Things haven't been so easy for If It Were Easy, lately. The Stewart F. Lane and Ward Morehouse III comedy was announced to go into the Upper East Side's Playhouse 91 beginning Feb. 15. The trouble is, that theatre is the home of The Syringa Tree, the Pamela Gien one-person show which started slowly last fall, and seemed headed for a quick end, but has recently picked up steam, often selling out.

As a result, reported the New York Times, If It Was Easy has switched its base to the Douglas Fairbanks Theatre in W. 42nd Street. Opening date is still Feb. 15.

The co-producers for the project include James L. Nederlander and Stellar Productions International.

The Lane-Morehouse play was recently produced in Atlanta at the Seven Stages Theatre and starred Kevin Dobson (“Knots Landing,” “Kojak”) and Bonnie Comley (“Nightlife TV”). The producers had recently reported that If It Was Easy... was “scheduled for a spring 2001 New York production,” although a theatre was not named.

Lane has told Playbill On-Line that If It Were Easy... features contemporary themes and was written in the collaborative style of the past when producers were often expected to be more closely associated with creative development than they are today. Despite nine revisions, Lane said, the play is still about a Sinatra musical which "becomes a runaway hit when the mob gets involved." Lane helmed the Atlanta production. His recent directing credits include A.R. Gurney's The Golden Age at Nantucket's Actors Theatre and a University of Oklahoma production, Accentuate the Positive, written by Frederick Stroppel. Two staged readings of If It Were Easy were also directed by Lane.

--Robert Simonson
and Murdoch McBride