Nathan Lane is being tested (and he loves it)

This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Our guest today is three time Tony Award winner Nathan Lane. He was just nominated for a Tony for his starring role as Willie Lohman in the new Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. The role is a departure from the comedic larger than life performances Lane is best known for, like in The Birdcage, Guys and Dolls, and the Producers.

Lane spoke with guest interviewer Sam Fragoso, host of the interview podcast Talk easy. Here's Sam. Since his Broadway debut at the tender age of 26 and Noel Coward's present laughter, Tony winner Nathan Lane has long been regarded as one of the great entertainers of the stage, in the tradition of Ethel Merman, Zero Mastel, and Bill Silvers. But in the last decade, Lane couldn't help but think of Peggy Lee singing, Is that all there is?

which inspired Lane to pivot to more dramatic roles. Hickey in The Iceman Cometh, Roy Cohn in Angels in America, and now Willie Lohmann in Death of a Salesman. In the hit new Broadway revival, Lane transforms as the prideful patriarch and traveling salesman, oscillating back and forth between bravado and desperation, an emblem of the dissolution of the American family and their dreams. Arthur Miller's 1949 Pulitzer Prize winning play has had several acclaimed productions, led by great actors like Lee J. Cobb, Dustin Hoffman, Wendell Pierce, and the late Brian Denehy, who was a mentor to Lane.

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