CHINESE REPUBLICANS

[Merkin2]

Posted: 2/5/26 at 1:40pm

February 5 - April 5 

Laura Pels Theatre

Chinese Republicans is a biting new satirical drama from Alex Lin, directed by Chay Yew. 

Three high-powered businesswomen meet for lunch every month to discuss their latest career triumphs. But the group is jolted when Katie, a bright-eyed 24-year-old new to the workforce, joins to navigate the world of corporate finance. As each of the women attempts to steer Katie towards what they’re certain is best, they’re forced to grapple with how much they already have and are willing to sacrifice to climb the corporate ladder.  

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 2/7/26 at 12:48pm

Anyone see it yet?

[Melissa25]

Posted: 2/14/26 at 8:32am

I thoroughly enjoyed Chinese Republicans as I could relate as a woman who worked in Corporate America.  There were more than a few laughs but I found this to be more of a slice of life play where you get somewhat of a deep dive perspective from four different women. I found the differing perspectives very compelling to the story and really enjoyed spending time with them. 

All the performances were terrific but a special shout out to Jennifer Ikeda who morphs into this Gordon Gekkoesque leader who I was still rooting for at the end.  Her character (Ellen) has the widest character arc and I found her quite compelling.  

Jully Lee as Iris was very memorable playing below the radar so her work-visa would be renewed while all along having an acute eye on the cultural insults and daily misogynistic objectifications.  She has this terrific turn into a surreal game show host where she quizzes the others on culturally relevant questions. The projection design (Hana Kim) was really terrific especially during this scene. So much so that I feel I need to see it again. There was so much happening and my mind could not work that fast to keep up.  So that’s exciting.

I just adored Jodi Long as the elder of the group. I can honestly say that I wish I had her as my mentor.  A straight shooter who’s been around the block.  She was terrific at cracking wise but brought the heart as well.  

Anna Zevelson (Yes, I too am still impatiently waiting for her and Ruthie Ann’s Piazza to Bway revival!) was great as the young newbie who is taken under wing. We get to watch her growth and feel for her complicated choices that she is faced with.

Anyway, there was so much to talk about afterwards. My theater partner and I agreed that we must return so we got tickets to go back towards the end of the run late in March. Highly recommended.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 2/19/26 at 8:30am

Liked this overall, but definitely some things that didn’t hit the way I’d assumed it was intended. A lot of use of the word “ch**k” by the Chinese characters that were intended as humor and the audience was silent during. Some thoughtful points made and humorous moments, but the end left me cold. I believe it opens this week, so it’ll be interesting to hear reviews.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/21/26 at 10:39pm

this was bafflingly bad. i mean, truly one of the most amateur productions ive seen on a professional stage in NY.

the humor was cringe, and the very capable actresses were undermined by a truly mystifying story--both leads were impossible to identify with, let alone root for. One was a corporate monster who does objectively horrible things to her colleagues and the other is caricature of an ignorant progressive from a Republican Congressman's fantasy diary. just wild.

Jodi Long fared the best, but its hard to fault any of the performers. There is a fifth character that has an insulting 6 lines and  whom I cannot believe did not get edited out in development. 

im not chinese and im definitely not a republican so maybe im just not the right audience but thought this was a disaster.

[Dreamboy3]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 10:03am

PipingHotPiccolo said: "this was bafflingly bad. i mean, truly one of the most amateur productions ive seen on a professional stage in NY.

the humor was cringe, and the very capable actresses were undermined by a truly mystifying story--both leads were impossible to identify with, let alone root for. One was a corporate monster who does objectively horrible things to her colleagues and the other is caricature of an ignorant progressive from a Republican Congressman's fantasy diary. just wild.

Jodi Long fared the best, but its hard to fault any of the performers. There is a fifth character that has an insulting 6 lines and whom I cannot believe did not get edited out in development.

im not chinese and im definitely not a republican so maybe im just not the right audience but thought this was a disaster."

