In a review for AllMusic, John Bush wrote: "Broadway fans could understandably fear that O'Day and May would pulverize the waltzing balladry of Rodgers as well as Hart's intricate wordplay. They should have realized that, like the breakneck yet technically perfect performances of bop originators Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, O'Day would miss no subtleties -- and would probably add some of her own -- while she graced these energized versions of American pop classics."[1]
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings remarked that the album "starts on a wild high... and just goes on from there." They commented: "O'Day is a natch for Hart's clever lyrics and multiple rhymes and there isn't a poor track on it."[2]
Marc Myers, writing for All About Jazz, called the album a "gem," and stated that it "intermingles ferocious band arrangements and tender string charts on some of the American Songbook's most novel tunes. In nearly every case, O'Day's interpretation is bursting with peppery swing and cool seduction... every track on Rodgers and Hart is an stunning knockout."[4]
