‘I Punched a Hole in the Box and Got Out’: Nathan Lane, Laurie Metcalf and a Tony-Nominated ‘Death of a Salesman’ Revival for the Ages

By Clayton Davis

Clayton Davis

Senior Awards Editor

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The best onstage production of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” in a generation is also, conveniently, the one that settles two long-running perceptions of its two Tony-nominated thespians.

The first is about Nathan Lane — and, as it turns out, the 70-year-old veteran offers the clearest read on where he is in this career moment and what it means to finally be taken seriously as a dramatic performer. “I punched a hole in the box and got out,” he says of the comedy-and-musical typecasting others built around him. “There are people who will never let go of the fact that I had some success in musical theater or comedy. No matter what I do, whether it’s Hickey, Roy Cohn or Dominick Dunne in the Menendez miniseries, they’re never going to let me forget I made them laugh.”

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