Reception
Reviews of the Broadway production were mixed to positive. Ben Brantley, in his New York Times review, wrote: "Every now and then, a bubble of pure, tickling charm rises from the artificial froth of “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” the pastiche of a 1920s musical featuring songs by George and Ira Gershwin. Most of this show, which opened on Tuesday night at the Imperial Theater, registers as a shiny, dutiful trickle of jokes and dance numbers performed by talented people who don’t entirely connect with the whimsy of a bygone genre. But then, all at once, there’s a moment of delicate ridiculousness, of utterly credible improbability, that signals what Kathleen Marshall, the production’s director and choreographer, must have been aiming for."
The USA Today reviewer wrote: " director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall and a stellar cast ensure that the show is as charming in execution as it is disheartening in theory. For every sharp line, there are a couple that will make you wince — or would, if they weren't delivered with such disarming spirit and skill. Broderick fares predictably well in the kind of role he does best: a sweetly deadpan social doofus. O'Hara proves once again that there's pretty much nothing she can't do on stage. he excellent Judy Kaye, playing a smug Prohibition advocate, sips spiked lemonade and gets flamboyantly frisky."
The Newsday reviewer wrote: "Kathleen Marshall has put together a rowdy, dopey-smart, dance-driven screwball comedy that never shies from the extravagant edge of clunky silliness. Kelli O'Hara and Matthew Broderick may not seem a likely romantic couple. But their different styles -- her crisp and sublime professionalism, his sleepy-faced cunning naiveté and low-watt skills -- spark unexpected chemistry. At least they are very sweet together. Joe DiPietro has used some outlines of "Oh, Kay," a genuine Prohibition fluff ball from 1926, for his new story. He switches the power of the illegal-hooch gang from the guys to a plucky woman in guy's clothes -- O'Hara."
Read more about this topic: Nice Work If You Can Get It (musical)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To aim to convert a man by miracles is a profanation of the soul. A true conversion, a true Christ, is now, as always, to be made by the reception of beautiful sentiments.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Satire is a sort of glass, wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind of reception it meets in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.”
—Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)