Prior to the opening, Paulus, Parks and Murray made statements to the press about the production's primary goal being to "introduce the work to the next generation of theatergoers". They discussed changes to the opera's plot, dialogue and score that were being explored to make the work more appealing to a contemporary audience. In response, Stephen Sondheim wrote an editorial letter criticizing Paulus, McDonald and Park's "disdain" toward the work, and criticized the new title because it underplayed the contribution of Heyward. Critic Hilton Als countered in "The New Yorker" that Sondheim had very little exposure to black culture and that the Paulus version succeeded in "humanizing the depiction of race onstage."