Dating back to their first meeting at a conference at Sarah Lawrence College in 1948, it came to a head in 1980 when McCarthy, in a television interview with Dick Cavett, asserted, "every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the'".

Directed by Jack O'Brien, choreographed by Jerry Mitchell, and starring Cherry Jones as McCarthy, Swoosie Kurtz as Hellman, and Harry Groener as all the men in their lives, the play had its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, where it ran from September 21 through November 3, 2002.

In his CurtainUp review of the San Diego production, Gordon Osmond called it "an uncomfortable cross between vaudeville and conventional musical comedy."

The plays breaks out into a rash of stand-alone and largely incongruous musical numbers, which seem concocted for the sole purpose of filling up a record album designed perhaps to defray the production's undoubtedly daunting costs .

Having two women of wit, wisdom and letters slug it out physically, albeit offstage, is not just imaginary, it's artistically misguided, pandering to that segment of the audience which doesn't for a moment understand the substance and potential of the play."

"[1] In his review of the Broadway production, Ben Brantley of The New York Times said it "isn't a show that leaves you gasping at its daring or chuckling over its cleverness.

In chronicling a feud between two politically engaged, exceptionally feisty women within a literary world of men, Ms. Ephron makes her points dutifully, clearly and repetitively .

In trying to appeal to both those who are and those who are not familiar with the play's high-brow heroines, the show winds up sacrificing its dramatic energy to Cliff Notes-like expositions disguised in masquerade costumes .

"[2] Reviewing for Talkin' Broadway, Matthew Murray noted Nora Ephron "has a thrillingly theatrical concept that she simply hasn't taken to its furthest extremes.

For the most part, their writings - as lyrical and incisive as one is apt to find - are missing from the play, and the contributions of Hamlisch and Carnelia are a poor substitute.

Late in the show, when we're reminded of the real legacy these women leave behind in the impressive volume of material each produced, it becomes all too obvious that Imaginary Friends is weaker for its absence.

"[3] Craig Carnelia was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics but lost to Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman for Hairspray.

At a time when deceptive rhetoric permeated the American ether, Ephron offered a play about prevarication and truth-telling in public discourse—and delivered a message of skepticism about the objectivity of “truth” and the credibility of those with easiest access to the media.”[5]