Living On Love at Longacre Theatre

The New York Times - Not Recommended

"...But it's Ms. Fleming, presumably, whom most theatergoers have come to see or, most particularly, hear. She looks regal in Michael Krass's comic-book New Look dresses and displays a decent sense of comic timing. But mostly she seems to be doing a game, and sporadically quite funny, impersonation of someone with whom she has little in common."

Hollywood Reporter - Somewhat Recommended

"...The acronym used in theater chat rooms to discuss the unlikely Broadway entry Living on Love is the same as the 21st century shorthand for hilarity: LOL. But there's nothing contemporary and too little that's consistently funny about playwright Joe DiPietro's refried serving of Peccadillo, a minor Garson Kanin comedy from 1985. First seen at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer, the new version does have a thoroughbred casting coup in its favor: the sporting turn of celebrated lyric soprano Renee Fleming as fading opera diva Raquel De Angelis. But when Raquel is not onstage trilling with vainglorious self-adulation and encroaching terror of her professional decline, the fizz quickly evaporates."

Variety - Somewhat Recommended

"...Fleming's fans should be thrilled to hear that their idol is a natural, completely at her ease in the most ridiculously farcical situations and so personable she confirms her reputation as "The People's Diva." She also partners well, joining Sills in those intimate moments when Diva and Maestro tone down the theatrics and, as confidantes, quietly discuss their valid concerns as aging superstars anticipating a time when they will become unloved and irrelevant."

NBC New York - Recommended

"...A little knowledge of opera helps, but it's not key to admiring the frothy and fizzy "Living on Love," in which soprano Renee Fleming makes her Broadway debut -- you're apt to enjoy the celebrated diva in this send-up of celebrated divas, even if the in-jokes about Maria Callas pass you by."

Time Out New York - Somewhat Recommended

"...Raquel and her wild-haired, lecherous Italian husband (a pajamaed, game Douglas Sills) are tritely tempestuous classical-music legends who hire ghost writers (Jerry O'Connell and Anna Chlumsky) to write their dueling memoirs. The canned corn of DiPietro's writing-"This dog was petted by more Italians than Sophia Loren!"-is pressed into mush by Kathleen Marshall's clunky direction; the younger actors, who spend most of the play in a panic, are nearly unwatchable. Living on Love is meant to be hammy, but it's not even that. It's a bland, synthetic dud: a ham-flavored turkey."