["Rainbow"] is a brave little musical that makes up in enthusiasm what it lacks in originality. (p. 13)

One gets the feeling that the show was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek backlash at the social and political structure of our present day society, for it does, somewhat feebly, try to poke fun at everything from God, religion, homosexuality, and the generation gap, to the President of the United States and the war in Vietnam. This basically has been its undoing, for in trying to be all things to all men, it succeeds only in becoming cluttered, confused, and lacking in direction.

The music, too, lacks originality running the gamut from old-fashioned revival meetings and musical sounds of the Roaring Twenties, to today's rock and roll and soulful funk. (pp. 13-14)

"Rainbow" has been called, in some circles, the most likely successor to "Hair." However, with forgettable music and a mish-mash of a plot, its aspirations as "Hair's" successor seem doomed. (p. 14)

Radcliffe Joe, "'Rainbow' Casts Shadow," in Billboard (© copyright 1973 by Billboard Publications, Inc.), Vol. 85, No. 3, January 20, 1973, pp. 13-14.