 Gerard thought "Four Jews in a Room Bitching" "hilarious" and praised the musical's pacing, opining that "Lapine and Finn tell their complex story with astonishing economy".In her report about Finn's Tony Award acceptance speech in June 1992, Kim Hubbard of "People" characterized "Falsettos" as both "a laugh-a-minute musical" and "a tragedy filled with hope".Sylvie Drake of the "Los Angeles Times" called a 1993 San Diego performance a "stunning ode to modern living" noting that the musical's "virtuosity is in its mastery of the bittersweet – and eventually the tragic – wailing over life’s nasty habit of giving and taking away, but without wasting time on self-pity.