Critical Response
The show received mostly negative reviews, with critics seemingly "personally offended" by selling tickets to the troubled show. "All the critics came down hard on the book and especially on Herman's score. 'Time' magazine incomprehensibly called the songs 'a total zero'... Martin Gottfried, noting that the plot line had been cut to ribbons, found 'the story impossible to follow'".
Walter Kerr wrote that the musical: "... is in the main quite charming... the actress ... is endearing throughout the evening and at her commanding best here...." Her song, "I Don't Want to Know" is "a song surprised by its own unexpected passion. The effect doesn't always work out for composer Jerry Herman... 'Dear World' is attractive when it is staying close to its addled Good People... it is in trouble whenever it turns to the Bad People... Oliver Smith's settings are perfect." Clive Barnes in The New York Times gave Lansbury a positive review: "The minor miracle is Miss Lansbury... no connoisseur of musical comedy can afford to miss Miss Lansbury's performance. It is lovely."
According to Steven Citron (p.181), " Howes and the majority of critics now believe that with a rewritten libretto it could be turned into a successful musical."
In the 1980s, Liza Minnelli incoporated the song "I Don't Want to Know" into her musical act.
Read more about this topic: Dear World
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