CHINESE REPUBLICANS

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.

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.

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.

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'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.

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

I enjoyed it very much. As always at Roundabout, a professional set design, whether it was the restaurant, the office, etc. Very talented cast with several Broadway veterans. A cautionary fable of what can happen if someone tries to get ahead at all costs. The character we last see on stage had so much happen to herself, family and coworkers because of the decisions she made. A crisp tightly edited 95 minutes.

Updated On: 2/25/26 at 11:23 PM

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