In years to come when they talk about the most powerful gay themed plays, "The Nance" will be up there with "The Boys in the Band", "Torch Song Trilogy" and "Angels in America", all revived several years after "The Nance" premiered. "I've been turned down so many times, my nickname is bedspread", Nathan Lane's Chauncey exclaims in a drag skit. Lane plays the title character, the stereotypical effeminate gay man used as the butt of jokes in burlesque shows, a character type essayed in old movies by actors like Franklin Pangborn, Grady Sutton and Sterling Holloway. Talented in their own right, these character actors livened up the movies they appeared in but onstage, they were often targeted for their so-called indecency of the period. This powerful play by Douglas Carter Beane had a limited run and was filmed for PBS and a wonderful production that gives a look back at gay history long before Stonewall.
Nathan Lane instills his character with the sad underbelly of what lives inside the clown. feeling he is not worthy of love, when he finds it, he cruelly rejects it even though the one who offers it is a handsome and virile man (Jon Orsini). Chauncey cruelly refers to Orsini's Ned as trade, shocked that anybody of a certain age could find him desirable. Orsini is there to witness Lane's downfall as New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia cakes on the burlesque theaters on 14th Street in the Union Square area with efforts to shut them down for indecency. True authentic burlesque sketches (some of them seen in the musical hit "Sugar Babies") are utilized to represent this style of entertainment, utilizing double entendre as well as a few musical numbers to bring this era to life. Lane is it joined with in the sketches by theater veteran Lewis J. Stadlen, Cady Huffman, Andrea Burns & Melinda Hull, bringing a bittersweet energy to the very human story of a sad man unable to be himself and unable to find happiness because he doesn't feel he deserves it.
"When a fairy smiles, they say it causes sunshine. When they cry, it causes rain." The self-punishment that Lanes character puts on himself is truly sad to watch and is a reminder of the human dignity that we all require regardless of our lifestyle. who played ulizes political references of the time with several of the chorus girls obviously involved in the Communist party and Lane's character being put on trial for his indecency. It is also fitfully telling that the play utilizes such anti-American values as censorship, the denial of freedom of expression and the abuse of political power to stifle The world of art simply based on a belief in what is decent and what is not. Considering the time this took place (the late 1930's), it shows the hypocrisy of such acts and that makes it all the more even powerful.
Nathan Lane instills his character with the sad underbelly of what lives inside the clown. feeling he is not worthy of love, when he finds it, he cruelly rejects it even though the one who offers it is a handsome and virile man (Jon Orsini). Chauncey cruelly refers to Orsini's Ned as trade, shocked that anybody of a certain age could find him desirable. Orsini is there to witness Lane's downfall as New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia cakes on the burlesque theaters on 14th Street in the Union Square area with efforts to shut them down for indecency. True authentic burlesque sketches (some of them seen in the musical hit "Sugar Babies") are utilized to represent this style of entertainment, utilizing double entendre as well as a few musical numbers to bring this era to life. Lane is it joined with in the sketches by theater veteran Lewis J. Stadlen, Cady Huffman, Andrea Burns & Melinda Hull, bringing a bittersweet energy to the very human story of a sad man unable to be himself and unable to find happiness because he doesn't feel he deserves it.
"When a fairy smiles, they say it causes sunshine. When they cry, it causes rain." The self-punishment that Lanes character puts on himself is truly sad to watch and is a reminder of the human dignity that we all require regardless of our lifestyle. who played ulizes political references of the time with several of the chorus girls obviously involved in the Communist party and Lane's character being put on trial for his indecency. It is also fitfully telling that the play utilizes such anti-American values as censorship, the denial of freedom of expression and the abuse of political power to stifle The world of art simply based on a belief in what is decent and what is not. Considering the time this took place (the late 1930's), it shows the hypocrisy of such acts and that makes it all the more even powerful.
