"As a piece of theater, the show is a bit of a mess; the jokes, even some of the hoary ones, work better than the storytelling, and the acting styles are all over the place. Still, it makes for a diverting evening — because it will almost surely make you laugh, and because of how acutely tuned into the audience Crystal is."
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"A show about a comedian getting a shot at a new medium — for Buddy, a movie; for Billy, a Broadway musical — has a tidy meta tinge. Billy/Buddy’s brand of insult humor and verbal slaps make for a touchy subject in 2022. That’s worth noting. Good comic timing, after all, is no joke."
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"By Broadway standards, 'Mr. Saturday' is a modest little show. ... Everything about it is resolutely old-fashioned—in some ways it’s a celebration of oldness itself—and it's not long on drama. (We don't even get to see the big flashback meltdown scene.) But it delivers exactly what it promises: Crystal, completely in his element, with a crowd that is more than happy to buy what he’s selling."
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"The book by Crystal, Lowell Ganz, and Babaloo Mandel (the original film’s authors) and particularly the new music by Jason Robert Brown feel flabby and thin in this new environment. ... So why did I enjoy it so much? When the show isn’t trying to be a musical, it puts Crystal up in front of us and has him do Buddy’s act. Crystal is the kind of entertainer whose blade never dulls."
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"The structure of the musical is nicely roomy, giving Crystal ample time to perform standup, sell jokes, and serve up his shtick. It works!"
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"You might feel like you’ve already seen 'Mr. Saturday Night' the musical even if you’ve never seen 'Mr. Saturday Night' the movie, and whether you find that comforting – Billy Crystal certainly is one of the most likable presences in all of show business – or disappointing might depend entirely on your taste for well-delivered Borsht Belt comedy.'
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"'Mr. Saturday Night' feels more like a play with music: its focus is on the price paid to be funny, a fee not just exacted from the comedian, but also a family. In an ideal world, all of the comedic energy in those routines would flow directly into the songs, making them an organic part of the comedy-pain axis on which this show turns as it probes Buddy’s shifting but perpetually destructive psyche."
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"It’s the kind of show where verisimilitude is not the goal. It knows what it is: A great comic vehicle with a solid-though-unsurprising story — with a little love, if not schmaltz, thrown in for good measure."
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