ctors are hardly ever fired — officially, anyway. They usually leave because of medical reasons, family issues or that old favorite, creative differences. So credit the participants in a one-night-only production at the Second Stage Theater on Jan. 12 with a refreshing frankness. Their show, "Fired!," tells personal stories without euphemism. Craig Bierko, Tonya Pinkins and Fisher Stevens have signed on to perform.

The actress Annabelle Gurwitch came up with the idea after being fired by Woody Allen from "Writer's Block," his pair of one-act comedies that played the Atlantic Theater last spring. The show received mostly unfavorable reviews, while Ms. Gurwitch went on to make comedic hay about her experience in a one-woman show in Los Angeles, an article in Show People magazine and now this performance. All of which goes to show that being dismissed can really help a career.

It certainly didn't hurt Ms. Pinkins. Before winning the 1992 Tony Award for featured role in a musical for "Jelly's Last Jam," she was fired from the show, directed by George C. Wolfe, and later rehired. "I just wasn't what they wanted," she said. "They didn't even want me to audition for the show when it came from Los Angeles."

Ms. Pinkins says she still loves and respects Mr. Wolfe. "I call it being exiled from George's kingdom," she said. "I've been exiled and brought back so many times." She is back under Mr. Wolfe's direction now, starring in "Caroline, or Change" at the Public. (Sorry, still no confirmation this week of a Broadway transfer.)

Biting the Hands That Feed Him

"The Producers" has been criticized for premium ticket prices and ill-advised casting choices, but the latest attacks on the musical have come from an unlikely source: Nathan Lane.

In an interview in Time Out New York, Mr. Lane, who returned to the show with Matthew Broderick on Tuesday night for a four-month stint, said that charging $480 for a ticket was a "new kind of greediness." On the "Today" program on Monday he made a similar point in more colorful language. "The producers should have come down with mad cash-cow disease," he said. "But they're producers. Isn't that their job, to be greedy?"

You might say that it takes one to know one, since Mr. Lane is being paid $100,000 a week for his return to the role of Max Bialystock, the most shameless money man in Broadway history.

"I'm not bothered by it at all," said Richard Frankel, a "Producers" producer, in reaction to the comments. "Nathan's gifts give him certain privileges."

Those gifts include the ability to turn what was a blockbuster in decline into the fastest-selling show on Broadway. When tickets for Mr. Lane and Mr. Broderick's return were first made available in November, theatergoers lined up around the block, breaking the single-day record on Broadway with $3.6 million in sales.

But there may be a limit to audience demand: last week, the producers canceled the $1,500-a-seat New Year's Eve dinner (which included an orchestra seat to the show) because of slow sales. The regular-price tickets are sold out for the run, but the famous $480 seats — along with the $240 and $180 ones, all sold via the Broadway Inner Circle — have not sold as quickly. About half of these prime seats, which account for 12 to 15 percent of the house, are still available. Those looking for a deal — by "Producers" standards, that is — should wait until near performance time, when unsold tickets may be offered for a mere $100.

Banding Together

In November, Theater Row, the five-theater complex on 42nd Street, started selling a one-year membership discount deal to shows being produced in its spaces. They were part of an effort to integrate the Clurman, the Kirk, the Lion, the Beckett and the Acorn into one entity in theatergoers' minds. "We want to brand Theater Row," said Peter Bloch, the general manager.

In the next few months several new shows are to open on Theater Row, including a musical version of "Alice in Wonderland" and the long-running Off Off Broadway show "Mono," both of which should arrive this month. In March the New Group, which has a three-year contract with Theater Row, is presenting "Roar," Betty Shamieh's new drama about Arab-Americans that takes place in Detroit after the first Persian Gulf war; Marion McClinton directs. It also looks increasingly likely that the Worth Street Theater's "Moonlight Room" will transfer to the Clurman or the Beckett; it closed at the TriBeCa Playhouse on Dec. 14.

"We want the audience for the more commercial shows to take a look at the smaller, lesser-known shows playing next door," Mr. Bloch said.

Too Many Names

Branding has also been a topic of discussion at the Public Theater, which has been called, among other things, the Shakespeare Workshop, the Public Theater/NYSF and even just the Papp. Complicating matters even further is that the names on the front of its Lafayette Street home are New York Shakespeare Festival (its legal name) and Joseph Papp Public Theater (the name of the building, not the theater).

"Those names will be removed in the next six months," said its executive director, Mara Manus, who has been trying to get everyone on the same page on this matter over the last year. "It's just Marketing 101. A brand cannot be successful if it has so many names."

When told of her response, Bernard Gersten said, "When I hear words like brand, I reach for my revolver." Mr. Gersten, the executive producer of Lincoln Center Theater, was the associate producer of the Public in the 1960's and 70's, back when it was called New York Shakespeare Festival. He shrugs off such considerations faster than you can say, "What's in a name?"

"Before I met Adolph Green, I didn't like the name Adolph," he said. "Now I love it. The only problem with the Public is now people can say, `The Public be damned.' "