A 40th anniversary tribute to the original Broadway production was held as the opening number of the 23rd Annual Gypsy of the Year ceremony, held on December 5 and 6, 2011 at the New Amsterdam Theatre. Participating were Barry Bostwick, Carole Demas, Adrienne Barbeau, Alan Paul, Walter Bobbie, Don Billett, James Canning, Daniel Douglas, Katie Hanley, Tom Harris, Ilene Kristen, Joy Rinaldi and Mews Small.
On Sunday, February 20, 1972, the "What's New in Theater?" column in the New York Times tallied the reviews as follows:
- four favorable (Douglas Watt, Daily News; Bill Raidy, Newhouse Newspapers; Betty Rollin, NBC-TV; Kevin Sanders, ABC-TV),
- five mixed (Clive Barnes, New York Times; William Glover, AP; Jack Gaver, UPI; Alvin Klein, WNEW-TV; Martin Bookspan, WPIX-TV),
- and four unfavorable (Richard Watts, New York Post; Martin Gottfried, Women's Wear Daily; George Oppenheimer, Newsday; Leonard Harris, CBS-TV).
A large ad that appeared in the Times with many quotes on the following Sunday suggests that reviews from some other sources were favorable, although some of the quotes that appear in the ad are more descriptive than necessarily favorable.
Some sources list 20 previews for the production, but that is incorrect. The production did not play a full schedule during previews, and the correct total is 15.
Some sources state that this production opened Off-Broadway, but we follow The Best Plays of 1971-1972 in considering it Broadway from the beginning. The Eden was a Broadway-sized house, the show was produced under Broadway contracts, and the show was deemed eligible for the 1971-1972 Tonys while it was playing at the Eden.