Theater buzz: 'The Sting' and 'The Nance'

THE SHOW "The Sting"

THE DEAL A stage musical of the 1973 film classic "The Sting" is in the works, as first reported by deadline.com. It will be written by Bob Martin, best known as the lead actor and book-writer of "The Drowsy Chaperone," and the songwriting team of Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis, who penned "Urinetown." All three men are Tony winners who have yet to score a major comeback.

THE SHOW "The Nance"

THE DEAL Doug Carter Beane's comedic drama "The Nance," which was filmed last year during its Broadway run and is expected to be aired on PBS during the fall, will first be screened in movie theaters across the country starting June 23. The play starred Nathan Lane as a 1930s burlesque performer who specialized in portraying effeminate characters.

WHO Will Swenson

THE DEAL The actor, who is currently playing Inspector Javert in the Broadway revival of "Les Miz," will take a take a leave of absence from late July through early October to appear in "Bull Durham," a new musical based on the 1988 baseball movie of the same name. It's to premiere at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. Swenson will be joined by Melissa Errico ("Passion").

WHAT BAM's Next Wave Festival

SEE PHOTOS48 celebrities who've had Broadway roles

THE DEAL Brooklyn Academy of Music has announced plans for its annual Next Wave Festival in the fall. The theater selections include "Shakespeare's Sonnets," a modernized look at two dozen of the Bard's poems, with music by Rufus Wainwright and direction from avant-gardist Robert Wilson; a Dutch-language production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" staged by experimental director Ivo van Hove; and a French production of Luigi Pirandello's famously cryptic play "Six Characters in Search of an Author."

THE SHOW "Lips Together, Teeth Apart"

THE DEAL Terrence McNally's comedy "Lips Together, Teeth Apart," which was supposed to receive a Broadway revival four years ago that was scrapped at the last minute after Megan Mullally quit, will instead be done Off-Broadway by Second Stage as part of its upcoming season. Second Stage also confirmed that it will stage the world premiere of "The Way We Get By," a new play by Neil LaBute about an awkward morning-after experience between a male and female who meet at a drunken wedding reception.