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Review - Romantic Poetry - Searching for Love, As Always, Is Difficult

New York Times

Singing a Song of the Lovestruck Life
This cloying show about the irrationality of love, finds John Patrick Shanley communing loudly with his madcap side, which hasn’t been very visible in recent years

amNY New York City Theater

Review of Romantic Poetry
There must be some mistake. John Patrick Shanley, the author of “Doubt,” and Henry Krieger, the composer of “Dreamgirls,” could not have written this train wreck of a new musical. Was this a cruel joke? Did we walk into the wrong theater?

New York Daily News

'Romantic Poetry' not ready for rhyme time
Since Cher is busy, we'll deliver a memo to the muck-a-mucks who decided that "Romantic Poetry" - by John Patrick Shanley ("Moonstruck"), who wrote the book and lyrics and directs - was ready for a world premiere: Snap out of it!

Newsday

Review: John Patrick Shanley's 'Romantic Poetry'
....Despite all that productivity and such a vast assortment of styles, Shanley has never before written the lyrics and book for a musical. We now know why.

No love lost on 'Poetry' with no rhyme, reason
There's little chance of being moonstruck by "Romantic Poetry," the new musical collaboration between John Patrick Shanley...

Hartford Courant

New York Stage: 'Romantic Poetry' by John Patrick Shanley

Star-Ledger

'Romantic Poetry' has heart in the right place
A cheerfully disorderly musical, "Romantic Poetry" is a sketchy affair regarding passion, both artistic and amorous.

Associated Press

'Romantic Poetry' stumbles in its tale of love

Bloomberg.com

Shanley's Pretentious Musical; Ibsen's Shaky Superman Builder: John Simon J
ohn Patrick Shanley, author of the spellbinding ``Doubt,'' and Henry Krieger, composer of the captivating ``Dreamgirls,'' have banded together to concoct one of the most incongruous, foolish and pretentious musicals ever inflicted on an audience.

Variety

Review: Romantic Poetry
The new John Patrick Shanley-Henry Krieger musical comedy "Romantic Poetry" is neither romantic nor poetic; there's lots of music -- 25 songs, no less -- but the comedy is mostly in the mind of author-director Shanley. Manhattan Theater Club has had a rough opening to its 38th semester, following the critically maligned "To Be or Not to Be" with this baffling opus.

Back Stage

Romantic Poetry reviewed by Adam R. Perlman
What a glorious minefield must be the mind of John Patrick Shanley.

TheaterMania

Review: Romantic Poetry
John Patrick Shanley and Henry Krieger's whimsical new musical is a definite disappointment.

Talkin' Broadway

Review: Romantic Poetry
What happens to love after doubt creeps into it? An excellent question, and one of the more notable ones addressed in Romantic Poetry at Manhattan Theatre Club. But a better one is: What happened to John Patrick Shanley after Doubt crept out of him? . . .