Verbal criticism of the show (5)
I believe the answer is:
revue
'the show' is the definition.
(revue is a kind of show)
'verbal criticism' is the wordplay.
'verbal' shows a homophone (sound like).
'criticism' becomes 'review' (I've seen this before).
'review' sounds like 'REVUE'.
'of' is the link.
(Other definitions for revue that I've seen before include "Show of sketches, songs, etc" , "Evening of songs and sketches" , "(Of butter) tasting off" , "Light stage work" , "Stage show" .)