STAGE

Gossipy Ad Upsets N.Y. Times: Broadway producer David Merrick declared war Monday on the New York Times theater critic who panned his latest effort. The producer placed an ad in the newspaper with a reference to the critic’s love life. The Times pulled the ad after the first edition. The critic, Frank Rich, savaged Merrick’s “Oh, Kay!” a musical that opened last week. Merrick, who had great success with such Broadway hits as “Hello, Dolly!” and “Gypsy,” bought an ad featuring a large heart and the declaration, “At last, people are holding hands in the theater again!” Inside the heart were two quotes, one from Rich and the other from Alex Witchel, a Times reporter, who writes the paper’s theater column and who has been linked romantically to Rich in New York tabloid gossip columns. The ad was signed “To Frank and Alex -- All My Love, David Merrick.”