. . . that will no doubt continue to ripen." She found, "Harris' role is flashier, and, predictably, the actress indulges in the kind of hammy histrionics that will make her a hit with matinee crowds. But she and Colin also reveal the abiding affection that make Milly and Kit more convincing and interesting as a dueling duo than most of their contemporaries."

For Ben Brantley of The New York Times, "two very different roads to the past are being traveled by two very different actresses in the mildly entertaining, maddeningly disjunctive revival of John Van Druten's 1940 comedy of high-heeled and round-heeled sexual mores in literary Manhattan." And the critic makes it clear who he prefers. "Ms. Colin comfortably inhabits the era in which the play is set; she makes the decades fall away. Ms. Harris presents the same world through the perspective of a contemporary comedian who has watched a lot of old movies; she makes a distant age look even more distant. Fans of fine-grained acting will admire Ms. Colin, while fans of diva-spoofing drag queens may well adore Ms. Harris."

Linda Winer of Newsday bemoans, "if only van Druten had created a friendship held together with more than a few silly memories, we might have believed that Kit and Millie really are friends. Instead, being - you know - women - they're jealous and lie to each other. And if only Michael Wilson had directed the main characters as if they were in the same production, we would have had more to ponder than the decor." She did find, "Colin, an exquisitely honest and subtle actress, plays Kit for real - with all the self-sufficiency, sensuality and self-doubt that such an intelligent woman might embrace. If Colin doesn't have the artifice to carry off the breeziest lines in the brittle style, she compensates with humanity." However, she thought, "Harris, in wild contrast, is an expert in barely controlled hysteria and variations of overstatement. Done up to look like a bloodhound in Pekingese clothes, she is directed toward broad double takes."

Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News thought, "the production is breezy (three acts zip by), beautiful (the '40s fashions and interiors are luscious) and bipolar in its tone (naturalism here, hysteria there). The overall effect is discombobulating." As he explains, "Harris' acting toggles between over the top and Norma Desmond while the reliable Colin works just as hard to underplay Katherine." Clive Barnes of the New York Post wondered why the play was being revived and thought, "Colin does everything that could be done for the role short of pulling down the curtain and letting the audience go home, while Harris tends to make exaggeration her special style of acting so the already preposterous role of Mildred does her no favors."

To David Sheward of Backstage, "Colin invests Kit with confidence and style. This is a lady who believes in herself. She even makes some of van Druten's ludicrous story twists credible." He thought, "Harris has the much showier part as the narcissistic Mildred, and she takes full advantage of her character's neuroses. Watch as she slowly approaches the cage of a pair of annoying birds after hearing bad news. Just by turning her head and glaring at the offending parakeets, Harris brings the house down. She also wrings her dialogue of every drop of comic juice."

Only Variety's David Rooney was a dissenting voice as he thought Colin, "a poised, intelligent actress who is sober and understated to the point of being dull. And the writing only casually explores the pathos of a woman who has drifted from romance to romance without ever finding happiness." He found Harris, "nonchalantly serving up bitchy backhanders while balancing self-aggrandizing hauteur with tantrum-prone, infantile neediness. But despite the amusing bravado, it's a one-note characterization, constrained by stale writing."