Bette Midler's turn as talent agent Sue Mengers has been hailed as the most "lusciously entertaining performance of the Broadway season" by critics following the opening night of I'll Eat You Last.

The Hollywood veteran plays the real life starmaker, who died in 2011, in the new one-woman play by Skyfall screenwriter John Logan, which opened in New York on Wednesday night (24Apr13).

The run marks Midler's first Broadway appearance in more than 30 years, and she didn't disappoint when the curtain went up.

Charles Isherwood of the New York Times writes, "Ms. Midler... gives the most lusciously entertaining performance of the Broadway season... (She) cradles a spellbound audience in the palm of her hand from first joke to last toke (sic)."

New York Daily News reviewer Joe Dziemianowicz brands Midler's performance "delicious" and "devine" and praises her comic timing as "Rolex-precise", adding, "Midler is a riot".

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter calls the play "80 irresistible minutes of primo tinseltown dish from a certified master chef. A smorgasbord of quotable one-liners and delicious anecdotes", and Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post concludes the show is "wickedly entertaining".

One of Mengers' famous clients, Faye Dunaway, was in the audience for the show's opening night, along with Sting, music mogul David Geffen and actress Ellen Barkin.

I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers runs until the end of June (13).