Gay Romance Takes Center Stage as The Nance, Starring Nathan Lane, Opens on Broadway

It’s opening night for Lincoln Center Theater’s latest Broadway production, The Nance. Penned by Douglas Carter Beane and directed by Tony winner Jack O’Brien, the production officially opens at the Lyceum Theatre on April 15.

The Nance stars two-time Tony and Broadway.com Audience Choice Award winner Nathan Lane as closeted gay burlesque star Chauncey Miles and newcomer Jonny Orsini as his young lover Ned. The cast also features Tony winner Cady Huffman, Andréa Burns, Lewis J. Stadlen and Jenni Barber.

The play's title refers to a derogatory slang word for effeminate men and campy homosexual characters typically played by straight men in 1930s burlesque shows. Lane plays Chauncey Miles, a gay nance performer working during the period when New York City mayor Fiorello La Guardia was trying to ban burlesque. Integrating burlesque sketches into the drama, The Nance 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 messy offstage life.

The Nance features set design by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Ann Roth, lighting design by Japhy Weideman, sound design by Leon Rothenberg, original music and arrangements by Glen Kelly, orchestrations by Larry Blank and choreography by Joey Pizzi.