RIALTO CHATTER: Nathan Lane Headed Back to Broadway in NANCE?

Playwright Douglas Carter Beane, represented on Broadway currently by both SISTER ACT and LYSISTRATA JONES tells the Associated Press today about his upcoming projects, and noted that "In the pipeline for the next Broadway season is a play - "The Nance" with Nathan Lane - and another, still hush-hush musical."

Back in October of 2010, the New York Times reported today that Nathan Lane may be teaming up with Douglas Carter Beane following his run in The Addams Family for The Nance, a new play "about a performer who played the role of the nance in burlesque shows in the early 20th century." The play centers on a nance (or "nancy boy"), who performs at the downtown burlesque club, The Irving, "during the era when Mayor Fiorello La Guardia was moving to ban burlesque in New York City."

Beane hosted a private reading of the play in October of 2010 starring Lane, Benjamin Walker, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Kevin Chamberlin.  Beane told the New York Times last year that his goal is to workshop the piece at Lincoln Center Theater. 

Nathan Lane is a two-time Tony and Emmy award-winning stage and screen star. He is best known for his roles as Albert in The Birdcage, Max Bialystock in the musical The Producers, Ernie Smuntz in MouseHunt, Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls, Pseudolus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and his voice work in The Lion King and Stuart Little. In 2008, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. He most recently appeared on Broadway in The Addams Family.

Douglas Carter Beane wrote the book for Lysistrata Jones, which received critical acclaim for its New York debut with Transport Group and will open on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater on December 14, 2011. Plays: The Little Dog Laughed (TONY and Olivier Nominations for Best Play, GLAAD Media Award), Mr & Mrs Fitch, As Bees in Honey Drown (Outer Critics Circle Gassner Award), Music From a Sparkling Planet, The Country Club, Advice From a Caterpillar, The Cartells, and the upcoming The Nance. Musicals: Xanadu (Outer Critics, HX, Drama Desk award for Best Book, Tony nomination for Best Book), Sister Act (Tony nomination for Best Book), The Big Time, The Bandwagon, and a soon-to-be-announced Rodgers and Hammerstein project. Revues: Mondo Drama and White Lies. Screenplays: Advice From a Caterpillar (Aspen Comedy Festival Best Feature); To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. As Artistic Director of Drama Dept., he produced more than 40 productions including revivals of As Thousands Cheer, June Moon and The Torchbearers, and world premieres by Paul Rudnick, David Sedaris and Wendy Wasserstein. He resides in NYC with his partner, Lewis Flinn, and their children Cooper and Gabrielle.