Posted: 5/22/26 at 4:49pm
He was only 71 but Playbill says he died on Wednesday following a lengthy illness. I hope we'll get to see his posthumous collab with David Yazbek sometime in the near future!
https://playbill.com/article/tony-nominated-book-writer-jeffrey-lane-has-died-at-71
From his Playbill obit:
On the small screen, he wrote and produced for Mad About You, Cagney & Lacey, The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, The Murder of Mary Phagan, Lou Grant, Ryan’s Hope, and more. He was nominated for five Primetime Emmy awards, winning three, as well as three Writers Guild Awards, two Peabodys, and one Golden Globe.
On stage, Mr. Lane was the scribe behind the musicals Dirty Rotten Scoundrels andWomen on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Written alongside composer David Yazbek, both musicals explored the bounds of musical comedy, with Mr. Lane picking up a Tony nomination for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.
Prior to his death, Mr. Lane and Yazbek had completed a third original musical together: a period piece called Whiz-Bang!, inspired by the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drewnovels. It is unclear when or if the material will receive a public presentation.
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