Chinese Republicans (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright Alex Lin’s satirical comedy takes aim at misogyny and racism in the corporate workplace—familiar targets, perhaps, but Lin’s characters give the material a distinctive twist. While some of the plot’s turns feel scattershot, the play builds to a conclusion that lands with genuine force.

Set in 2019, the story centers on four Chinese women who meet monthly for an affinity-group lunch at a Chinese restaurant. All work at the investment bank Friedman Wallace, and their gatherings function as a kind of support group where they compare notes on navigating a predominantly white, male corporate culture. Yet solidarity only goes so far: each woman is also keenly aware of her own ambitions and the compromises that advancement may require.

Ellen, played with steely composure by Jennifer Ikeda, is a managing director who has achieved considerable success but still finds herself stalled short of partnership. Her protégé, Katie—portrayed by Anna Zavelson, memorable to many from Light in the Piazza at Encores—is a 24-year-old wealth strategies research associate whose trajectory takes an unexpected turn when she abruptly pivots toward activism. Jodi Long brings authority to Phyllis, now 65, once Ellen’s mentor and the first Asian woman to become a managing director in New York, currently working as a consultant. Completing the quartet is Iris, played by Jully Lee, a lower-level employee in the firm’s software division—an immigrant still awaiting a green card.

All four performers acquit themselves well, capturing both the camaraderie and the underlying tensions within the group. There is also amusing support from Ben Langhorst as a knowingly campy waiter who briefly punctuates the action.

Lin structures the play with occasional flashbacks and dream sequences, devices that sometimes add texture. Despite the title, the “Republican” aspect of the play is not emphasized as heavily as one might expect; the drama’s focus remains more squarely on questions of identity, advancement, and belonging within elite corporate spaces.

Visually, the production is solid if not showy. Wilson Chin’s revolving set proves practical, with the red-hued restaurant environment emerging as the most striking element. Hana Kim supplies projections that help mark shifts in time and perspective. Under Chay Yew’s brisk direction, the evening rarely drags, even when some of Lin’s plot developments stretch credibility.

If “Chinese Republicans” doesn’t always fully cohere, its sharp observations about ambition, loyalty, and the costs of corporate success keep it engaging—and its final moments suggest a more resonant play just beneath the surface.

(Roundabout Theatre Company’s Laura Pels Theatre in the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, 111 West 46th Street; RoundaboutTheatre.org; through April 5)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Jodi Long (Phyllis/Young Phyllis), Jennifer Ikeda (Ellen/Ailin), Anna Zavelson (Katie) and Jully Lee (Iris)

Yellow Face (Roundabout Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

Playwright David Henry Hwang uses the firestorm he ignited back in 1991 over the casting of actor Jonathan Pryce in the London to Broadway transfer of “Miss Saigon” as the springboard for this autobiographical comedy/drama. (You may recall Pryce was to recreate his acclaimed role of a Eurasian brothel owner in Vietnam.) "Yellow Face" premiered at the Mark Taper Forum and came to the Public Theater in 2007.

 

But that episode is only the preamble for what follows. Hwang then turns to events surrounding his follow-up to his acclaimed “M. Butterfly.” The play was “Face Values” but it fizzled during previews in 1993, and closed before opening night. In Hwang’s amusing riff on the actual events, he mistakenly hires a white actor -- one Marcus Dahlman -- for the lead role believing the actor to be at least partly Asian, though, in fact, Marcus is quite obviously Caucasian. 

When DHH, as Hwang is called here, and winningly portrayed by Daniel Dae Kim, fully realizes his error, he sacks the guileless, good natured actor, likably played by Ryan Eggold. But Marcus has found he enjoys being part of the Asian-American community and all the affirming rhetoric that goes with it. He wholeheartedly embraces his new identity, much to DHH's annoyance. (One of the pleasures of the play is the self-deprecating portrait Hwang paints of his fictional self.)

All of these farcical elements are funny and thought-provoking. But matters take a decidedly more serious turn when, in he second half (unlike its earlier incarnations, played without an interval), DHH’s elderly father, a successful banker, falls under govenment scrutiny for his Far East National Bank dealings with China. His loyalty to the US is now questioned, a situation all the more ironic given his devotion to all things American and, you might say, his lifelong assumption of “white face.” HYH, as the father is called, is played most endearingly by Francis Jue who also takes on the sympathetic role of Wen Ho Lee, a nuclear scientist suspected of spying. 

As HYH, Jue touchingly avows a devotion to Jimmy Stewart, but the investigation crushes his spirit, and turns out to be a far cry from the “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” scenario he had envisioned.

When DHH -- who sits on his father’s board -- acquiesces to an interview with a pointedly unnamed "New York Times" reporter (outstandingly played by Greg Keller) investigating the banking story, it becomes clear that the reporter expects him to rat on his father. The scene between DHH and the reporter is arguably the best in the play.

The earlier parts of the play have rather a facile feel, and the brief appearances of such bold faced names as Cameron Mackintosh, Jane Krakowski, Bernard Jacobs, Frank Rich, and Michael Riedel and the like struck me as more than a little patronizing but admittedly give us a breezy recap of those once headline-grabbing events. 

Actors Kevin Del Aguila, Marinda Anderson, and Shannon Tyo, all excellent, briefly take on those high profile personas, as well as all the other characters who populate the narrative, blithely crossing racial boundaries as they do so, appropriate for a play grappling with the complexities of race.

This revival, apparently trimmed by half an hour from the original, is smartly directed by Leigh Silverman who helmed the premiere productions as well, and is decked out with fine production elements including Arnulfo Maldonado’s versatile set, Yee Eun Nam’s often witty projections, Anita Yavich’s period costumes, Lap Chi Chu’s apt lighting, and Caroline Eng and Kate Marvin’s exemplary sound design and music. 

Though it’s been 17 years since the original production, sadly, the themes of the play remain all too relevant.

(Todd Haimes Theatre, 227 West 42nd Street; roundabouttheatre.org; through November 24)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Ryan Eggold, Marinda Anderson, Daniel Dae Kim, Kevin Del Aguila