Although Bent has received mixed reviews, it has attracted packed houses and serious acclaim because of its groundbreaking subject and emotional impact. A typical example of this response to Sherman’s masterwork is Walter Kerr’s review for the New York Times. Kerr reported that: ‘‘the open sound of dismay that washed across the auditorium on the night I saw Bent was one I have never quite heard before—belief, disbelief, shock and halfunderstanding all mixed together.’’ Kerr added that ‘‘dramatic blows do not often strike with this force.’’ Nonetheless, Kerr felt that Sherman was able to carry his ‘‘powerful sense of theatre’’ through only two-thirds of his ‘‘bizarre, bloody journey.’’ Kerr admitted, though, that the play ended with a ‘‘blistering climax.’’

A further example of a mixed review is Jack Kroll’s piece for Newsweek in which he commented: ‘‘It is a jolting, troubling, worrisome play that at times rises to real power and at times sideslips into special pleading and a coarsening of its own historical and moral imagination.’’ The Library Journal review of Bent says that Sherman’s message is more universal than historical, i.e., the Nazis simply represent the antagonistic society in which gays continue to experience prejudicial treatment. In addition, Sherman ‘‘has given us the homosexual hero as everyman. . . . He is a human being after all, a man, not a curiosity.’’ In other words, any one of us might have acted as Max did, given enough courage. The Library Journal review concludes that Bent is crafted ‘‘with illuminating economy’’ and is ‘‘a taut, highly charged (though not sensational) theater piece.’’

Liza Schwartzbaum, writing a review of the movie version of Bent in 1997 for Entertainment Weekly recalled that the stage version of the play was ‘‘brutal, effectively depressing’’ and groundbreaking. Other critics have commented on the predictable story line of the play and accused Sherman of crusading, overwriting, and getting maudlin. In fact, some critics felt that the script has enough weak spots to be reduced to melodrama if not handled carefully. Many critics used the word ‘‘power’’ in describing the play with adjectives such as visceral, raw, or crude. Most agreed that the play could hold an audience for two hours, even when they thought it started out slow. Finally, some critics thought the play was limp and that the action, though stunning, was not sustained if the Nazis were not around.

The groundbreaking aspect of Bent lies in its depiction of a homosexual experience during the Holocaust. Writing for the Journal of European Studies, Eric Sterling describes Bent as ‘‘one of the few gay plays to receive much critical attention and acclaim, partly because it has, to some extent, become analogous to contemporary gay struggles against oppression.’’ Alan Sinfield, author of Out on Stage: Lesbian and Gay Theatre in the Twentieth Century, a book about twentieth-century gay and lesbian theater, says that Sherman’s play ‘‘has proved a significant exploration of our part in a great historic oppression, and of the conditions that may promote and thwart gay love.’’ The 1995 Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review article by Raphael Lev also notes the historical importance of the play while otherwise finding fault with the play: ‘‘Bent’s greatest strength is shining a light on an unexplored region of the Holocaust Kingdom, but it is often one-dimensional, poorly written, dramatically unconvincing and even absurd.’’ The further opinion expressed in this article is that Bent portrays a distorted image of both the Holocaust and of gays, and that the play is more about sexual fantasy than gay pride or the nobility of human nature under horrific circumstances.

The bottom line for Bent seems to be that, no matter it faults, it is unique and powerful enough to be an unforgettable experience for the audience, and that no one comes away without having learned or experienced something new. The play, according to virtually all critics, is judged to be thought-provoking, emotional, disturbing, and a worthy tribute to the remarkable durability of the human spirit.