LEMPICKA Previews- Page 6

[hache2]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 11:13am

Saw the show last night. My significant other went to the first preview last week. We both thought the show was quite good - definitely needs some work but it seems to be heading in the right direction based on the changes from last week to this week. Changed the opening, closing, more projections of her art correlating with the story, tighter scene transitions. They also seem to have pared back some of the over-the-top tech (got rid of the distracting lyrics during "Perfection"...good change). They have almost 3 weeks before opening to keep working it and hopefully they keep this trajectory. Overall we both very much liked the show and have tickets to go back at the end of April after it opens. 

[hache2]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 1:05pm

Updated On: 3/27/24 at 01:05 PM

[Auggie27]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 1:26pm

"The musical commits the #1 cardinal sin- it doesn’t know what it’s about or what the lead character wants. How has no one involved never noticed this?"

Two friends who went late last week said almost the exact same words. And they're not folks who hang crepe or disparage work with facile cynicism. They were baffled by the missing thesis in the show's DNA. The fact that an audience can't find its purpose may be an underlying foundational issue that's driving the thread here. A friend says it hasn't been constructed with a sense of guiding us toward a universal experience of an idea, or even a good story's take-away. They weren't looking for "Children and Art," to tether this show's ambitions to those of a classic about an artist. Just for a reason why this life is worth our time beyond our appreciation of the paintings. And they love her art. 

  

[Kad]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 1:38pm

This doesn’t sound like a show that can be fixed in previews. They’ve had two productions, several workshops, and many years at this point. 

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 2:18pm

Kad said: "This doesn’t sound like a show that can be fixed in previews. They’ve had two productions, several workshops, and many years at this point."

Exactly this. The show’s issues are deeper than another 3 weeks of putting the show in front of an audience. Maybe they’ll add or subtract more music or book scenes, they’ll tighten transitions, modify costumes and scenic elements, and generally brush up the cosmetic appearance. But it won’t solve the problem that there’s no reason to tell this story, with this score, with this choreography and design, with this cast, with this director. It’s all so wrong.

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 2:25pm

Mitch101 said: "Does anyone remember the musical version of “Metropolis” with Judy Kuhn? The bombastic new musical at the Longacre has more in common with it than might seem obvious.

Machines over people, as a theme.

Art Deco design (or is itfuturist?)

Synthetic 80’s pop music with deafening electronic orchestrations.

A leading lady not quite able to carry the show.

An inept script that makes it very difficult for the audience to care about anyone or anything.

Let me cut to the chase… Lempicka is sadly a failure of epic proportions. Much like Metropolis was.
What can be said is Amber Iman is astonishing with a terrible costume and inane lyrics.

Eden sings flat about 50% of the time.
Andrew sings the heck out his songs, and when he and Amber ever sing with Eden, Eden’s pitch problems are only more pronounced.
The less said about the set, the better. Once again, projections are used as short hand to carry us through this Wikipedia musical of Tamara’s entire life.
After a very chic and cool 30 second overture, we are dumped right into the banal present with an aged Tamara telling us how awful America is, how awful Holkywood is…what any of this has to do with the story we then see is anyone’s guess. The sheer ineptitude of the book after 15 years of development is baffling. It is clearly in service of historical fact and not emotional truth. There is about 20 minutes in Act Two when I found myself wondering “Has anyone been paying attention? Now this is interesting!” It’s right around when Amber sings “Stay” and ends around the time of the big musical argument sequence between the leads. As soon as Beth Leavel appears, well, we’re back to inept storytelling.

I was never bored. If you’re going to miss, miss big. Chavkin does everything she can to distract us. She swings big. She misses big.
The musical commits the #1 cardinal sin- it doesn’t know what it’s about or what the leadcharacter wants.
How has no one involved never noticed this?

The stage manager makes a short speech before the show. I suggest the authors listen to what he says and how the audience reacts. You have everything you need right there.
And for Gods sake… write an ending!!!"

Hey!  I love the cast album to "Metropolis".  Okay, it's got some really bad lyrics. But it's full of melody (not to mention the Kuhnster!) and though I never actually saw it and I'm sure the show was bad, I still sing some of those songs (which is sorta icky since the writer was such an evil predator...)

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 2:26pm

An honorable mention to the cast, because if there’s as many changes being fruitlessly made as it sounds, they’ll be working hard mentally and physically any time they’re not asleep. 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 2:40pm

Looking at the La Jolla Playhouse production, the design/direction is essentially the same sort of art deco style. So, maybe they all think it works? I mean Hadestown changed a ton through it's development. But that score/story is far stronger it seems.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/27/24 at 11:44pm

Oh my God. They have ads out with a photo of Eden and the quote

"Eden Espinosa is best known to gay men across the country as one of the best Elphabas of all time”. 

