Critical Reaction

"Mr. Loesser loves the rich, rolling exhilarating cadences that can spill out into an auditorium whenever a musical show approaches the freedom and the melodic fury of opera.... Mr. Loesser has simply opened his treasure chest and hurled the bountiful prizes...."
– Walter Kerr, "Herald Tribune," May 4, 1956

  "It is a masterpiece of our era..."
– Robert Coleman, "Daily Mirror," May 4, 1956  

"An overwhelmingly inventive new musical, a rich show drenched in song."
– William Hawkins, "World-Telegram & Sun," May 4, 1956