'The Odd Couple' opens Cumberland County Playhouse season

Jason Ross, in back, plays the fastidious Felix Unger to Britt Hancock's slovenly Oscar Madison in the Cumberland County Playhouse production of "The Odd Couple." The Neil Simon comedy opens the 2017 season at the Crossville, Tenn., theater.

Two audience favorites of patrons at the Cumberland County Playhouse are teaming up to star in the opening production of the 2017 season at the Crossville, Tenn., theater.

Jason Ross ("Smoke on the Mountain," "The Addams Family") and Britt Hancock ("Mamma Mia") are cast as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison, respectively, in Neil Simon's classic comedy, "The Odd Couple." The show opens Saturday, Jan. 21, with matinee and evening performances offered through March 31.

Set in 1960s New York, the Tony Award-winning comedy opens as a group of guys assembles for cards in the apartment of the divorced Oscar. And if the mess is any indication, it's no wonder that his wife left him.

Late to arrive is Felix, who has just separated from his wife. Fastidious, depressed and tense, Felix seems suicidal. But as the action unfolds, Oscar becomes the one with murder on his mind when the clean freak and the slob ultimately decide to room together. The men attempt to adapt to each other's idiosyncrasies, all the while trying to rekindle their social lives with hilarious results.

"I can't think of a better way to start a new year than by giving audiences a chance to come together and spend an afternoon or evening laughing their cares away," says producing director Bryce McDonald. "And 'The Odd Couple' is sure to provide that opportunity. It's one of the best - and funniest - comedies ever written and it has inspired two films, two television series and countless revivals."

Cast as Felix and Oscar's card-playing buddies are Daniel Black, Quinn Caso, Ross Griffin and Michael Ruff. Lauren Marshall and Jess Martin play the upstairs neighbors, the Pigeon sisters. Kathleen Gilpatrick directs.