Review - The Nance

I've been wanting to see Douglas Carter Beane's The Nance for ages now.  But I had to wait until it appeared on TDF, since my funds are ever-dwindling.  Happily, it was offered for last Saturday's matinee and I pounced.  If it shows up on TDF again, I may pounce for a second time...

I enjoyed myself greatly at The Nance - my seat was terrific, in the fourth row center of the mezzanine.  The theater was monumentally air conditioned, which I really needed.  I'm a big fan of Nathan Lane and I generally find Beane's writing to be very clever, if a bit heavy-handed.  But I think the quibbles are minor and enjoyed the show as a good old-fashioned star vehicle.

The Nance takes place in 1937, in the days of burlesque.  Nathan Lane plays Chauncey, a burlesque performer at the Irving Place Theater, whose specialty was the 'nance' character, the overly effeminate man who did comic routines filled with double entendre and stereotypes.  He doesn't know it, but the days of burlesque, and his character, are numbered.  But when we first see him, he's in a Greenwich Village automat, which is known to be a place where 'the boys meet the boys.'  Even though raids of such places were rampant, Chauncey still cautiously meets and talks with a young man, Ned, played by Jonny Orsini.  I thought this first scene was astounding - so many layers and emotions, and director Jack O'Brien doesn't rush it.  It unfolds slowly, and wonderfully draws you in to Chauncey's world.  Or Chauncey's world as he sees it.  I was hooked.

The rest of the play moves between the Irving Place burlesque stage, where we see several fun and laugh-out-loud musical numbers, along with a few comedy sketches, and Chauncey's apartment.  We also return to that automat, and I think the automat scenes are where The Nance shines.  I enjoyed most of the other scenes as well, but in these personal moments, where Chauncey lets down his guard, but simultaneously keeps it up, Lane is astounding.  And his final monologue, inside his final burlesque sketch, is exquisitely moving.  His acting is mesmerizing throughout.  The photo at right is by Joan Marcus - my standard disclaimer applies.

The rest of the cast is also terrific.  Jonny Orsini's role as Ned, the young newcomer to New York and burlesque, could easily have been one-note and boring, but Orsini finds true sweetness and pathos in him.  Lewis J Stadlen is wonderful as the top banana at the Irving Place Theater, and Jenni Barber, Andrea Burns and Cady Huffman are terrfic as the liberal-minded strippers who also perform there.  If I found Huffman a bit strident in her political rants, I don't blame her.  I think, perhaps, Beane tried to do a little too much, making statements on the politics of the day.  I just got the feeling that a lot of the politics inside the play were merely there for one-liners and jabs at current politics.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing, but it did diffuse the emotional core for me.  I just couldn't buy Chauncey as a conservative Republican, even to give his character even more tension.  I guess I would've preferred the love story to take center stage, with the other stuff as a backdrop.  Which, of course, makes it my play and not Beane's.  :)

The physical production is fantastic and the Lyceum is a wonderful place for The Nance to live.  Just looking at the old theater moldings and fixtures before the show even started puts the audience in the right mood.  The original music by Glen Kelly is period-tastic and Joey Pizzi's choreography looked just right to me, too.  I had a great time at The Nance - I laughed and I cried, and I would definitely like to see it again, even with the issues I had.  The play only runs a few more weeks, so I think everyone should go, if only to see Nathan Lane at the top of his game.  A few quibbles never hurt anyone...