Uptown Players Stage THE NANCE, Now thru 7/5

Uptown Players opens its 2015 season with the zany Broadway comedy The Nance, the 2013 Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award winning play written by Douglas Carter Beane. The Nance stars B.J. Cleveland in the leading role, which garnered a Tony nomination for Nathan Lane on Broadway. The show runs at the Kalita Humphreys Theater from tonight, June 19 to July 5, 2015.

The Nance recreates the naughty, raucous world of burlesque's heyday and tells the backstage story of Chauncey Miles (Cleveland), a headline nance (a parody of a gay man) in the twilight of New York burlesque's era, who is homosexual. Integrating burlesque sketches into his drama, Beane paints the portrait of a homosexual man, living and working in the secretive and dangerous gay world of 1930s New York, whose outrageous antics on the burlesque stage stand in marked contrast to his offstage life.

This brilliant and touching comedy was nominated for five Tony Awards and two Drama Desk Awards, and The New York Daily News called the play "refreshingly original." The Uptown production is under the direction of Bruce R. Coleman, with music direction and original music composed by Adam C. Wright and choreography by Kelly McCain. The cast features B. J. Cleveland, Sterling Gafford, Bob Hess, Sherry Hopkins, Linda Leonard and Brett Warner.

The production runs June 19 through July 5, 2015, with shows at 8 p.m. on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. on Sundays (no performances June 21 or July 4). Performances take place at the Kalita Humphreys Theatre, 3636 Turtle Creek Blvd (at Blackburn), Dallas, TX 75219. Tickets are $25-$40 and can be purchased online at www.uptownplayers.org or by phone at (214) 219-2718.