I completely agree. This play had no idea what it wanted to be. Hackneyed dialog and inauthentic characters. A complete misunderstanding of American History. The fact that these women are Republicans seems beside the point. 

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 10:51am

the Republicanism is never even explained or explored! The Phyllis character is a harsh, classic Republican in the Reagan style, and we get that, but everyone else-- their politics isnt explored AT ALL until the young one turns into a union organizing progressive because....she didnt get a promotion she wanted? Im laughing trying to articulate it now.

The show seems premised on the idea that everyone working at big I-banks are Republicans bec they are rich--this is just false--but it doesnt even explore the subject. Really shocked this made it to Roundabout.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 1:41pm

PipingHotPiccolo said: "the Republicanism is never even explained or explored! The Phyllis character is a harsh, classic Republican in the Reagan style, and we get that, but everyone else-- their politics isnt explored AT ALL until the young one turns into a union organizing progressive because....she didnt get a promotion she wanted? Im laughing trying to articulate it now.

The show seems premised on the idea that everyone working at big I-banks are Republicans bec they are rich--this is just false--but it doesnt even explore the subject. Really shocked this made it to Roundabout."

I thought the idea was that they’re republicans bc they’re from a conservative, traditional culture. One of the women was born in China. It makes sense that the two younger ones (and obviously the youngest more specifically who is half white and half Chinese) are independent/liberal because they’re more western. The character born in China even tells one of the others who was born in America that she’s not really Chinese and challenges her to name two provinces. Seems like there was a judgment of both the liberal western ways and the conservative Chinese ways.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 2:01pm

I've not seen this, but are we sure that the "Republicans" of the title is referring only to the American political party? China is formerly known as the People's Republic of China and "republican" just means somebody who believes in representational government. 

[mar6411]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 3:10pm

I saw this on Wednesday and for the most part agree with Melissa25's comments.  I too could relate to the characters. The only place where is was off for me was when the young newbie went off the rails with the union storyline.  

I don't think the Republicanism needs explained at all and I don't think it's about the politics at all. I definitely didn't think the show was premised on the idea that everyone working at big banks are Republicans because they are rich.  Nor did I expect them to explore the subjects.

I'm not Chinese or Republican but to me that had nothing to do with how I related to them, what they were saying and their experiences.  

Everyone experiences theater differently.  That's what makes it fascinating.

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 6:02pm

We saw this recently and found it very mid. Not sure what the point was.  Don't work too hard or be too republican?

Jully Lee was our MVP with Jodi Long right behind her.  Anna Zavelson was quite questionable.  While very cute and fitting the role physically well (with exception of mentioned being "tall" by another) -- she came off very stereotypical, bland and the choices were very basic.  Yes, her writing was not great but she also did very little with it.  (and we adored her in Piazza).  Maybe she's best suited in musicals with less acting. Jennifer Ikeda, in the leading role, also always was acting.  The performance never felt real or had much of an interesting journey.  One note.  Writing and performance.  She got to f*ck a lot.

More odd was Wilson Chin's set design.  It appeared he almost directly copied the Alexander Dodge Archduke design with some new paint and furniture.

Was enjoying the first 20 minutes but faded into bland, tiring and obvious.

Updated On: 2/22/26 at 06:02 PM

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 2/22/26 at 9:37pm

Kad said: "I've not seen this, but are we sure that the "Republicans" of the title is referring only to the American political party? China is formerly known as the People's Republic of China and "republican" just means somebody who believes in representational government."

Kad, a nice thought but nope. The characters explicitly discuss politics, they describe abortion as murder, they praise the Chinese-born character as having "come over the right way"---they laud Reagan. They are identifiable Republicans and YES i think theres a point to be made about how first generation immigrants of all communities often lean right, but they dont go there in any meaningful way.

Zevelson's character, by the way, goes along with all of this  FoxNews chatter until she doesnt get a promotion, stumbles onto Howard Zinn in a bookstore, and shows up at work trying to unionize her fellow investment bankers. And it isnt played for laughs, thats a serious plot point as she screams with a megaphone outside the investment bank.