Lempicka has officially moved into its Broadway home at the Longacre Theatre, and the press was there to capture the festivities. The show's cast gathered on March 15 to welcome the press by performing some songs from the new musical, with full costume and staging. See three songs from the show in the video above.
Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer's Lempicka, directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin, follows the true story of Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka, a young aristocrat-turned-artist who flees with her husband from the turmoil of the Russian Revolution for exile in Paris. Once there, Tamara meets her new muse, Rafaela, and claws her way to success. The book, lyrics, and original concept are by Kreitzer, with Gould co-writing the book and penning the music.
Eden Espinosa leads the cast as Tamara de Lempicka. Amber Iman plays Rafaela, Beth Leavel plays the Baroness, Andrew Samonsky plays Tadeusz Lempicki, and George Abud plays Marinetti.
In the video, Samonsky and Espinosa perform "Starting Over"—which their characters sing as they try to create a new life in Paris. Iman sings "Stay," a ballad from Rafaela to Tamara. Abud performs "Perfection"—a song celebrating the rise of Futurism, an art and social movement that focused on technology and speed, and dismissed the classic styles of the past.
READ: Amber Iman on Readying Lempicka While Advocating for Black Women on Broadway
The cast also includes Natalie Joy Johnson as Suzy Solidor, Zoe Glick as Kizette, and Nathaniel Stampley as the Baron. The ensemble contains Mariand Torres, Alex Aquilino, Lauren Blackman, Stephen Brower, Kyle Brown, Holli’ Conway, Abby Matsusaka, Jimin Moon, Khori Michelle Petinaud, Ximone Rose, Nicholas Ward, Veronica Fiaoni, Michael Milkanin, Mary Page Nance, and Julio Rey.
Raja Feather Kelly is choreographing. The production will feature scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, costume design by Paloma Young, lighting design by Bradley King, sound design by Peter Hylenski and Justin Stasiw, projection design by Peter Nigrini, hair and wig design by Leah Loukas, music supervision by Remy Kurs, music direction by Charity Wicks, orchestrations by Cian McCarthy, and casting by The Telsey Office. Peter Duchan is serving as creative consultant, and Cody Renard Richard will be production stage manager.
READ: Eden Espinosa Has Been Waiting a Long Time for a Role Like Lempicka
The musical has played two earlier runs, in 2019 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and in 2022 at La Jolla Playhouse. Espinosa starred in both earlier productions, both also directed by Chavkin. The work was also developed at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's Festival of New Musicals in 2016.
Seaview and Jenny Niederhoffer are producing, with Wagner Johnson Productions serving as executive producers.
Visit LempickaMusical.com.
