A veteran of all aspects of the theater, Lahr is the son of the actor Bert Lahr, whom he immortalized in his best-selling biography, NOTES ON A COWARDLY LION. Lahr has published 17 books on the theater and two novels. He was an early champion of the British playwright Joe Orton and in 1987, he co-produced the 1987 film PRICK UP YOUR EARS, based on his Orton biography of the same name. An aficionado of topics as varied as vaudeville, Tom Stoppard, and Noël Coward, Lahr has been senior drama critic for THE NEW YORKER since 1992. In 2001, he edited THE DIARIES OF KENNETH TYNAN, and he is the co-creator of the Tony Award-winning Broadway show "Elaine Stritch at Liberty."