Critical Reaction

Critical Reaction

"Roadside boasts a handsome pedigree and several pleasingly familiar elements. ...Within five minutes, Roadside has evoked not only Oklahoma! and The Fantasticks but also Paint Your Wagon, Carnival, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Barnum. [Harvey Schmidt]... can write an attractive tune like nobody's business, then underpin it with the most beguiling harmonies this side of Richard Rodgers. ...Its music caresses, teases, smiles, often kicks up its cowboy boots and dances all over the stage."
– TheaterMania

"Roadside is sweet but not saccarine, hokey but with the portion of corn kept palatable. ...The characters are archetypes encountered in countless B-Movies, but likeable and feisty, with just enough of an undercurrent of sad yearning to tap into our own nostalgia for connections that seem to have eluded us and times that can only be retained in our memories. The songs have a country-flavored Texas twang and catchy lyrics that build character and move the story forward."
– CurtainUp

"Jones and Schmidt have written two first-rate country tunes, the conditional love song 'Here I Am' and 'All Men Is Crazy.'"
– Variety

"Displays the same quiet charm that The Fantasticks has used to captivate audiences for more than 40 years. It's hard not to smile at the title number.... This is the type of wistful ballad, in which nostalgia is tempered with regret, that Schmidt and Jones have made their signature."
– Billboard Magazine