Nathan Lane Heads Back to Broadway in ‘The Nance’

Nathan Lane is heading back to Broadway in Douglas Carter Beane’s play, “The Nance.”

The Lincoln Center Theater announced Wednesday that Lane would star in the upcoming play, which is set to open April 15, 2013 at the Lyceum Theater. Previews will begin March 21.

“Nance” refers to a stock character in the burlesque shows of the 1930s that is a camp homosexual man played by a straight man. Lane will play Chauncey Miles, who is a top nance performer and is gay. The Lincoln Center Theater said the new production mixes drama and burlesque sketches to give “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 messy offstage life.”

Additional casting will be announced soon, and the production will be directed by Jack O’Brien, best known for “Catch Me If You Can” and “Dead Accounts.” Sets will be designed by John Lee Beatty, costumes are by Ann Roth, sound is by Leon Rothenberg and lighting will be done by Japhy Weideman.

Nathan Lane has won two Tony Awards, and last appeared on Broadway in 2011 in “The Addams Family.” His first Tony Award came in 1996 for Best Actor in a Musical for “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” and the second was also for Best Actor in a Musical for his work in the revival of “The Producers” in 2001. Lane had previously announced that his next project would probably be a new play by Beane.

Beane is known as the book writer for both “Xanadu” and “Lysistrata Jones,” and also is the author of “The Little Dog Laughed.” The latter was nominated in 2007 for the Tony Award for Best Play.