Will IT'S ONLY A PLAY GET Extended Run at Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre? Martin Short to Replace Nathan Lane?

The star-studded Broadway production of the backstage comedy It's Only A Play, by 4-time Tony Award winner Terrence McNally, is officially set to run through January 4 at Broadway's Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th Street), but could it stick around a little longer? As first rumored on BroadwayWorld.com's message board, and then picked up elsewhere as news, rumors are flying around the rialto today that the show might transfer to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre when THE AUDIENCE moves into the Schoenfeld early next year.

Additionally, there is buzz that stage and screen star Martin Short might replace Nathan Lane when his contract expires in January.

Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, Tony Award winner Matthew Broderick, Emmy and Tony Award winner Stockard Channing, international film sensation Rupert Grint, Tony Award winner Nathan Lane, Emmy Award winner Megan Mullally, and newcomer Micah Stock star in It's Only a Play. 3-time Tony Award winner Jack O'Brien directs.

In It's Only A Play, it's opening night of Peter Austin's (Matthew Broderick) new play as he anxiously awaits to see if his show is a hit. With his career on the line, he shares his big First Night with his best friend, a television star (Nathan Lane), his fledgling producer (Megan Mullally), his erratic leading lady (Stockard Channing), his wunderkind director (Rupert Grint), an infamous drama critic (F. Murray Abraham), and a fresh-off-the-bus coat check attendant (Micah Stock) on his first night in Manhattan. It's alternately raucous, ridiculous and tender - and proves that sometimes the biggest laughs happen offstage.