Jonny Orsini and Lewis J. Stadlen Join Nathan Lane in Broadway's THE NANCE

Lincoln Center Theater has announced that Jonny Orsini and Lewis J. Stadlen will join two-time Tony Award-winning actor Nathan Lane in its upcoming production of THE NANCE, a new play by Douglas Carter Beane to be directed by Jack O'Brien. The production will begin previews on Thursday, March 21 and open on Monday, April 15 at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45 Street). Additional casting for THE NANCE will be announced at a later date.

In The Nance, playwright Douglas Carter Beane tells the story of Chauncey Miles (Nathan Lane), a headline nance performer in New York burlesque, who also happens to be homosexual. Integrating burlesque sketches into his drama, Beane paints, with humor and pathos, the portrait of a homosexual man, living and working in the secretive and dangerous gay world of 1930's New York, whose outrageous antics on the burlesque stage stand in marked contrast to his messy offstage life.

THE NANCE will have sets by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Japhy Weideman, sound by Leon Rothenberg, choreography by Joey Pizzi and original music and arrangements by Glen Kelly.

Jonny Orsini's stage credits include productions off-Broadway with The New Group, the Irish Repertory Theatre and at Ars Nova. He's appeared in leading roles in the films Beneath, Generation Um, Rocksteady, Cigarette Candy and Eddie and Paul. His TV credits include Gunny and Law & Order.

Lewis J. Stadlen has appeared with Nathan Lane in the Broadway productions of The Man Who Came To Dinner (Drama Desk nomination), Laughter on the 23^rd Floor and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Tony Award nomination). His other Broadway credits include The People in the Picture, The Producers, 45 Seconds From Broadway, The Odd Couple (Female version), Candide (Tony Award nomination), The Sunshine Boys and Minnie's Boys (Drama Desk, Theatre World and Outer Critics Circle Awards). He's appeared in the films In & Out, To Be or Not to Be, I.Q, The Verdict and Serpico and on television on the series Smash, Damages, and The Sopranos.

Nathan Lane returns to Lincoln Center Theater where he appeared in Richard Nelson's Some Americans Abroad and wrote the book for and starred in the new version of the Stephen Sondheim/ Burt Shevelove musical The Frogs. A two-time Tony Award winner for his performances in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, his many Broadway credits include starring roles in the musicals The Addams Family and Guys and Dollsand the plays Waiting for Godot, November, Butley, The Odd Couple, The Man Who Came To Dinner, Love! Valor! Compassion!, Laughter on the 23^rd Floor, On Borrowed Time and Present Laughter. Winner of an Obie Award for Sustained Excellence, his off-Broadway credits include Dedication or the Stuff of Dreams, Trumbo, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Measure for Measure, She Stoops to Conquer, The Common Pursuit, The Film Society, Mizlansky/Zilinksy, The Lisbon Traviata (Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards), Bad Habits, Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Love! Valour! Compassion! (Obie Award) and Do Re Mi at City Center Encores! His more than 30 films include The Producers (Golden Globe Award nomination), Swing Vote, Nicholas Nickleby(National Board of Review Ensemble Acting Award), Stuart Little, The Lion King, Jeffrey, Mousehunt, Frankie and Johnny, Ironweed and The Birdcage (Golden Globe Award nomination, Screen Actors Guild and American Comedy Awards). The winner of two Emmy Awards and a People's Choice Award, he can currently be seen on TV on The Good Wife.

Douglas Carter Beane's plays include The Little Dog Laughed, As Bees In Honey Drown, Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, Music From A Sparkling Planet, The Country Club, Advice From A Caterpiller and The Cartells. He was nominated for Tony Awards for his books for the musicals Xanadu (for which he won a Drama Desk Award), Sister Act and Lysistrata Jones and wrote the book for the current new stage version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella.

Jack O'Brien won Tony Awards for his direction of the LCT productions of The Coast of Utopia and Henry IV. His other LCT productions include The Invention of Love, Pride's Crossing, The Little Foxes, Hapgood (Lucille Lortel Award) and Two Shakespearean Actors. His many Broadway productions include Catch Me If You Can, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Hairspray (Tony Award), The Full Monty and Damn Yankees. He staged the Metropolitan Opera's recent production of Il Trittico and in London directed Love Never Dies and Hairspray on the West End and His Girl Friday at The National Theatre. He was Artistic Director of San Diego's Old Globe Theatre from 1981 to 2007.

This spring Lincoln Center Theater is also producing Richard Nelson's new play Nikolai and the Others, directed by David Cromer, beginning Thursday, April 4 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater and the LCT3 productions of Luck of the Irishby Kirsten Greenidge, directed by Rebecca Taichman (January 28 - March 10) and A Kid Like Jake by Daniel Pearle, directed by Evan Cabnet (June 2 - July 14), both at the Claire Tow Theater.