Critical Reaction
The New York Times called the musical "a merry and sprightly spoof of an era when 'justice always triumphed'... Little Mary Sunshine is an affectionate jab at the type of operetta that Rudolf Friml... made popular in the early Nineteen Twenties.... It is expertly performed by a group of young persons with felicitous voices and with good comic sense." Writing for the same paper, Brooks Atkinson wrote : "There are echos of both Gilbert and Sullivan in his dainty caricature of the old-fashioned operetta and musical comedy. But there are also echos of Strauss, Herbert, Kern, Romberg, Youmans, Friml, and anybody else who brought romantic lovers together in a triumphant last scene... it is seldom that a subtle satiric idea is brought off so adroitly in both the writing and the performing."
On the London production, The New York Times London correspondent wrote: "Even Little Mary Sunshine which arrived from Off-Broadway with a big reputation, seemed to us forced and its humors underscored, especially in comparison with The Boyfriend. It is one of those shows that succeed by becoming a cult, and it doesn't look as if that is happening here."
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