He’s always made us laugh — now he’s making us cry. Or, at the very least, squirm. Nathan Lane, the bigger-than-life star of “The Producers,” “Guys and Dolls,” “The Odd Couple,” “The Addams Family” and more — is up for a third Tony Award tonight, this time for “The Nance.” In Douglas Carter Beane’s comedic drama, set in 1930s New York, Lane plays Chauncey Miles, a man who specializes in playing the title character — a nance, or fey homosexual. That Miles is gay (and Republican!) and looking for love in all the wrong places makes the play more poignant still.
For Lane, 57, the part’s a kind of meta triple-header: He’s a gay actor playing a closeted gay man playing a campy homosexual. Backstage at the Lyceum in his chandeliered dressing room — replete with framed photos of his partner, producer Devlin Elliott, and their French bulldog, Mabel — Lane talked about getting in touch with his dark side, a discussion punctuated by explosive snorts of laughter and the raising of those famous eyebrows.
This is some gorgeous dressing room. To think you played Oscar Madison . . .
That’s why they call it acting! And thanks. This looked like a crack den when I came in, but I had a designer friend help. They’re pieces I’ve accumulated over the years. That’s a ticket from the original Irving Place Theater, the burlesque house. My understudy, Stephen DeRosa, gave it to me on opening night.
Has he ever gone on for you? Will he ever go on for you?
No and no. Hopefully, I’ll stay healthy.
With all its shifts in mood, “The Nance” must be a real challenge to play eight times a week. What’s the toughest part?
You play a serious scene, then you go off and do a very silly cowboy sketch, and there are nights when I don’t really feel like putting on the 10-gallon hat! It’s painful stuff. This character’s whole belief system is pulled out from under him. He thinks because he’s a Republican, the other Republicans will listen to him, and they couldn’t care less. He’s put under arrest and humiliated. They put an end to burlesque and his livelihood. He’s incapable of having a healthy relationship, of accepting love. You don’t have to be gay to understand someone feeling undeserving of love.
It’s a pretty wrenching play.
Americans don’t like ambiguity. “So tell me — who won? I need to know, and then I can move on.” People want things resolved and this isn’t. You can instantly tell, when they come backstage, whether they liked it or not. [Director] Joe Mantello was like, “I want to go home and take a shower!” It really struck a nerve. I’m proud of it.
What kind of response are you getting?
A lot of e-mails. People are disturbed by it. There’s a great deal of wit in the play, but you’re not quite sure where it’s going. Then, when people realize where it’s going, some don’t want it to go there — to take such a dark turn. The other day, I heard [“Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike” playwright] Chris Durang say, very sweetly, “The older I get, the more I want happy endings,” and I thought, interesting! The older I get, the more I need to go to a darker place.
You went to a dark place in Chicago, when you played Hickey in “The Iceman Cometh.” Will that production come here?
That’s an all-consuming play, a monumental play. I can’t think of another role, other than Lear or Hamlet, that’s along that line, and yes, we’re going to reassemble at some point at BAM.
So it’s going to be all dark from now on? No more Pepper on “Modern Family”? The buttoned-down accountant on “The Good Wife”?
I drop into “Modern Family” from time to time — they’re a lovely bunch to work with. And “The Good Wife” was a nice surprise. If I had known that people wanted me to be severe and repressed, I would have done it long ago! Again, that was an ambiguous character. Some people said, “I couldn’t figure out if you were a s - - t or if I should like you.” I really enjoyed that!
An interviewer once asked you point-blank if you were gay. And you said . . .
“I’m 40, single and work a lot in the musical theater. You do the math.” I thought I had officially come out when I said that, but apparently not. Maybe they wanted a parade? I never made a secret of it. Certainly I was out to friends and family.
Have you and your partner considered marriage?
Devlin and I have been together a very long time. We’re happy for everyone who wants to get married, but it doesn’t mean as much to us. We’ve certainly talked about it.
Do you have your Tony speech ready?
I’m not even thinking about it. It’s been 12 years since I’ve been nominated, so I’m happy and grateful to be invited to the party again. We’ve just been extended to Aug. 11. So if [theatergoers] can’t get into “Matilda,” maybe they’ll come over here for a dose of reality!