previously-running show have been added to the 2021-22, post-COVID Broadway calendar. Chicken and Biscuits, a new play, will open at the Circle in the Square, the long-delayed Plaza Suite has announced preview and opening dates, and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will resume performances at the Lyric as a condensed, one-evening presentation rather in its previous two parts. Only a few announced productions have not yet claimed dates, so the Broadway schedule is nearly complete.  

The cast of Chicken and Biscuits
at the Queens Theater
Credit: Dominick Totino

Chicken and Biscuits, a new play by Douglas Lyons, will begin previews at the Circle in the Square Theater on Sept. 23 with an opening set for Oct. 10. Tony nominee Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess) and Drama Desk winner Michael Urie (The Temperamentals, Buyer and Cellar) star in this comedy which premiered at the Queens Theater in Flushing Meadows in Feb. 28, 2020, but had to close down two weeks into its run because of the COVID pandemic. The play is staged by Zhailon Levingston, who at 27 will be the youngest African-American director in Broadway history. Lyons is also making his Broadway debut as a playwright and has appeared on the Main Stem as an actor in Beautiful and The Book of Mormon. The comedy will have a limited run at Circle in the Square until Jan. 2, 2022. A revival of David Mamet's American Buffalo with Shia LaBeouf was scheduled for the theater before the pandemic and there are plans for the production to open there in March.