By Seth Rudetsky
11 Feb 2008

This week I interviewed Nathan Lane for my Sirius radio show. He told me that he grew up in Jersey and, shockingly, only did one musical in High School. It was No No Nanette for a neighboring all-girls school. I assumed it was like being an Equity Guest Artist that's jobbed in…and by "Equity Guest Artist," I mean "Catholic High School closeted Senior" and by "jobbed in" I mean, "driven by your mother."

He went to college for literally one day (fyi, Chip Zien went to law school for one day and dropped out when he realized he could be drafted) and left when they told him that, although he had a scholarship, he still owed more money. He went back to New Jersey and got his Equity card doing two local shows. One was called Jerz, a tribute to all things New Jersey, and the other was called One for Good Measure and, seventies style, was a tribute to the metric system. It never caught on (the show and the system).

Once he moved to New York, he enrolled in a summer program at The Stella Adler Acting Institute. Unfortunately, Stella was not the teacher. Nathan did not disguise his disappointment when his teacher asked the class to do an exercise where they were to look out the window and describe what they saw. One student said, "I saw a homeless man…crying." One said, "I saw a secretary through a window as she was drinking coffee and daydreaming." Nathan said, "I saw $400 going down the drain." Acting is honesty.

His Broadway debut was with George C. Scott in Present Laughter. George was a notorious drinker and told Nathan that the producers bet him that he couldn't stay sober throughout the whole preview period. Well, opening night happened, and George proudly told Nathan that he won the bet and he could finally drink again. Then he was out the whole next week!

Nathan was also in the musical Merlin starring Doug Henning as Merlin and Chita Rivera as the Evil Queen. Nathan played her son, and if you were in New York in the eighties, you probably remember Chita on the commercial. There was a close-up of Chita where she said, "Wonder," but she Chita-ized it by saying "Won-dah!" Anybody?

Nathan said he remembered a trick where an actual tiger was in a cage, a sheet was put over the cage, and when the sheet was removed, there sat a sexy lady. Because he was backstage, Nathan could see how the trick was done: There were two tunnels: The lady crawled through one, and the tiger was tempted out of the other with horse meat (p.s.: gross). Nathan asked the trainer, "What about when the tiger gets sick of horse meat eight times a week? Is the cage going to be revealed with the tiger still sitting there but part of a Theoni Aldredge sequined red costume hanging out of his mouth?"

I asked him about Guys and Dolls…specifically the song "Sue Me." He and Faith Prince argued in the song and at one point would hold one of the notes forever:

FAITH: The best years of my life I was a fool to give to yo-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-ou!
NATHAN (Simultaneously) All ri-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-iight already!"

He couldn't remember who came up with it, but he was very proud that Liza Minnelli came backstage and told them that she'd seen the show many times, and that particular moment was very original and fresh. Or did she say "very original and fress"?

While he was doing Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Mike Nichols came backstage and told him that he was interested in him playing Zsa Zsa in "The Birdcage." Nathan had already committed to playing Pseudolus in Forum and asked the producer, Scott Rudin, if the dates could be changed. Scott said no, and Nathan told Mike Nichols that he felt it would be unethical to leave them in a lurch. Every once in a while Mike Nichols would call Nathan's dressing room and say, "I've been seeing other actors, and I don't like them." Finally, Nathan said, "You're Mike Nichols! Maybe you should call Scott…" Mike did, Forum got postponed and "The Birdcage," starring Nathan Lane, was on! Originally, it was supposed to be Robin Williams in Nathan's part and Steve Martin as Georges, but Steve Martin had to drop out. Robin's wife suggested that because Robin had just played Mrs. Doubtfire, perhaps he should take a non-drag role. I asked Nathan what Robin was like (aka, how annoying — how much verbal riffing and how many "hilarious" voices did Robin haul out when Nathan just wanted five minutes of silence to enjoy the craft services table), and Nathan said that even though Robin told him that sometimes it was hard to be the "straight man" while Nathan got to go to town, Robin was the most saintly, sweetest, giving and supportive co-star, and the whole thing was the happiest movie experience Nathan's ever had.

On to The Producers. Jerry Zaks was first attached to the show and mentioned the role of Max to Nathan. Then Nathan heard nothing… til he was on vacation at the Paris Ritz. He went down to the pool and saw only two other people…Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft. Mel asked him to play Max Bialystock, and Nathan readily agreed. Martin Short was slated to play Leo, but because of his family in L.A, decided he couldn't be in New York for so long. At this point, Susan Stroman was directing/choreographing, and they did a reading with most of the leads who later did it on Broadway. Nathan said that when he first watched Gary Beach during rehearsal, he commented that Gary was going to win a Tony Award. Brava on the Jeanne Dixon psychic-ness! During intermission of the reading, investors offered Mel all of the capital needed to mount the show!

During the reading, Nathan didn't have a big 11 o'clock number, and before it came to Broadway, he was presented with one. It was a sentimental song that Nathan thinks was called "Farewell to Broadway." He told everyone that he felt if you were going to stop the show after "Springtime for Hitler," you really had to stop it or go straight to the courtroom scene. He felt that a sweet song wouldn't cut it…but in the middle of the song, there was a monologue about his anger towards Leo. Nathan told Mel that the monologue had the right theme for the song. Max was bitter and felt betrayed…and a new song was written called "Betrayed." And, let me verify that I played in the pit numerous times and I can tell you, it did stop the show!

Right now, Nathan is starring in the hilarious November, and he is promoting "Kids Night on Broadway" where, if you buy a ticket to a Broadway show, you get to bring a kid for free! It's a great deal and super important because a. kids need art in their lives and b. I reiterate, that I'm desperate for a future fan base. Stay warm, everyone and I'll see 'ya next week!

*

(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals, and he can be contacted by visiting www.sethsbroadwaychatterbox.com. His first novel is titled "Broadway Nights.")

Christine Ebersole in the City Center Encores! mounting of Applause.
photo by Joan Marcus

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