"AP review "not good"? Are you kidding me? That review is positively BRIMMING with great pull quotes:
"A celebration of imagination!"
"Pleasing spectacle!"
The cast is "first rate"!
"Absolutely thrilling!"
"Pure understated brilliance!"
"The music and lyrics....lean on soaring pop melodies and lilting Irish folk."
Kelsey Grammer is a "glorious scene-stealer!"
"Choreographer Mia Michaels' work here is exciting."
You can't BUY a review like that."
You seem to be confusing the actual review with the pull quotes. A review can be mixed or negative and still have a few pull quotes, that doesn't make it a good review. And while the team behind this show can certainly get some leverage something, I'm sure they would have preferred an actual positive review.
I am a firm believer in serendipity- all the random pieces coming together in one wonderful moment, when suddenly you see what their purpose was all along.