Did Broadway Critics Enjoy a Night in the Park with Two Gentlemen?

The Galt MacDermot/John Guare/Mel Shapiro musical adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona is back at the Delacorte Theatre, where it premiered in 1971. Rosario Dawson, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Oscar Isaac and Norm Lewis star in a production directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall, running through September 11. Did critics love this frothy tuner?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Eric Grode in his Broadway.com Review: "Love may be sweet in Kathleen Marshall's irresistible Shakespeare in the Park revival of the blissed-out 1971 musical adaptation, but it's far too intense to suggest anything. It demands instant and complete attention from those lucky enough to be caught in its tidal pull, a condition shared by virtually everyone on stage… Director/choreographer Marshall appears to have rehearsed the book scenes about an hour before curtain, and the production can't quite maintain the ceaseless buoyant kick established in Act I, with an oddly underwhelming finale. But the comfortable charm and brimming goodwill of this love-drunk crowd make for a giddy, sexy, enchanting production of a little-remembered show."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times: "[Gentlemen] does not scintillate. But it generates a gentle buzz of pleasure that matches the lazy hedonism of late summer. And unlike most Shakespeare in the Park productions, this one doesn't suffer from an aching gap between ambition and execution... Dressed in the style of students moonlighting at a Renaissance Fayre, the cast members bounce happily among musical and comic styles. For the purposes of the musical, Verona has been reconceived as Puerto Rico, with Milan as swinging Manhattan. This allows Ms. Marshall as choreographer Wonderful Town, Kiss Me Kate on Broadway to create lots of salsa and samba-flavored disco numbers, with flouncing skirts and twitching hips. To tell the truth, these grow a little repetitive, but that may be inevitable given the sameness of many of Mr. MacDermot's songs, which lack the variety of his score for Hair."

Frank Scheck of The New York Post: "Two Gentlemen hasn't received a commercial production in New York since its premiere, and no doubt many consider it a period piece. This staging, directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall Kiss Me, Kate, probably won't reverse that opinion, but it does provide a generally rollicking good time. This is largely due to MacDermot's overstuffed score… Marshall has delivered a vibrant, high-energy production that features go-go-style choreography that well complements the wide sleeves and flared jeans of the '70s-inspired costumes."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Kathleen Marshall has staged the show smartly and choreographed it zippily, but the whole thing seems, to coin a phrase, much ado about nothing. "

David Rooney of Variety: "Director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall appears to have drawn her principal inspiration from The Sonny and Cher Show, and while 'I Got Thee Babe' might sound like a fun summer night's entertainment, this hippy-dippy paean to the power of love can't summon the substance to match its sweet exuberance…. Two Gents plays like a quaint, gimmicky frolic, given broad and breathless vaudevillian treatment, that exposes the scantness of meat on the bones of one of Shakespeare's frothiest early comedies."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "This time-capsule of a show is a full of good cheer, a musical firmly anchored in the early 1970s despite being set in Renaissance Italy. It's a direct descendent of Hair, most notably because of its eclectic, overstuffed score, which has more than three dozen songs by Galt MacDermot, composer of that landmark show. But it also has the added bonus of sprightly lyrics by playwright John Guare and a goofy book by Guare and Mel Shapiro, loosely fashioned from what is admittedly not one of Shakespeare's best comedies... Two Gents may not be a musical for the ages, but for a warm summer night in Central Park, it is just about perfect."