Nathan Lane

view of the American dream, which is, you know, that it's about his self-worth and his idea of success is all based on the opinion of others, which as an actor, you're

You certainly can relate to.

His whole philosophy is it's about being well-liked.

It's not what you say.

It's how you say it because personality always wins the day.

And if you are well-liked, you will never want.

It's a very flawed view of how to succeed.

But he totally believes in it and in this – his version of the American dream.

And –

I guess for a while in the old days, you know, it worked to a certain degree.

But now all of the people he used to go out and see who were friends on the road, they're either retired or dead.

And being a traveling salesman is sort of fading away as well.

So he's in a desperate way.

But in that scene, you're getting a glimpse into his psyche.

And they're trying to pretend that it's all okay when it's not.

Well, I had been doing a musical on Broadway called The Addams Family, which had been reviled by the critics.

And yet the public spoke.

They wanted to see it.

So while I was in that run, Charles Isherwood, who was at The New York Times then, wrote a very lovely and flattering piece about an assessment of my career.

And he referred to me as the greatest stage entertainer of the last decade, which was extremely complimentary.