Apologia NYC Reviews and Tickets

76%
(228 Ratings)
Positive
78%
Mixed
19%
Negative
3%
Members say
Great acting, Absorbing, Intelligent, Thought-provoking, Intense

About the Show

Direct from London, this new, biting play makes its New York debut with Stockard Channing as a woman facing the repercussions of her past.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (228)

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72 Reviews | 15 Followers
100
Absorbing, Masterful, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if you want to see the personal sacrifice(s) given for public change.

Don't see it if you don't like the dynamic between mother and her sons.

53 Reviews | 3 Followers
100
Great acting, Clever, Delightful, Enchanting, Absorbing

See it if You enjoy mother son relationship stories told by great actors

Don't see it if family dramas bore you

494 Reviews | 123 Followers
95
Masterful, Dark, Intelligent

See it if you enjoy smart, rich, meaty, relevant plays with interesting characters, outstanding lead performance by Ms. Channing and great direction

Don't see it if you're tired of those family plays where parents are confronted by their children with the tough life choices they were forced to make

137 Reviews | 10 Followers
95
Great acting, Riveting, Resonant, Intelligent, Absorbing

See it if you enjoy great acting and a play that beautifully meshes the personal and the political in complex ways.

Don't see it if you like plays with tidy emotions or in which the characters have to be likable. Read more

60 Reviews | 8 Followers
95
Great acting, Great staging, Great writing, Masterful, Profound

See it if It's a complete artistic vision with great staging and acting and the lighting and set are exquisite. Great characters with great lines.

Don't see it if It's not an action oriented show with a strong plot.

57 Reviews | 3 Followers
94
Absorbing, Clever, Great acting, Intelligent, Thought-provoking

See it if if you like drama. excellent theatre. Top acting performances (Stockard Channing! Dancy!). Family emotional drama. if you're a single mom

Don't see it if if an annoying American character will bother you. if you like slick gimmickry. This is sharp, biting, poignant timely drama.

159 Reviews | 20 Followers
94
Great acting, Great staging, Intense

See it if you are enjoy intense family drama, acted by extremely talented actors.

Don't see it if you do not like conflict or snide remarks.

570 Reviews | 87 Followers
93
Brilliant, Absorbing, Great acting, Great writing, Thought-provoking

See it if you like great acting in a play that has something to say about relationships,sacrifices,choices, forgiveness.I LOVE this show.Don't miss it

Don't see it if you want a silly farce or a light hearted musical.This will make you think and feel and reflect--and that's what theatre is all about. GO!

Critic Reviews (29)

The New York Times
October 16th, 2018

“Ms. Channing's performance in 'Apologia'...goes some distance in disguising the labored exposition of a work that never quite achieves a natural flow or moves you as much as it should...The layers of Channing’s interpretation, with its core of lacerating anguish, are more intriguing than the plot that builds to an anticlimactic reveal...The dialogue only rarely feels organic...But it is Ms. Channing’s complex, contradictory Kristin who keeps us thinking long after the play is over”
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Time Out New York
October 17th, 2018

"Channing manages to make a compellingly conflicted figure, but the play doesn’t give her a lot to work with. It creaks with contrivances and clunky, expositional dialogue...Aukin doesn’t seem to know how to handle the play’s schlock factor...The play means to examine the costs paid by women who open their own doors...But it’s not grounded deeply enough in reality to tell us much about those women—except to remind us of the pleasure we still seem to take in making them cry.”
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New York Magazine / Vulture
October 16th, 2018

“With plays like ‘Apologia’, the temptation is to get into the weeds, enumerating every little thing about them that feels inauthentic, manipulative, half-baked, or clichéd — when in fact all those things are just cracks in the plaster. The thing is foundationally unsound. Its very premise betrays a kind of smug cluelessness. It’s less a drama of ideas than it is a collection of cheap, self-satisfied notions, in which several talented actors are being asked to invest their time."
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Deadline
October 16th, 2018

“'Apologia' could use some bolstering...Channing is a fascination, even when she seems a bit out of step with the production’s staccato rhythms. Dancy plays identical blood relations...and gets away with it as much as anyone can in the gimmicky situation. If the doublemint ruse in ‘Apologia’ feels less than satisfying, it’s perhaps to do with a dinner party where one serving of mom-blame would have been plenty. Two feels a bit of a gorge.”
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The Hollywood Reporter
October 16th, 2018

“Aukin has put together an elegant production with a uniformly fine cast, and the writing is laced with poignant Chekhovian shadings. But thematically, we've been down this road many times before, with more penetrating insights...Miller is a juicy role for the inimitably acerbic Channing. Or she would be if the complex character hadn't been shortchanged by the playwright...The writing makes it tough to care about her...This 10-year-old play still needs work.”
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The Observer
October 17th, 2018

“Dominated by Channing’s tremendous energy and well-acted by a gifted supporting cast, but directed with a somewhat uneasy focus...the play is ultimately about a woman with ideas, opinions and insights who established her independence before it was fashionable—and the high personal price she paid for doing so. The toll celebrity has taken on Kristin, who chose success in a male-dominated society over the needs of her own children, has a relevance today that stings.”
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Theatermania
October 16th, 2018

“Channing gives a powerful performance...Unfortunately, ‘Apologia’ doesn't reveal enough of its characters' lives for us to be invested...Aukin tries to ignite Campbell's sometimes stilted dialogue...but the action never really gets above a smolder...In the end, ‘Apologia’ has some tasty morsels to offer about the need to forgive ourselves rather than coming up with arguments to justify our shortcomings, but the play never gets warm enough to cook up a satisfying meal.”
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Lighting & Sound America
October 24th, 2018

“The disastrous first-act meal scene is slickly written; the dialogue is loaded with amusing barbs...But there's something a little calculated and mechanical about it, a sense that a series of opposing temperaments have been pitted too obviously against...But the cast, under Aukin's brisk, often acute direction, offers solid support...’Apologia’ sometimes seems assembled -- admittedly cleverly -- out of a kit of devices, but Kristin, especially in Channing's hands, is the real thing.”
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