[4] The play had a reading on Martha's Vineyard in July 2012, with Tony Shalhoub, Debra Monk, Chuck Cooper and David Turner.
[6] The play, narrated by the older Moss Hart, traces his life from being poor in The Bronx to becoming famous and successful as a Broadway writer and director.
Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote "whatever its flaws, 'Act One,'... brims contagiously with the ineffable, irrational and irrefutable passion for that endangered religion called the Theater.
To say the play lacks the complex poignance of the 'Sunday in the Park with George' and 'Into the Woods' librettist's best work wouldn't be fair; however wry Hart's humor or complicated his relationships — with show business, his family, other people — his 'Act One' is a nostalgic and ultimately upbeat reflection on fulfilling a dream....Lapine captures that essence and the period, on the page and on the stage.
"[7] The play received nominations for five Tony Awards, with Beowulf Boritt winning for what Playbill called his "captivating, multi-level set design, built on a large-scale revolve..."[4]