The New York Times - Not Recommended
"...Featuring a book and lyrics by Brian Hargrove, with music by Barbara Anselmi, this crumbly meringue of a production would seem to be hoping to capitalize on the success of reality television shows about brides behaving badly, as well as cinematic laugh-fests like "Bridesmaids." But this show, directed by the actor David Hyde Pierce and starring Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris as battling future mothers-in-law, also looks further back for inspiration."
Hollywood Reporter - Recommended
"...But for all its obvious deficiencies, It Shoulda Been You - the title refers to Rebecca's parents' oft-repeated exhortations to the menschy Marty - is the sort of shamelessly lowbrow comedy too often missing from Broadway these days, Larry David's Fish in the Dark notwithstanding. Elitists will sneer, but the matinee ladies are bound to eat it up."
Chicago Tribune - Somewhat Recommended
"...And there you have the thesis - clear as the head of a lonely, not-yet-wasted bridesmaid - of this unexpectedly enjoyable and affectionate musical entertainment by Brian Hargrove and Barbara Anselmi (along with various other contributors). Given the clash of generations, the sibling power struggles, the fusing of religions, the shoving people inside a hotel with too many doors and panini stations for its own good and, above all, the inevitably high stakes of the day, weddings are something to be endured in reality and lampooned on Broadway."
NBC New York - Somewhat Recommended
"..."Shoulda" has a book and lyrics by Brian Hargrove (he's Pierce's husband), and pleasant, if run-of-the-mill, music by Barbara Anselmi. Overall, this is fair-to-middling material that's elevated by a superior cast. It's a good show, but you can't help thinking it shoulda been better."
Time Out New York - Somewhat Recommended
"...David Hyde Pierce's direction is generous with the spotlight. Lisa Howard holds the plot together capably as Jenny, the long-suffering sister of the bride (a doll-like Sierra Boggess), and Josh Grisetti is great as an ardent ex-boyfriend. But it's the veterans who keep the show afloat: Tyne Daly as the bride's overbearing mother, Harriet Harris as the poisonous mother of the groom, Edward Hibbert as an omniscient wedding planner. Though the cake is stale, they decorate it well. It shoulda been better but it coulda been worse."
Huffington Post - Somewhat Recommended
"...The show is built around the two mothers, hers being a harridanish Tyne Daly and his being a dipsomaniacal Harriet Harris. As you might imagine, Daly and Harris are capable of making limp lines soar, and they do quite a job of it. The central character is an impressive Lisa Howard, as the wallflower sister of the bride. The show breaks from the Abie's Irish Rose mold--and I mean mold in both its familiar meanings--by offering a surprising, modern-day twist; or at least, a twist that would have been modern in 1979. Even so, it draws a gasp from the audience and helps propel the action."
