The reviews are in for We’ll See, the newest Apple family play from Richard Nelson, who wrote and directed it. It opened at The Public Theater’s Barbaralee Theater on Tuesday, November 3, the night of the midterm elections and the night on which it is set, with Maryann Plunkett, Jay O. Sanders, Laila Robins and Sally Murphy back around the Rhinebeck dinner table as the four Apple siblings and Yvonne Woods joining them as Richard’s partner. Critics who have followed the family since 2010 call it a welcome reunion with a peerless ensemble; those who come to it fresh, or want more drama from it, find the evening low on stakes.
The verdict: seven reviews in from six outlets, three of them scored: five stars from Melissa Rose Bernardo and four from her New York Stage Review colleague Frank Scheck and from Culture Sauce. The Apple family’s longtime admirers welcome the reunion and praise an ensemble that has lived in these roles for 16 years, while Vulture and New York Theatre Guide find the evening contrived or short on stakes. Nearly everyone singles out Maryann Plunkett, and the story of Barbara’s forced retirement from teaching.
What are critics saying about We’ll See?
Vulture
"The Apple Family Awaits the Big Blue Wave in We’ll See"
Reviewer: Sara Holdren
Holdren, meeting the Apples for the first time, writes the morning after the results came in and admits the good news colors her mood. On reflection, though, she finds the dialogue oddly over-performed, with characters politely setting each other up for the next story.
"I recall an uneven theatrical experience, oddly strained despite its intentionally and meticulously constructed verisimilitude."
The exception, for her, is Maryann Plunkett’s account of the classroom incident that ends Barbara’s teaching career, which she counts among the best stretches of the evening.
TheaterMania
"Richard Nelson’s Apple Family Confront the End of History in We’ll See"
Reviewer: David Gordon
Gordon allows that this installment lacks the urgency of some earlier ones and sometimes meanders, but finds it a moving portrait of people watching the world they knew slip away.
"…taken as a whole cycle, it really is the American epic that Eustis once dreamed of."
He calls the acting phenomenally natural, says Plunkett knocks it out of the park, and was especially taken with Sally Murphy’s adrift Jane.
New York Stage Review
"Sitting Down to Dinner, Once Again, With Our Beloved Apple Family"
Reviewer: Melissa Rose Bernardo · 5 out of 5
Bernardo, who has followed the Apples for 16 years, calls the play beautifully naturalistic and treats the evening as a much-needed respite from midterm anxiety.
"…happily, our affection for them, and the incomparable cast, has not waned."
She singles out Yvonne Woods’s Yvonne, the outsider at the table, for putting into words why a theater can feel like the healthiest place to be in hard times.
Read Melissa Rose Bernardo’s full review at New York Stage Review
New York Stage Review
"Sweating Election Night with the Apples"
Reviewer: Frank Scheck · 4 out of 5
Scheck, filing separately for the same outlet, knows exactly what to expect from the series by now: quiet, thoughtful talk about family and politics, delivered so softly that headsets are on offer.
"Truth be told, I would rather spend an election evening with the Apple family than my own."
He enjoys Richard’s run-ins with Andrew Cuomo in Paris and Jane’s announcement that she did not vote, and notes how watching the characters age has become its own reminder of passing time.
Culture Sauce
"We’ll See revisits the Apple family amid the ongoing MAGA migraine"
Reviewer: Thom Geier · 4 out of 5
Geier says there is not much plot, more a catch-up with clever old friends, but credits Nelson with capturing how relatives tease, interrupt and talk over each other, helped by a cast with years in these roles.
"…some of it is fascinating, while other tales could use tightening (or excision)."
He calls Plunkett magnificent and concludes that simply gathering, at a table or in a theater, may be the best answer to despair.
New York Theater
"Election Night back with the Apple Family"
Reviewer: Jonathan Mandell
Mandell, who found some earlier Rhinebeck plays formulaic and once faulted Nelson for barely mentioning Trump, says the ensemble remains the series’ great strength.
"Ten years later, all is forgiven, and “We’ll See” felt like a welcome reunion."
He notes that the unnamed president is never far from the family’s thoughts even though, by agreement, nobody says his name.
New York Theatre Guide
"the Apple family returns for the midterms"
Reviewer: Amelia Merrill
Merrill calls the chance to watch actors age alongside their characters for over 15 years a worthwhile experiment in itself, but finds the stakes surprisingly low and the political talk ungrounded.
"Characters talking about politics does not political theatre make."
Barbara’s classroom outburst is, for her, the most engaging story of the night; the feel-good anecdotes around it do not add up to compelling drama.
Production photographs by Joan Marcus.
We published the first production photographs of We’ll See ahead of opening night. For more of what the New York critics have been saying this week, read our roundup for Rope at the Theater at St. Clement’s.
We’ll See runs at The Public Theater’s Barbaralee Theater, 425 Lafayette Street, through Sunday, November 29, 2026.
