Upon the premiere of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? some critics praised virtually every aspect of the play, while others faulted it as too long, too vulgar, or too pessimistic; almost everyone, however, saw in the play the potential to breathe new life into a Broadway theatre that was no longer the creative force it had been. "An exciting play," after all, "is good antidote for what ails Broadway theater," Taubman noted in the New York Times. Whether they admire or detest the play, Taubman observed, "theatergoers cannot see it and shrug it off. They burn with an urge to approve or differ."

A reviewer for Time claimed that Albee's play "has jolted the Broadway season to life." Similarly, a reviewer for Newsweek called the play a "brilliantly original work of art—an excoriating theatrical experience, surging with shocks of recognition and dramatic fire. It...