Fish in the Dark ***

Larry David’s comedy, his Broadway debut both as playwright and actor, has a lot in common with “It Shoulda Been You.” Both plays demonstrate that if you have a marvelous cast, good direction (by Steppenwolf’s Anna D. Shapiro) and a stylish production (sets by Todd Rosenthal, costumes by Ann Roth), you can go a long way toward making mediocre material seem better than it is. The fractious Drexel family is further fractured by an argument over the deathbed wish of family patriarch Sidney (Jerry Adler) that one of the sons welcome their mother Gloria (Jayne Houdyshell) into his home. Neither Norman (David) nor his younger brother Arthur (Ben Shenkman) wants the job. This basic situation is embellished by the machinations of other family members and retainers to gain an advantage. Glenn Headly (replacing Rita Wilson, who had to drop out to have surgery) is delightful as Norman’s wife Brenda. Rosie Perez is fine as the family maid Fabiana and Jake Cannavale is a hoot as her son Diego. Fine actors such as Richard Topol, Lewis J. Stadlen, Marylouise Burke and Jonny Orsini are underutilized in small parts, but it is still good to see them. Horny senior citizens play an important role in the story. This is one of the rare plays where things improve after intermission. David’s role is largely a copy of his TV persona. If you like ”Curb Your Enthusiasm,” you will very likely enjoy this too. Running time: 2 hours including intermission.

The Nance ***

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All praise to Douglas Carter Beane for creating Chauncey Miles, a role that Nathan Lane was born to play. He is a complex character -- a homosexual who plays a flamboyant gay stereotype in burlesque, but who finds drag demeaning, whose politics are arch-conservative, whose preferred sex is a romp in the park or a pickup at the Automat in Greenwich Village, but who, surprisingly, attracts the love of Ned (Jonny Orsini), an young innocent new to the big city. A pre-election vice crackdown in 1937 puts both his livelihood and his lifestyle in jeopardy. Beame's clever concept is to alternate scenes of Chauncey's personal life with burlesque routines and backstage scenes. The burlesque sketches with his stage partner Efram (the excellent Louis J. Stadlen) are hoary but still hilarious. The three strippers, Sylvie, Joan and Carmen (Cady Huffman, Jenni Barber and Andrea Burns) are the funniest to tread the boards since "Gypsy." The rapid alternation of short scenes in the first act works like clockwork. The second act does not fare as well. The level of inventiveness is not as high, the focus gets a little blurry, and the ending is peculiar and abrupt. For Lane fans, his performance makes the play a "must-see" despite the flaws. Orsini runs the gamut from wooden to inspired; he certainly shines in the obligatory nude scene. John Lee Beatty's set design is effective and Ann Roth's costumes are evocative. Director Jack O'Brien's work is mostly fine. I wish the second act were better, but I am still very glad that I saw the play. This Lincoln Center Theater production at the Lyceum is still in previews as I write this. Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes including intermission.

An Early History of Fire [zero stars]

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To say that David Rabe's first new play to be seen in New York in a decade is a disappointment is a gross understatement. While this alleged drama set in 1962 in middle America may have deep meaning for the playwright, its trite half-baked ideas and half-developed characters did not hold my interest for even five minutes. I will not force you waste your time reading about the many ways it fails. While I can't recover the time I lost on this dud, I can at least warn you away. The cast (Gordon Clapp, Erin Darke, Jonny Orsini, Devin Ratray, Dennis Staroselsky, Theo Stockman and Claire van der Bloom) and director Jo Bonney do their best to breathe some life into this New Group production,  but you can't light a fire with wet matches. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes including intermission.