Saturday, July 11, 2026

Martin Short will Replace Nathan Lane in Broadway Smash “It’s Only A Play”

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Good news. “It’s Only a Play” will extend beyond January 4th even though Nathan Lane is leaving the hit. Martin Short will replace him in the lead role of James Wicker, opposite Matthew Broderick. There was a fear that the hilarious Terrence McNally revival would close if they couldn’t find a replacement. As it is, Short has replaced Lane before in “The Producers.” “It’s Only a Play” averages $1.3 million a week right now, like a musical more than a play at the box office. It wasn’t like the producers could just shut it down. Maybe Lane will return one day. But for now it’s Martin Short, and he’s just great.

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009, where he covered Michael Jackson, and previously wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine in the mid-1990s, where he covered the O.J. Simpson trial. He also edited Fame magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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