I looked up your First One Asleep, Whistle - the playwright, one Oliver Hailey, had THREE plays on Broadway in his career, and they ALL closed on opening night.
You can understand one, maybe even the second one ("hey, his first play closed on opening night, but this one is terrific!"
, but who would produce a third from such a Turkey Generator?
He also wrote a lot for TV, including "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," "McMillan and Wife," "Family," and "The Cosby Show," and wrote three short-running plays Off-Broadway in the 60s and 70s.
The male standby for First One... was Sam Waterston, in his second Broadway job (his first one, Kopit's Oh, Dad, etc. had closed 2 and 1/2 years before this show).