[1] Like Hair and A Chorus Line before it, The Human Comedy garnered reviews favorable enough to prompt Papp to transfer it a larger, uptown Broadway house.

[2] Frank Rich's critique of the original production had been positive,[1] but The New York Times policy prohibited re-reviewing shows unless they were changed substantially, so his earlier comments were overshadowed by those damaging ones made more recently by Clive Barnes, among others.

The show was directed by Roger Danforth and featured Heather MacRae as Kate, Richard Roland as Spangler, Diane Sutherland (Fratantoni) as Diana, Alan H. Green as Tobey, Jennifer Rosin as Bess, James Ludwig as Marcus, Joe Hynes as Homer, Traci Lyn Thomas as Mary, Aisha DeHaas as Beautiful Music, Benjamin Stix as Ulysses and Ron Carroll as Grogan.

[5] The coming-of-age tale focuses on young Homer Macauley, a telegram messenger who is exposed to the sorrows and joys experienced by his family and the residents of his small California town during World War II.

John Beaufort noted that "The adapters have provided a generous mix of musical idioms and rhythms: Love songs, jazzy upbeat numbers, a gospel hymn, and a variety of other compositions in the MacDermot manner.