Tom Mula directed that premiere, also with Gary Houston and Jeffrey Hutchinson along with Barbara E. Robertson and Rick Snyder, under the guidance of Larry Shue.
[8] In his The New York Times review of a 1988 production at The Public Theater, Frank Rich concluded: "The result, at best sporadically funny but always warm and spirited, is hardly a profound play.
"[9] Reviewing a 1989 production at Body Politic Theatre, Diana Spinrad in Chicago Reader wrote: “Larry Shue's portrait of oppression is not shocking or revolutionary.
But it is truthful and heartfelt, and doesn’t pretend that it’s more than it is, a haunting personal memory.”[10] Reviewing a 2022 production in Cesear's Forum, Cleveland Scene's Christine Howey noted the relevance of the story in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
She wrote: "In this quiet and somewhat meandering 2 1/2-hour piece, playwright Shue uses his trademark sense of humor to bring some lightness to this essentially dark story of a city gone dead.