War Paint, the new Broadway musical starring Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole as cosmetics giants Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden, gave Playbill rare backstage access to capture what it’s like to be a Broadway stage manager.

Playbill follows War Paint production stage manager Tripp Phillips during a bustling matinee performance, as he calls lighting and deck cues for “Behind the Red Door,” which introduces Ebersole as Arden.

What the theatregoers see from the audience is only half the show. Watch the video below:

Directed by Michael Greif (Rent, Next to Normal, If/Then, Grey Gardens), War Paint reunites Scott Frankel and Michael Korie—the songwriting team of Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven—with Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright (Grey Gardens, I Am My Own Wife, The Little Mermaid).

War Paint, according to production notes, “tells the remarkable story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century. Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country’s first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry that would forever change the face of America. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their intense rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary—pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.”

The Nederlander Theatre is located at 208 West 41st Street.

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