First Nighter: "Terms of Endearment" Not Endearing on Stage, Gideon Irving Happily Declares "My Name is Gideon," GQ and JQ (W)rap by David Finkle

"You must be tolerant of talent," he said, perhaps intuiting the slightly negative reaction I was about to express about

First Nighter: "Terms of Endearment" Not Endearing on Stage, Gideon Irving Happily Declares "My Name is Gideon," GQ and JQ (W)rap by David Finkle

First Nighter: "Party People" Definitely Revolutionary at the Public Theater by David Finkle

To a man and woman, they insist that Malik and Jimmy have rubbed away the raw corners of their not convincingly triumphant

First Nighter: "Party People" Definitely Revolutionary at the Public Theater by David Finkle

Woven into the proceedings rather neatly is a mother-daughter generational divide between then and now, as are any number

First Nighter: "Party People" Definitely Revolutionary at the Public Theater by David Finkle

First Nighter: Monica Piper's Very Funny and Very Real "Not That Jewish" by David Finkle

Yes, she recalls her climb up the comedy ladder. There's the journey to Los Angeles by way of Chicago's Second City and the

First Nighter: Monica Piper's Very Funny and Very Real "Not That Jewish" by David Finkle

After all this time, she has a potent response to the Bronx neighborhood mother who so blithely and with such a narrow mind

First Nighter: Monica Piper's Very Funny and Very Real "Not That Jewish" by David Finkle

First Nighter: Gregory Doran's Sumptuous "King Lear" Production, with Antony Sher, Now on Stateside Screens by David Finkle

There are any number of scholars who will insist that King Lear is Shakespeare's greatest play. (Not Hamlet, in which a child's

First Nighter: Gregory Doran's Sumptuous "King Lear" Production, with Antony Sher, Now on Stateside Screens by David Finkle

Crosby, Stills and Nash may have warned parents to "teach your children well" after spending a few hours with Lear and Gloucester

First Nighter: Gregory Doran's Sumptuous "King Lear" Production, with Antony Sher, Now on Stateside Screens by David Finkle

First Nighter: London Boasts a Great "Ragtime," David Hare's "The Red Barn," Ronald Harwood's "The Dresser," Tom Stoppar by David Finkle

If there's anything off-kilter in Patrick Marber's production, I missed it. What I didn't miss was noticing that the battered

First Nighter: London Boasts a Great "Ragtime," David Hare's "The Red Barn," Ronald Harwood's "The Dresser," Tom Stoppar by David Finkle

Nevertheless, its depiction of the relationship between Sir (Ken Stott, fulfilling every demand of the role) and dresser

First Nighter: London Boasts a Great "Ragtime," David Hare's "The Red Barn," Ronald Harwood's "The Dresser," Tom Stoppar by David Finkle

First Nighter: Kenneth Branagh in John Osborne's "The Entertainer," Kemp Powers's Thrilling "One Night in Miami...," Peter Shaffer by David Finkle

Before the 90-minute play ends, Powers has delivered a subtle lecture on racial intolerance that existed then and still does

First Nighter: Kenneth Branagh in John Osborne's "The Entertainer," Kemp Powers's Thrilling "One Night in Miami...," Peter Shaffer by David Finkle

Branagh starts with a deft tap routine executed in Neil Austin's hazy lighting and augmented by four dancing cuties. Immediately

First Nighter: Kenneth Branagh in John Osborne's "The Entertainer," Kemp Powers's Thrilling "One Night in Miami...," Peter Shaffer by David Finkle

First Nighter: William Finn's "Falsettos" is Back and Bold and Bountiful by David Finkle

A master tunesmith, Finn risks undermining himself in the virtually sung-though enterprise. That occurs when, despite Michael

First Nighter: William Finn's "Falsettos" is Back and Bold and Bountiful by David Finkle

So Falsettos is a work (two works?) of personal searching. This is something Finn has been compelled to do throughout his

First Nighter: William Finn's "Falsettos" is Back and Bold and Bountiful by David Finkle

First Nighter: Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" Screened In Melly Still's Fiery RSC Production by David Finkle

Shakespeare repeated many of his favorite Elizabethan spins in Cymbeline, and there's no point in laying them all out. Still

First Nighter: Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" Screened In Melly Still's Fiery RSC Production by David Finkle

Still's myriad contributions are endlessly exciting and include a symbolic tree trunk sometime removed for the placement

First Nighter: Shakespeare's "Cymbeline" Screened in Melly Still's Fiery RSC Production by David Finkle

First Nighter: The Actors Company Theatre "She Stoops to Conquer" Revival Remains on its Haunches by David Finkle

About She Stoops to Conquer and just to fill in readers unaware of the plot: Mr. and Mrs. Hardcastle (John Rothman, Cynthia

First Nighter: The Actors Company Theatre "She Stoops to Conquer" Revival Remains on its Haunches by David Finkle

There is one notable exception to the at-best-adequate performing. Beck, a TACT member, always knows how to negotiate these

First Nighter: The Actors Company Theatre "She Stoops to Conquer" Revival Remains on its Haunches by David Finkle

First Nighter: "Inner Voices" Series Introduces Three Strong One-Act Solo Musicals by David Finkle

That's right. It's no news that many comics have turned to telling jokes as a handy defense against deep-seated despair. Until

First Nighter: "Inner Voices" Series Introduces Three Strong One-Act Solo Musicals by David Finkle

First Nighter: David Harrower's "Public Enemy" Doesn't Entirely Modernize Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" by David Finkle

This at a time when stateside Democrats and Republicans--though democracy is often tested but not repudiated--are doing their

First Nighter: David Harrower's "Public Enemy" Doesn't Entirely Modernize Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" by David Finkle

First Nighter: Brian Friel's "Afterplay," Horton Foote's "The Roads to Home," Jonathan Rockefeller's "That Golden Girls Show! by David Finkle

Brian Friel took a more direct approach in 2002 with Afterplay, just revived at the Irish Repertory. (Don't confuse this