Nathan Lane to star in new David Mamet play, "November"?

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/15/07 at 4:18pm

FROM THE NY TIMES:

By CAMPBELL ROBERTSON
Published: May 10, 2007

The last time David Mamet dipped his sharp pen into presidential politics was in 1997, when he was a co-author of the screenplay for “Wag the Dog,” about a — ahem — fictional president who tries to stage a fake war to distract from a damaging sex scandal.

Anyone wondering what he would have to say about today’s fraught political environment doesn’t have to wonder much longer. Politics are the subject of Mr. Mamet’s next play, “November,” scheduled to open in January 2008 at a Broadway theater to be announced.

The play, to be directed by Joe Mantello, is a contemporary comedy about a president named Charles Smith and is set a few days before the election, in which he is running as an incumbent. The action unfolds over one day and involves, according to a synopsis provided by the producers, “civil marriage, gambling casinos, lesbians, American Indians, presidential libraries, questionable pardons and campaign contributions.”

As a chronicler of moral frailty and heartlessness in the darker corners of American culture, Mr. Mamet has written about thieves, real estate salesmen, academics and Hollywood producers, but outside of “Wag the Dog” he has generally steered clear of American politics.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Mr. Mamet said he had written some political essays when he was much younger and had lately been drawing crude political cartoons for huffingtonpost.com.

This play, which he described as “three men in a room trying to work things out,” was inspired by the absurdity of the presidentially pardoned turkeys every Thanksgiving.

“November” would be Mr. Mamet’s sixth play to open on Broadway (plus two revivals) but the first to have its world premiere there. “It just always seemed to be a Broadway play,” Mr. Mamet said.

Much of the team behind the play has worked together before. Mr. Mantello directed the Tony Award-winning revival of Mr. Mamet’s play “Glengarry Glen Ross” in 2005. The producers of that revival, Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel, will be producing “November.” Scott Pask, who a co-designer of “The Coast of Utopia” this season, will design the set.

No casting has been announced, but the chatter percolating around Broadway is that Nathan Lane is under consideration for the role of President Smith.

“I can neither confirm nor deny that he is doing the role,” Mr. Richards said. “It calls for a great actor with superlative comic timing, and certainly someone like Nathan Lane fits that requirement.”

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This sounds fantastic! I hope it happens and I hope Nathan is in it.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 1:25am

I hope I can see this. What does everyone else think of the idea of the show?

[gumbo2]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 1:29am

There was a thread about this a couple of days ago. I'm not sure where it went, but I'm a big fan of David Mamet, so I'm pretty excited.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 1:34am

Really? I did a search and nothing came up. Oh well.

I've never seen David Mamet's work. Is he good? What do you reccomend? I need to see or read some of his work.

[gumbo2]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 1:58am

Well, definitely Glengarry Glen Ross...and he wrote the screenplay for Wag The Dog, which is a great political movie. That one might give you an idea of what this new play might be like? Maybe not, but it has to do with politics, and Robert de Niro is great in it. Definitely worth renting.

[Rotel1026]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 8:36am

Wasn't Nathan Lane attached to Catch Me If You Can? When are they hoping to bring that to Broadway?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:14am

Other things you should check out regarding Mamet:

HOMICIDE
HOUSE OF GAMES
GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
THE SPANISH PRISONER

I can't believe you aren't familiar, NathanLaneStalker!

[MasterLcZ]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 9:26am

I'm very excited by this news. I'd much rather he stretch his acting muscles more like he did in BUTLEY (one of the more underrated performances of the year IMHO.)

I hope he signs on for the Mamet play.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 5/16/07 at 3:07pm

Oh! Well, I've seen Glengarry Glen Ross. Somehow I missed that he wrote that in the article...But I've only seen the movie remake and that was a couple of years ago...I'll have to check those out again.

Thanks!

"I'd much rather he stretch his acting muscles more like he did in BUTLEY (one of the more underrated performances of the year IMHO.)"

I completely agree with you! His performance was very underrated and I like to see him in drama even more than I do comedy. Just because his acting is taken to new heights. Butley was fantastic. Sad thing was, at every performance, half of the audience were bored and the other half were really into it.