The Broadway revival of Terrence McNally’s play “Lips Together, Teeth Apart” has been postponed for the spring season, the Roundabout Theater Company announced on Thursday. The decision was made after the actress Megan Mullally quit the show this week because of frustration with the inexperience of a co-star, the comedian Patton Oswalt, whom she tried to have replaced, according to four people familiar with her departure.

Todd Haimes, the Roundabout’s artistic director, said in a statement that there was no way “to maintain the production schedule” after Ms. Mullally quit so close to the start of preview performances on April 9. Mr. Haimes had disclosed Ms. Mullally’s departure on Wednesday night, calling it a surprise and a breach of contract.

Ms. Mullally, a two-time Emmy Award winner for her role as Karen on “Will & Grace,” departed two weeks into rehearsals, after the show’s director, Joe Mantello, refused her request to replace Mr. Oswalt, according to the four people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were disclosing information that was shared with them confidentially. Two of the people are involved in the production, and two had been briefed in detail on Ms. Mullally’s departure.

Ms. Mullally had gone so far as to suggest names of veteran Broadway actors who might replace Mr. Oswalt in the play, in which the two were to portray siblings. The four people said that not long after rehearsals began, on March 9, Ms. Mullally became concerned that Mr. Oswalt was having difficulty with his nuanced role, that of her unsophisticated, homophobic brother  a part for which Nathan Lane drew critical praise in the original Off Broadway production.