Eden Espinosa on Lempicka Troubles- Page 2

[dan94]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 1:40pm

She absolutely chose this for herself, but you noted in an earlier post she had some vocal problems in earlier runs of the show. It makes sense to me that if you know you've had some problems pop up, or have been made to feel insecure by the creative team over the course of development, you'd take the exact approach she did. Get the show opened and then broach the alt. Don't give them the easy out of discovering they like the alt more than you, and then get fired by opening night.

While there was certainly whining over Lempicka (which I actually liked a lot), I don't find this interview whiny. Just honest. They probably should have cast someone else in the part, but that's not Eden's fault. And the score, though often brilliant, is unsustainable for anyone. There needed to be modifications regardless of who was cast, and regardless of whether or not they had an alt.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 1:50pm

binau said: "Reddit Brutal take on Lempicka

"

Quite an accurate read of the situation, imo.

Between the curtain speeches and the disastrous New Yorker profile on Chavkin, it is clear that there was no competent force leading the production, and everyone's nerves were raw by the end of the process.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 2:11pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "binau said: "Reddit Brutal take on Lempicka

"

Quite an accurate read of the situation, imo.

Between the curtain speeches and the disastrous New Yorker profile on Chavkin, it is clear that there was no competent force leading theproduction, and everyone's nerves were raw by the end of the process."

It's got me thinking about Seaview's producing strengths and that this was their first original musical that they developed themselves if I'm not mistaken? Don't get me wrong they're BRILLIANT at reinvigorating past work and have filled a star-studded vacuum left behind when Rudin was exiled. I just think perhaps another lead producer with experience for developing a new musical may have been beneficial to the show. Because the thing had so much potential and I think that potential is what lead such stark disappointment from so many. It had a lot of people rooting for it at the beginning. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 2:21pm

Even our very best producers have had flops where the team cannot get on the same page.

They might have benefited from a different lead producer but unless that producer was going to fire a whole bunch of people (Kreitzer? Chavkin? Eden?) or lock the creatives in a room until the show was transcendent, it probably wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

Jenny Niederhoffer –– who had never lead-produced anything on Broadway, but here she was in the hot seat –– may have also been a problem.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 2:37pm

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Even our very best producers have had flops where the team cannot get on the same page.

They might have benefited from a different lead producer but unless that producer was going to fire a whole bunch of people (Kreitzer? Chavkin? Eden?) or lock the creativesin a room until the show was transcendent, it probably wouldn't have made a bit of difference.

Jenny Niederhoffer –– who hadnever lead-produced anythingon Broadway, but here she was in the hot seat–– may have also been a problem."

Kreitzer adn Chavkin have proven to be very strong personalities and from what we saw from both of them following the pans, their egos were clearly in the way of a fruitful collaboration. And I more meant a seasoned producer in addition to Seaview. Every producer has to have a first, of course! 

At the end of the day the production suffered from wanting to be too cool than the material and subject matter allowed. 

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 12:58am

FolliesCabaret said: "I don't say this at all to be snarky or shady, but it seems like any show she does, no matter the length of the run, she has vocal issues like this. There is a certain point where I have to stop and ask myself if the issue is the way a role is written, or the inherent stamina of the person performing it. I will always adore her, and liked her performance in Lempicka, but I think she should choose her projects more wisely if this is always going to be the outcome for her. Art should heal, not hurt."

Not only this, she's not the easiest to deal with. 

[FolliesCabaret]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 1:45am

I understand the role is very vocally difficult (a lot of roles on Broadway are!), but I don't understand why everyone is acting like it's six performances of Evita and Funny Girl all rolled up into one. Is it because that's what the narrative has been? The Tony campaign? It seems like among the comments online posted a bit above, a lot of people had issues with Eden's voice, particularly how she was placing it and how she as a performer was navigating the score. But a score should not sound hard. Ever!!! Especially on Broadway. Perhaps the reason so many people think this role is some unsingable behemoth (it's not) is because the only person associated with it struggled through it, publicly? It's really driving me bonkers. The role is hard, yes. It is also absolutely sustainable for a performer. Just maybe not this one. But I won't fault an actor for working.

