Mr. Merrick is not just any producer but, as WFB puts it, "the most successful producer on Broadway"-and one whom the critics have accused of "inveigling audiences into going to [his shows] ... and the audiences are thereupon so ashamed of their gullibility in succumbing to Mr. Merrick's publicity, they will laugh at bad jokes, allow their hearts to break at the sight of a valentine, and leave the theater humming untuneful songs." (Mr. Merrick asks to correct the record: "I can't recall that I've ever had a bad joke in one of my plays, or an untuneful song, or that I've ever produced a bad play.") The conversation, rich with anecdote, winds up being less about the future of the theater than about the relation of the critic, on the one hand, to the theater company and, on the other hand, to the audience-"sort of a necessary evil," says Mr. Merrick. "... So, I bark at the critics and snipe at them, that's part of the game, because I think I have the right to criticize them if they have the right to criticize my product."