The Nance: Nathan Lane returning to Broadway

Two-time Tony Award-winner Nathan Lane ('The Producers,' 'A Funny Thing Happened') is set to return to Broadway starring in a Lincoln Center Theater production of Douglas Carter Beane's new play The Nance, directed by Jack O'Brien, opening at the Lyceum Theatre on 15 Apr 2013, following previews from 21 Mar 2013.

A nance, according to Webster's Dictionary, is "an effeminate or homosexual man." In the world of 1930's burlesque, a nance was a wildly popular character, a stereotypically camp homosexual man, most times played by a straight performer.

In The Nance, playwright Douglas Carter Beane tells the story of 'Chauncey Miles' (to be played by Nathan Lane), a headline nance performer in New York burlesque, who also happens to be a homosexual. Integrating burlesque sketches into his drama, Beane paints, with humor and pathos, the portrait of a homosexual man, living and working in the secretive and dangerous gay world of 1930's New York, whose outrageous antics on the burlesque stage stand in marked contrast to his messy offstage life.

The Nance will have sets by John Lee Beatty, costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Japhy Weideman and sound by Leon Rothenberg. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Broadway veteran Nathan Lane last appeared on the Great White Way as 'Gomez Addams' in the musical comedy 'The Addams Family.' Other Broadway credits include 'The Producers' (Tony Award), 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum' (Tony Award), 'Love! Valour! Compassion!,' 'Guys and Dolls' (1992 revival - Tony nomination) and 'Present Laughter.'

Douglas Carter Beane (Playwright) was nominated for a Tony for his play 'The Little Dog Laughed.' He has also received Tony nominations for writing the books for the musicals 'Xanadu,' 'Sister Act' and 'Lysistrata Jones.'

Jack O'Brien (Director) Broadway credits include Tom Stoppard's trilogy 'The Coast of Utopia ' (Tony Award), 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' (Tony nomination), 'Henry IV' (Tony Award), 'Hairspray' (Tony Award), 'The Full Monty' (Tony nomination), 'The Invention of Love, 'Two Shakespearean Actors' (Tony nomination) and 'Porgy and Bess' (1976 revival - Tony nomination).