Seat Filler: The Advocate's Guide to New York Theater 

Friends and Relations
Marc Castle is clearly working through some tough stuff in his familiar dramedy about an incestuous group of gay New Yorkers from 1977 to 1987; he likens the men to cinematic wartime comrades: “Not even death can separate them,” one friend muses. Thankfully, an appealing young cast — especially Joel T. Bauer as a hot waiter and Christopher Sloan as a quippy film buff — lent spark to retread subjects, as did Castle’s keen ear for gay gab.
June Havoc Theatre, closed December 17.

Private Lives
Sex and the City’s luminous Kim Cattrall and handsome Canadian actor Paul Gross spar as tempestuous divorcées Amanda and Elyot in Richard Eyre’s elegantly slapsticky, emotionally shallow, and surprisingly sleepy revival of Noël Coward’s 1930 comedy about the destructive nature of passion. The strained farce isn’t helped by the missed opportunity of a dismal art deco scenic design — save for a cool three-tiered aquarium.
Music Box Theatre, through December 31.