Douglas Carter Beane is an American playwright and screenwriter. Born in

Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania Wilkes-Barre ( or ) is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, Luzerne County. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in th ...

and raised in

Wyomissing, Pennsylvania Wyomissing is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The borough was established on July 2, 1906. As of the 2020 census, the population was 11,114, compared to 10,461 at the 2010 census. The growth was significantly larger betwe ...

, Beane now lives in New York. His works include the screenplay of ''

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar ''To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar'' is a 1995 American road comedy film directed by Beeban Kidron and starring Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, and John Leguizamo as three New York City drag queens who embark on a road trip. Its t ...

'', and several plays including ''

The Country Club The Country Club, located in Brookline, Massachusetts, is the oldest golf-oriented country club in the United States. (The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854, was the first country club for any sport.) It holds an important place in ...

'' and ''

The Little Dog Laughed ''The Little Dog Laughed'' is a 2006 comedy play by Douglas Carter Beane. The four characters are an actor, Mitchell, his acerbic agent Diane, a hustler named Alex, and Alex's girlfriend Ellen. When Mitchell and Alex become involved in a physica ...

'', which was nominated for the 2007

Tony Award for Best Play The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non- musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...

and '' As Bees in Honey Drown'', which ran at New York's

Lucille Lortel Theatre The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse at 121 Christopher Street in Manhattan's West Village. It was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse. The interior is largely unch ...

in 1997. Beane often writes works with sophisticated, "drawing room" humor.

Theatre

Beane wrote the book for '' Xanadu'', a stage musical adaptation of the 1980 film of the same name, adding new plot twists and humor parodying the original movie. The musical was workshopped in 2006 and early 2007 with director Christopher Ashley and actors

Jane Krakowski Jane Krakowski (; ; born October 11, 1968) is an American actress, comedienne, and singer. She is best known for her starring role as Jenna Maroney in the NBC satirical comedy series ''30 Rock'' (2006–2013, 2020), for which she received four ...

, Tony Roberts, and

Cheyenne Jackson Cheyenne David Jackson (born July 12, 1975) is an American actor and singer. His credits include leading roles in Broadway musicals and other stage roles, as well as film and television roles, concert singing, and music recordings. After beginni ...

. The musical opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Helen Hayes Theatre The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actress ...

on July 10, 2007, with a budget of $5 million.

Kerry Butler Kerry Butler is an American actress and singer known primarily for her work in theatre. She is best known for originating the roles of Barbara Maitland in ''Beetlejuice'', Penny Pingleton in ''Hairspray'', and Clio/Kira in '' Xanadu'', the latt ...

and

were the Broadway leads. Beane won the

Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical The Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is an annual award presented by Drama Desk in recognition of achievements in the theatre among Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway productions. For two years, in addition to the award f ...

and was nominated for the

Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical The Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligib ...

. In 2011, Beane was hired to "doctor" the book for the musical ''

Sister Act ''Sister Act'' is a 1992 American comedy film directed by Emile Ardolino and written by Paul Rudnick (as Joseph Howard). It stars Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer forced to join a convent after being placed in a witness protection program. It ...

'' alongside Bill and Cheri Steinkellner for which he was nominated for a Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical. Beane wrote the book for the musical ''

Lysistrata Jones ''Lysistrata Jones'' is a musical comedy adaptation of Aristophanes' comedy ''Lysistrata''. The book is by Douglas Carter Beane and the score is by Lewis Flinn. After a critically acclaimed off-Broadway run with Transport Group Theatre Company ...

'' and rewrote the book for a new adaptation of Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

'' which opened on Broadway in 2013. Also opening in 2013 was his new play for

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 millio ...

, ''

The Nance ''The Nance'' is a play written by Douglas Carter Beane. It involves the lives of burlesque performers during the 1930s. A "nance" was a camp stock character in vaudeville and burlesque. The play is a production of Lincoln Center Theater that prem ...

'', starring

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

and directed by Jack O'Brien. Beane has revised the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

for the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

's new production of the operetta''

Die Fledermaus ' (, ''The Flittermouse'' or ''The Bat'', sometimes called ''The Revenge of the Bat'') is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée, which premiered in 1874. Background The original ...

'' which was performed in 2013- 2014. Beane is the artistic director of the Drama Dept. Theater Company in New York. Beane trained as an actor, graduating from the

American Academy of Dramatic Arts The American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) is a private performing arts conservatory with two locations, one in Manhattan and one in Los Angeles. The academy offers an associate degree in occupational studies and teaches drama and related art ...

New York campus in 1980. He is very involved with his alma mater, workshopping new pieces with the students.

Personal life

Beane is married to his frequent collaborator, composer Lewis Flinn, and the two are parents to two adopted children, Cooper and Gabrielle.

Selected works

Broadway

* 2013 ''

'' * 2013 ''

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella ''Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella'' is a musical written for television, but later played on stage, with music by Richard Rodgers and a book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. It is based upon the fairy tale ''Cinderella'', particularl ...

'' * 2011 ''

'' * 2007 '' Xanadu'' * 2006 ''

Off-Broadway

* 2019 ''The Big Time -'' Book by Beane, Music and Lyrics by Douglas J. Cohen *2015 ''Shows for Days'' * 2010 ''Mr. & Mrs. Fitch'' * 2006 ''The Little Dog Laughed'' * 2001 ''Music from a Sparkling Planet''Siegel, Barbara and Scott
"Reviews. 'Music From a Sparkling Planet'"
theatermania.com, July 30, 2001 * 1999 ''

'' * 1997 '' As Bees In Honey Drown'' * 1996 ''Advice From a Caterpillar''

Film

* 1995 ''

References

External links

* * *
The Little Dog Laughed official website

Douglas Carter Beane interviewed in The Playwright
Working in the Theatre CUNY-TV/

American Theatre Wing The American Theatre Wing (the Wing for short) is a New York City–based non-profit organization "dedicated to supporting excellence and education in theatre", according to its mission statement. Originally known as the Stage Women's War Relief ...

, December 2006
''BroadwayWorld.com'' interview with Douglas Carter Beane, June 5, 2007
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beane, Douglas Carter Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Writers from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania American dramatists and playwrights People from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania People from Berks County, Pennsylvania American gay writers Writers from New York City LGBT people from Pennsylvania LGBT people from New York (state) LGBT screenwriters LGBT dramatists and playwrights 21st-century LGBT people