Reception in the popular press was generally positive, with Simon Callow, of
The Guardian, finding the work very empathetic to the performers and non-moralising about the culture of the theatres. He was also complimentary regarding the book's treatment of women performers, with its sketches of
Jenny Hill,
Vesta Tilley and
Annie Hindle being singled out for praise. ''
The Independent's
William Cook found the book an "entertaining and intriguing potted history, full of quirky details". A review in The Telegraph praised the new perspective that Major brought to the subject, contending that "much [of] music hall history has a Left-wing inflection". Literary theorist, critic Terry Eagleton, writing for the London Review of Books'', thought the work a "learned, affectionate narrative [which was] done very well indeed", commending the amount of research which underpinned it, while noting the lack of references. On the other hand, academic opinion was more critical. A review in the
Journal of Victorian Culture, by social and cultural historian of modern Britain Peter Bailey, found the book mainly retrod very well covered ground, in terms of the history of the music hall, and while a "very readable account for newcomers", its following of "blinkered orthodoxy of older accounts" and lack of references or a bibliography, left the book "innocent of any historiographical awareness". Similarly, Adam Ainsworth, in the
Theatre Notebook, felt that the most interesting parts of the book, the personal stories of Major's parents and recounting of the lives of successful lesser-known artists (which he thinks an understudied area), was largely overshadowed and subsumed by the "abundance of well-known detail". == References ==