[Voter]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 1:56am

Her singing was rough, yes. She clearly struggled. But her acting? Non existent. I'd have been a lot more forgiving of her vocals. I wish musical theatre actors could act and sing still, now it seems we settle for one or the other. 

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 2:07am

I saw Lempicka on April 12th and Eden was pitch perfect. She gave it everything she had. The show was quite terrible but she was thrilling.

[OhHiii]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 8:37am

Good for you. But after she was out for those few performances (was it post-opening or during previews?), her voice never recovered. I’ve never felt so unsettled by a performer’s vocal performance than I was during I Will Paint Her and Woman Is that day. And I’d seen her do the show with vocal perfection in Williamstown years prior, so it was a surprise. But I was physically uncomfortable during Woman Is on Broadway and was convinced her understudy would be announced as going on during intermission. No such luck. 
 

And fair or not (though this blaming her deteriorating performance on everyone but her own stamina), Eden has a reputation as someone else has mentioned. It’s a failure on her part that her management/representation didn’t advocate for a 6 or 7 show week. It’s not like she didn’t know the demands of the role when they were negotiating her Broadway terms. 

The other person I think shoulders a lot of blame here is Matt Gould. There was no reason for Tamara to be written that way for the ENTIRE show. It slapped of a Broadway belter fanboy writing songs solely for the pyrotechnics and not the journey of the songs. When listening to the recording and lyrics, there’s often no dramatic reason for Tamara to be singing as high and as forceful as they are written.

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 10:31am

quizking101 said: "Among my friends in different shows, especially new ones, they are finding collectively that creatives are in the business of getting too precious about their material and are encouraged to think bigger - forgetting that the devil is in the details and even the biggest show could be picked apart by middling book and score.

As a result, they end up creating for themselves and not listening to the people who are there to develop and bring the pages to life. There is no communication.

One of my friends in a current show out of town even mentioned that they’ve been shot down by creatives who balked when he mentioned the company did not feel ownership over their characters (supporting roles), all of whom are ethnic minorities, and that the development of said characters was pushed aside to focus on the main character and the near-savior complex he was given."

There is no time or money to really develop a show over months of different out-of-town tryouts, registering audience reactions from different parts of the country, dealing with and/or embracing critics from non-NY papers, letting night after night audiences help dictate the demands of the storytelling. One or two workshops and then a month of previews on Broadway, under the glare of Internet Theatre Influences (who are pretty horrible show doctors for the most part) is not conducive to a proper development  phase.

[Voter]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 10:34am

You say that, but this show has 2 high profile out of town tryouts, one many many years before it reached New York. I saw it at Williamstown, and while I didn't like it there either, it actually got worse on its way to Broadway.

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 10:41am

Voter said: "You say that, but this show has 2 high profile out of town tryouts, one many many years before it reached New York. I saw it at Williamstown, and while I didn't like it there either, it actually got worse on its way to Broadway."

Oh, I only heard about the Williamstown production. Anyway, what I meant was a string of cities with no real breaks in between as a creative, team completely immerses themselves in a show over a matter of months.  Maybe bringing in a show doctor if they can't figure it out for themselves.  This is how the Golden Age became the Golden Age.  But again, theatre is way too expensive to produce on Broadway, let alone lugging sets, costumes and actors from city to city. 

[Kad]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 10:47am

Not every new show is, or should be, A Chorus Line, where the original ensemble help mold their characters for themselves. Sometimes you are just an actor who is handed a script and you need to do your best to make that script work and sometimes you will be fortunate to have your opinion considered and taken.

That being said, Lempicka had a lot of development time, and Espinosa was part of it for the majority of that time. I find it rather unlikely that she had no collaborative contribution to the role being created over the course of something like 7 years. 

 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 10:58pm

blaxx said: "FolliesCabaret said: "I don't say this at all to be snarky or shady, but it seems like any show she does, no matter the length of the run, she has vocal issues like this. There is a certain point where I have to stop and ask myself if the issue is the way a role is written, or the inherent stamina of the person performing it. I will always adore her, and liked her performance in Lempicka, but I think she should choose her projects more wisely if this is always going to be the outcome for her. Art should heal, not hurt."

Not only this, she's not the easiest to deal with."

Specify?