If there's one show every theater practitioner in America "knows" is overproduced, it's Neil Simon's 1965 comedy The Odd Couple. As Lakewood Playhouse's artistic director, John Munn, pointed out to me many times, however, that reputation isn't fully deserved. I, for one, had never actually seen a stage production of The Odd Couple prior to LP's opening night. I'd seen plenty of Annies, and Greases and Hamlets and Little Shops of Horror and Twelfth Nights and Into the Woodses, but never this particular show. Of course, that's not to say I don't know the play back and forth. We can all name its characters. We know why Felix is late to arrive in Act I, and where that messy food item's headed later on.

So what? There's an allure to the old familiar.

Read Christian Carvajal's full review of The Odd Couple in the Music & Culture section.

THE ODD COUPLE, 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through May 11, Lakewood Playhouse, 5729 Lakewood Towne Center Blvd., Lakewood, $19-$25, 253.588.0042