Nathan Lane Likely to Return to Broadway in Douglas Carter Beane’s The Nance

Two-time Tony winner Nathan Lane plans to return to Broadway in the spring of 2013 in Lincoln Center Theater’s production of Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance, according to The New York Times. Three-time Tony winner Jack O’Brien is slated to direct. 

The play's title refers to a derogatory slang word for effeminate men and also to a character type frequently featured in burlesque shows during the 1920s. Lane would play a performer at the Irving Theatre during the period when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was trying to ban burlesque. In 2010, Beane held a reading of The Nance at his home featuring Lane, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson's Benjamin Walker, Streetcar Named Desire star Daphne Rubin-Vega and Lane's former Addams Family co-star Kevin Chamberlin.

Lane was most recently seen on Broadway as patriarch Gomez in The Addams Family. He won Tony Awards for his roles in The Producers and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. His other Broadway credits include Waiting for Godot, November, Butley, The Odd Couple, Guys and Dolls and Love! Valour! Compassion!  Broadway insiders speculated that Lane would return to Broadway in the fall with the Goodman Theatre's revival of The Iceman Cometh alongside Tony winner Brian Dennehy; however, Lane denied those rumors.