By Michael Buckley
29 Aug 2004

Before he left television, Lane "did a lot of pilots and had a lot of development deals. If you have success in TV, everybody tries to get you to do it again. It's a crapshoot. I did a pilot called 'Wish You Were Here,' with Joely Fisher. It never went anywhere. It was one of those things they loved, because it was different, and then they didn't want to put it on, because it was different. It was about a magazine writer and a photographer, and each week it took place in a different town. The premise scared people. Now, it's a pleasure to see things like 'Curb Your Enthusiasm,' 'The Sopranos,' 'Arrested Development.'

"Friends of mine had to keep writing [for TV], in order to support a lifestyle, but I made sure that I would never have to do that. My work has afforded me a really nice life, and a place to do work I wanted to do. I loved doing 'Mad About You.' But when your work is not making you happy, it's time to go and try to find a place where you can do your best work." That brings us back to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. With book and score in hand, Lane and Yazbek went in search of respectable counterparts to Bialystock and Bloom.

"We met with a bunch of people," continues Lane. "A lot of them watched the movie and didn't see it [as a musical]. One producer said that the problem with it was the characters were scoundrels. We said, 'Yes, in fact they're dirty, rotten scoundrels.' When we met with Marty Bell and David Brown, they saw exactly what we wanted to do — and were really enthusiastic. We were very happy to go with them.

"Jack and Jerry [O'Brien and Mitchell] both wanted to work with David again after Full Monty, but they waited until I had a first draft and David had at least three songs. We had started in November 2002; they came on board in June 2003." Then came casting. "Nine million names went back and forth." Eventually, those were narrowed down to the current leads: John Lithgow, Norbert Leo Butz, Sherie Rene Scott, Joanna Gleason, Greg Jbara and Sara Gettelfinger.

"We did two workshops — in November [2003] and February [2004]. Brian Stokes Mitchell and Norbert Leo Butz were supposed to do the first. Stokes did half of it, and then his first child was born, and Doug Sills came in for the last week. We had always seen Norbert in it, but he threw out his neck in Wicked, and Brian d'Arcy James, who was really a prince, stepped in. Sherie Rene Scott has been with us since the first workshop, in which Denis O'Hare, who was great, played the part that Greg Jbara's doing.

"Stokes did the second one, with Norbert. Joanna Gleason also did the second. I had worked with her before, and it's a thrill to be able to work with her again. John [Lithgow] was invited to see the second workshop. He said he didn't think of it in terms of himself. But Stokes, who was wonderful, went and did something else, and when we called John, it just sort of all fell into place. John's really amazing — onstage and off. I kind of lucked out all over."

Scoundrels, Lane explains, "is about a con, and theatre is a con. I tried to use that structure. A con man, to me, is really interesting because he's smart enough and knows people enough that he can look into their hearts and realize what they want, and yet has to put a mask on and stand back from any kind of emotional involvement. That really fascinated me. The analogy between that and musicals, which also create a fantasy, helped me write it. God knows if anybody will ever know that."

Born in St. Louis, Lane lived there two weeks before moving (with his parents) to Belle Harbor, New York, "where I stayed until I was four. I grew up on Long Island, in Wantaugh, gateway to Jones Beach — and, though it's since been moved, the grave of Checkers Nixon. [Checkers was a dog given to the late President.] I have two younger brothers and a younger sister. Michael was a casting director, but went into the family live-poultry business, because he has two kids. Eric is a playwright, who edits books and just did a short film. Lisa is a hairdresser, who's about to have her fourth child." Lane is single.

Incidentally, some sources credit the writer with an appearance in a 1987 horror flick, "Forever Evil," but that's a different Jeffrey Lane. "Nor did I play Clarice's father in 'Silence of the Lambs,'" he insists. (That was Jeffrie Lane.)

Currently, in addition to the musical, Lane is working on a play, and he and Yazbek are discussing "a couple of projects." Here's hoping that this Lane finds as much Broadway success as the one named Nathan. By the way, the excitement that he felt when first working on "Ryan's Hope" has returned. "I have the same kind of feeling about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels [which, as of now, begins Broadway previews January 31, 2005]," admits a very happy Jeffrey Lane.

***

Michael Buckley also writes for TheaterMania.com and The Sondheim Review. He's the author of "Between Takes (Interviews with Hollywood Legends)," to be published in spring 2005.

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