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Will Ferrell descended on Broadway last night, with the hilarious 'You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George W. Bush' at the Cort Theatre.

So, were the Broadway critics as enamored as movie and television audiences have been for years now with Ferrell? 

Frank Scheck, NY Post: AT this point, the prospect of spending an evening in the company of George W. Bush hardly sounds appealing, whatever your political persuasion. But as personified by Will Ferrell, reprising the hilarious caricature he honed to perfection on "Saturday Night Live," the ex-president turns out to be a hell of a lot of fun to hang with.

Michael Kuchwara, Associated Press: "Ferrell wrote and stars as Bush in this 90-minute satiric biography, which opened Thursday at the Cort Theatre. The actor, a former "Saturday Night Live" regular and now a full-fledged movie star, seems totally at ease on a big Broadway stage."

Joe Dziemianowicz, NY Daily News: "Getting to see this comic whiz in the flesh is a big treat, and the fact that Ferrell has been able to squeeze so many fresh yuks from the beleaguered Bush legacy speaks to his always off-kilter, sometimes raunchy, imagination.
He's used it to turn "You're Welcome America. A Final Night with George Bush," which opens tonight, into a 90-minute laugh ride and one seriously hot ticket."

David Rooney, Variety: "With the economy choking, the cost of living spiking, 401(k)s evaporating and unemployment spiraling ever upward, it takes a comic commander-in-chief with real authority to keep an audience laughing through a blow-by-blow recap of eight years with the man who helped make it all happen. But if bleak reality has distracted much of the nation from the massive sigh of relief it might otherwise have heaved when president No. 43 exited the White House, Will Ferrell provides a cathartic, almost cleansing farewell in "You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W Bush.""

Elysa Gardner, USA Today: "It's tough to say who should be more offended by You're Welcome America: A Final Night With George W. Bush (*½ out of four): the 43rd president's most ardent admirers or his most rigorous critics. The latter group is apt to suffer the most for the witless, pointless spectacle that opened Thursday at the Cort Theatre, courtesy of writer and star Will Ferrell. Ferrell, of course, lampooned Bush on Saturday Night Live before launching a successful film career."

Ben Brantley, NY Times: "But ultimately this production is less about the legacy of George W. Bush than it is about the comic persona that has been perfected by Will Ferrell. "You're Welcome America" is a lot like Mr. Ferrell's more middling movies, not quite on a level with "Blades of Glory" or "Talladega Nights." Sometimes it's really funny, and sometimes it sort of sags. I laughed, I yawned."