Happy Birthday, Nathan Lane...

The Husband & I channel surfed on to The Birdcage the other evening, a movie that I don’t actually think is very good, but whenever I chance upon it, the movie suddenly gets my full attention. This got me thinking about Nathan Lane… he got to have my career! I wanted to establish myself as the "go to" guy for comic musical roles. I wanted to make my home in the Broadway stage, but not be afraid to venture into films, some Disney voice work & maybe do a sitcom at some point. I wanted to make room for those Tony Awards on my mantle. When I was firmly established as a comic leading man, I would come out of the closet & hope for the best. I wanted to play opposite Matthew Broderick in one of the biggest hit musicals of all time, & follow that with turns in a Beckett classic & a new Mamet play. I wanted to be Terrance McNally's muse & have him write roles just for me like: The Lisbon Traviata, as Mendy- a gay man with an obsession with the opera singer Maria Callas, Bad Habits, Lips Together, Teeth Apart, the Tony-winning Love! Valour! Compassion!, & a film version of Frankie & Johnnie. I would have even been unapologetic when I starred opposite Bette Midler in the Jacqueline Susann biopic Isn't She Great.

I never got to star opposite Bebe Neuwirth in The Addams Family on Broadway. Oh well, Nathan Lane is the toast of Broadway, & I am the toast of Post Apocalyptic Bohemia, with a  big ol' chip on my shoulder. I hope he is happy as he turns 54 today!