First Nighter: Timothy Olyphant in Kenneth Lonergan's "Hold On to Me Darling," Marin Ireland in Martyna Majok's "Ironbound"

With his new Hold On to Me Darling, at the Atlantic, Kenneth Lonergan has written one of the season's most head-scratching plays. That's if it's not the most head-scratching entry, as directed--but not necessarily thoroughly helped along--by Neil Pepe. Lonergan's first act is little short of sensational. He introduces country-music crossover star Strings (born Clarence) McCrane (Timothy Olyphant) in the Kansas City hotel room he's taken just before traveling to his mother's Beaumont, Tennessee f...