In his three and a half star review, Clive Barnes of the New York Post says the show "is crisply and, so far as humanly possible, unsentimentally directed by Mike Nichols, who knows how to let his actors breathe, react and interact. Freeman, who in previews apparently was having difficulties, here seems in full command of the text. He gets every ounce of burnt-out passion from Frank, with the shadowing self-doubts and fears of a shakily recovering alcoholic needing all the help he can get for redemption, while persuasively substituting a childish truculence for the mad anger once offered by Redgrave. Gallagher's Bernie is also more realistically toned down than most, carefully calculating that odd conflict of feelings he has for Georgie, and here the great McDormand, at her finest, delivers a portrayal of shattering quietness and nuanced subtlety. These three are all heart-rendingly credible — it's among the finest acting of the season — and transcend the simplistic writing to leap into the reality at which Odets surely, and sometimes not so surely, aimed."

David Rooney Variety also praised the actors. "Gallagher's crackling performance is the most immediately captivating, full of in-period detail and brash physicality, with an expert balance of suspicious animosity and growing sexual tension in his contest with Georgie. Freeman plays both with and against his innate strength, composure and dignity. His towering presence is reined in at first, as Frank appears bruised and intimidated when called upon to audition. But his transformation while unleashing his improvisational skills with Bernie is bracing, instantly standing taller as he validates the director's hunch about his ability to bring something vital and unpredictable to the role. Freeman then swings like a pendulum between authority and pathetic frailty in a magnetic turn that never soft-pedals the character's dishonesty. Georgie is the most complicated character, and while McDormand initially seems mannered and distancing, there's a thoughtfulness evident in her performance that lends increasing poignancy to her sacrifice. While the unconventional casting of an African-American actor as Frank goes without comment, McDormand's natural toughness adds credibility to her steadfastness in a mixed marriage in the 1950s."

However, Michael Kuchwara of the AP thought, "Nichols has been unable to draw much spark or tension out of the relationship between Freeman and McDormand, and it's their faltering marriage that is central to the play's story. The wife is something of a martyr and an enabler, allowing her husband to fail but then being there to pick up the pieces. Freeman, as an aging actor trying to recapture his past glory, gives a surprisingly low-key performance. He demonstrates little of the charisma that once made this man, Frank Elgin, a star. It's a cautious, quiet portrait of a guy who has lost it all and now needs to be jump-started to get those theatrical juices flowing again. As Elgin's long-suffering wife, McDormand (the 'Country Girl' of the play's title) affects a monotone approach, vocally and emotionally uninvolved for much of the time in Odets' tale of all the tensions — both public and private — that flourish while putting on a show." He reserved his praise for Gallagher, who, "as a hotshot firebrand of a director who has staked his career on giving the stumbling actor the starring role in his new production as it works its way from a Boston tryout to opening night on Broadway. Gallagher, sporting a tough-guy, Brooklyn accent, gives the evening's most impassioned performance, accentuating the man's fierce commitment to the theater."

In his pan, Ben Brantley of the New York Times weighed in on the rumors. "If Mr. Freeman was still unsure of his lines, it was undetectable in the performance I saw, which exuded a low-key confidence and charm. (This is not, I hasten to point out, what the part requires at all times.) And if you compare this version’s script with Odets’s published text, the deletions and discrepancies don’t change the sense of things, though the word substitutions are often bizarrely capricious. I would happily have put up with flubbed lines if real runaway feelings accompanied them. Each star has a few abrupt moments of simulating anger or sorrow via sharp, attention-grabbing technique. But I rarely felt prepared for these explosions; they seemed like unanchored, virtuosic exercises."

And, finally, in his two-star review, Joe Dziemianowicz of the New York Daily News says, "Freeman is a talented actor but isn't fully convincing in this role. He captures Frank's insecurity, but his slack diction undermines his credibility as a once-great star hiding vast reserves of 'power and majesty.' As his beleaguered spouse, McDormand looks tired, that's for sure. But her performance is flat and lacks spontaneity. She and Freeman have little chemistry, so it's hard to buy them as a couple who have endured so much, including their child's death. The surprising and rock-solid turn comes from Gallagher, who brings enthusiasm and energy to his scenes, ingredients the show sorely needs."

(Photo: Bernard Jacobs Theater)