There’s ‘Life’ After ‘The Producers’

Since leaving the hottest show on Broadway in March, Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick have gotten some rest and are now embarking on a series of new projects.

Lane, who won a Tony for his portrayal of scheming producer Max Bialystock, has been filming “Life of the Party,” a potential CBS sitcom about an ex-TV star who is elected to Congress and happens to be gay. He has also filmed “Nicholas Nickleby” in England and is working on a movie about the life of Jackie Gleason.

Broderick, who received a Tony nomination for his portrayal of accountant Leo Bloom, has filmed an ABC television version of “The Music Man,” starring as con-man Professor Harold Hill opposite Kristin Chenoweth.

On the day they left “The Producers,” Tony-winning director-choreographer Susan Stroman stood on stage as the two men took their final bows and publicly invited them to rejoin the show at some future date. This may now be a distinct possibility, according to Mel Brooks, who co-wrote the show with Tom Meehan. In a recent interview with Variety’s Army Archerd, Brooks said Lane and Broderick would reunite for a six-month London run, either late next year or in early 2004.