Nathan Lane Breaks Down His Broadway Career

April 20, 2023 10:47 AM

In the inaugural entry to Playbill's new video series, "My Life in the Theatre," Lane sits down with a Playbill binder containing every Playbill from every show he's ever done on Broadway. [26m30s] Lane walks us through his career, including the time he asked Sondheim to write new songs for "The Frogs," how he almost changed his name to Norman Lane, and the production where he played a "thug version of Donald Trump."
posted by hippybear (22 comments total)

"If you don't cry, we're all fucked."

This is really great. Fun format, and Nathan Lane is, of course, incomparable. The story about Mel Brooks in the pool at the Ritz in Paris is just ... I mean, of course.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:48 AM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

This seems like a good place to post the video I recently saw on the twerts where Nathan Lane talks in retrospect about almost being outed on Oprah while doing promo for The Birdcage and then being protected by Robin Williams.
posted by Superilla at 11:50 AM on April 20, 2023 [8 favorites]

This is where I get to brag that I saw Nathan Lane on Broadway in Forum. In the middle of the play, a woman in the audience yelled out "We love, you, Nathan!"

Lane paused, looked nonplussed, said "We love you too," and went on with the play.
posted by Faint of Butt at 12:12 PM on April 20, 2023 [6 favorites]

Is it just me or does Nathan look like an aged Stephen Colbert here? I think it's the glasses.
posted by pmbuko at 12:19 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

My two favorite Nathan Lane videos:
Nathan Lane's Criterion Closet Picks
Jiminy Glick interviews Nathan Lane
posted by Atom Eyes at 12:51 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

This is where I get to brag that I saw Nathan Lane on Broadway in Forum.

Me too - and I also saw him in The Producers, and Matthew Broderick was also there.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:01 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]

I saw him in the pre-Broadway production of Addams Family in Chicago. Both Lane and Bebe Neuwirth were fantastic, but the production had issues. I heard they fixed it before going to Broadway.
posted by indianbadger1 at 1:57 PM on April 20, 2023

I love Nathan Lane very much and I knew he was a terrific actor, ( he was fantastic in The Nance, which not enough people know about) but I was genuinely surprised by how terrifying he was as Roy Cohn. Irresistibly funny, magnetic, charming, kind of likeably awful, and then BAM! perfect, chilling evil, on a dime. Incredible performance.
posted by BlueNorther at 2:51 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

I love Nathan Lane. How do we all love Nathan Lane? Is it something you age into?
posted by Going To Maine at 4:15 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Deep envy of all you who have seen NL live!
posted by BostonTerrier at 4:57 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

Is it just me or does Nathan look like an aged Stephen Colbert here? I think it's the glasses.

Every time I see a Colbert clip I think he looks exactly like Nathan Lane.
posted by Emmy Rae at 5:02 PM on April 20, 2023

I saw Nathan Lane in something in New York in 1986. My mom had tickets to whatever it was, and I tagged along. I was 23 and I don't remember anything about the production except that he was in it. I didn't even know his name until I saw him in (I don't remember which) movie years later.

He really stood out.
posted by freakazoid at 5:37 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

It's been so long now that I can't be sure it wasn't a hallucination that's hardened into fact, but I distinctly remember being at The Cock in NYC one night when Nathan Lane came swanning in, tightly surrounded by a coterie. He was definitely in his royalty and 150,000% unapproachable. Half the bar probably knew him on the regular, but I was a townie in from Boston for the weekend, and not expecting to be within six feet of a legend that night. Anyway, I can't wait to watch this.
posted by mykescipark at 5:46 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

I saw Nathan Lane in something in New York in 1986.

Probably The Common Pursuit [NYT review, Frank Rich].
posted by hippybear at 5:52 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

"... a latter-day English reincarnation of Alexander Woollcott..."

That sounds about right.

Thanks hippybear!
posted by freakazoid at 6:08 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]

This is delightful. What an incredible career, and such entertaining commentary.

"What you lack in height you make up for in anger" is absolutely a line I'm stealing for certain friends.

I very regrettably missed Nathan Lane in Guys and Dolls (but Faith Prince was magical).
posted by EvaDestruction at 7:00 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]

I can't be sure it wasn't a hallucination that's hardened into fact

Not the only thing hardening at that delightful venue.
posted by sixswitch at 6:32 AM on April 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

I remember reading a New York Times Magazine article many years ago (I think this is it) about how, despite his success, Nathan Lane is a pretty troubled and unhappy person. That really struck me at the time - probably because, at the time, I was living in NY as a struggling performer hoping that success would make me happy.

I truly hope that, as the years have passed, he has worked through some of this stuff and is happier.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 7:42 AM on April 21, 2023

This is where I get to brag that I saw Nathan Lane on Broadway in Forum.
And this where I get to brag that I saw Nathan Lane in Forum . . . at MacHaydn Theatre in Chatham, NY, in the '70s when he was still Joe Lane because he wasn't in Equity yet.
posted by dannyboybell at 9:05 AM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

I saw Nathan Lane in Guys and Dolls on my birthday. They did a special matinee because they had flown to LA to do an appearance on something and I managed to get a ticket in the third row center. I loved every second of it. Faith Prince was incredible. Nathan Lane was incredible. JK Simmons was even in it, playing Benny Southstreet! It was a magical day, so magical that I skipped work weeks later to stand on line at Tower Records to get the entire cast to sign my CD of the cast album. Nathan Lane and Faith Prince sing, "Sue Me".
posted by ceejaytee at 10:08 AM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]

My parents were the ones who paid for the PRODUCERS tickets; it was for one of the preview performances, and my parents had planned to come visit me and ordered the tickets a month beforehand. They had the tickets sent to me for safekeeping.

And then the day before the show, they had a massive leak in their basement and had to handle getting a sump pump installed, or some similar all-consuming emergency. They told me to go ahead and find two other friends and use the tickets. And don't worry about paying them back. I called everyone I knew, offering them "one of two spare orchestra seats for THE PRODUCERS tomorrow, for free". I had one person say "yes," and then got a whole lot of other messages from people saying "I can't believe I'm about to say no to this but [I have rehearsal/it's my Mom's birthday/I have to work late/insert another conflict here]".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:03 AM on April 21, 2023

I was surprised by how many times he's run into George C. Scott.

Also, I'd really like to have been able to see quite a few of these plays. I love Nathan Lane in the movies, but I've mainly seen him in comedies. He's so great it'd be interesting to see him in dramas.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:06 AM on April 24, 2023