It’s no pleasure to report that the new production of The Frogs , starring Nathan Lane, illustrates why vaudeville died. I’d much rather be telling you about a great night out-a wonderfully silly night out-at the theater on a glorious summer’s night. But as Mr. Lane’s Dionysos puts it despairingly during the show: “Have you Read More
A playreading never really does it for me. The curtain goes up and there they are-the desk, the glass of water, the script and Rhea Perlman. Not that I’ve anything against Ms. Perlman.
The trend of playreading is neither fish nor foul-not quite play, not quite reading. It’s a new force in theater: live radio Read More
Nathan Lane enjoyed this last summer in East Hampton so much that he’s poised to become a local. The Producers star recently signed a contract on a $2.1 million house in East Hampton Village. His new three-bedroom home sits on a small street that branches off Main Street.
Reached at his home in Manhattan, Mr. Read More
I cannot recommend too highly Martha Clarke’s Vienna: Lusthaus (Revisited) at the New York Theatre Workshop downtown. Based on Ms. Clarke’s landmark 1986 production, this lovely, erotic 70-minute exploration of the unconscious world of Vienna at the beginning of the 20th century is itself a seductive dream. In all of its exquisite simplicity and inconsolable Read More
I made Broadway history recently. No, I didn’t win the
Pulitzer Prize in drama for Proof ;
that was somebody else. Like a schmuck, I stood in line for two hours to get
tickets to The Producers the day
after it opened to the best reviews since Oedipus
Rex .
But I was performing Read More
Oh, boy! When things go right ! Mel Brooks’ The Producers at the St. James Theatre on Broadway is, quite simply, the best time you could ever wish for at the theater. The laughs, for one infectious, glorious thing, might leave you literally rolling in the aisles. The show actually liberates us from the blight Read More
When it comes to critics, I’m with Nathan Lane. Then again, I’m not. Mr. Lane doesn’t like critics one bit, and I can certainly sympathize with that. Critics are the kind of people who would send Hedda Gabler to a marriage counselor. Not me, of course. The other critics. Mr. Lane would like to send Read More
Nathan Lane walked into Bubby’s in Tribeca with a sweaty brow, wearing small tortoise-shell glasses, a blue button-down shirt and a closely groomed beard. He looked around royally, noticing that the entire waitstaff had recognized him and jumped into action. “They don’t have to get all up in a row,” said Mr. Lane. “I just Read More
Rewriting Jackie Susann
It’s too early to predict the worst movie of the year 2000, but it’s safe to bet things won’t get any dumber or trashier than Isn’t She Great . This blatantly vulgar and completely fictional travesty on the lives of novelist Jacqueline Susann and her husband, Irving Mansfield, is a disaster from Read More
Having survived several years as a resident of Los Angeles, 43-year-old actor Nathan Lane will be taking up residence in New York’s Little Hollywood later this year. Near the end of August, Mr. Lane signed a $1.695 million contract for a 3,000-square-foot condominium apartment on N. Moore Street in TriBeCa–on the now-infamous block near Varick Read More