 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:03am

[Rudy2]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:04am

Jordan Catalano said: "Oh my God. They have ads out with a photo of Eden and the quote

"Eden Espinosa is best known to gay menacross the country as one of the best Elphabas of all time”.

"

I must say that when I saw this my stomach churned, and I love Eden. 

It’s hard to imagine this ad selling more than one block’s worth of tickets to a single performance, which makes me think they must already be on tenterhooks. 

[Cape Twirl of Doom]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:21am

Oh my.

That looks like a pharmaceutical ad for a new drug.

“Talk to your doctor to see if Lempicka is right for you.”

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:29am

The 4 gay men in front of us couldn't stop talking about End or the fact that the Madonna tour was extended beyond what was listed on her website.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:32am

It's just a social post, people.

SUFFS has far sillier social content up now.

[uncageg]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:34am

Updated On: 3/28/24 at 12:34 AM

[BentleyB]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:41am

uncageg said: "And I immediately noticed she is wearing green in the ad. Is this an actual ad for "LEMPICKA"?"

Maybe it’s for Limpdicka. 

[hayden6]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:50am

I went in blind (just excited because of Eden & Beth Leavel) and I absolutely ate this show up. I loved the music and the orchestrations, very unique for a Broadway production. Lyrically strong too. I loved everything they did with the set and the projections. Some really, really cool costumes (especially Eden's) and great choreography. And the performances! Eden was stellar, Amber brought the house down every time she sang, Andrew Samonsky's voice is gorgeous, George Abud brought a lot to his character, Natalie Joy Johnson was a blast, and just when I started to think they'd wasted Beth, "Just This Way" had me in tears. I can't wait to go back.

That being said, I can understand a lot of the criticism here around the book/perspective. The relationships between the characters (and how they felt about each other) were not always clear -- her daughter's resentment came out of nowhere, Rafaela went from an infatuation to one of her "great loves" really quickly, and I did not at all see The Baron & Baroness becoming important characters until "Just This Way." All that being said, I would not trade any of the musical numbers for more context. I loved living in the characters' world for the duration of the show and I hope it will find an audience.

[hayden6]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:54am

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "It's just a social post, people.

SUFFS has far sillier social content up now."

Right. As a gay man (who doesn't have a stick up his ass), I found it funny in the silly way it's meant.

[hache2]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 11:24am

hayden6 said: "I went in blind (just excited because ofEden & Beth Leavel) and I absolutely ate this show up. I loved the music andthe orchestrations, very unique for a Broadway production. Lyrically strong too. I loved everything they did with the set and the projections. Some really, really coolcostumes (especially Eden's) and greatchoreography. And the performances! Eden wasstellar, Amber brought the house down every time she sang, Andrew Samonsky's voice is gorgeous, George Abud brought a lot to his character, Natalie Joy Johnson was a blast, andjustwhen I started to think they'd wasted Beth, "Just This Way" had me in tears. I can't wait to go back.

That being said, I can understand a lot of the criticism here around the book/perspective. The relationships between the characters (and how they felt about each other) were not always clear -- her daughter's resentment came out of nowhere, Rafaela went from an infatuation to one of her "great loves" really quickly, and I did notat allsee The Baron & Baroness becoming important characters until "Just This Way."All that being said, I would not trade any of the musical numbers for more context. I loved living in the characters' world for the duration of the show and I hope it will find an audience."

Well said. Apparently the La Jolla production was over 3 hours so they are probably trying to find their "sweet spot" in terms of character arcs, development etc while keeping the show shorter. I see some very nice songs online from Williamstown and La Jolla that didn't make it to Broadway (such as the daughter lamenting her mom's lack of attention) that likely give more context.  Overall I very much enjoyed the show (the musical numbers are excellent!) and look forward to going back after opening.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 11:38am

hayden6 said: "ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "It's just a social post, people.

SUFFS has far sillier social content up now."

Right. As a gay man (who doesn't have a stick up his ass), I found it funny in the silly way it's meant."

As a gay man, I absolutely find it supremely silly. That’s far from the problem with this one social media post. The problem is why is this the tone they’re taking in their marketing? We’ve pivoted from mysterious perfume ad aesthetics, to full out 80s power ballad music video, to “here’s exactly what the show looks like in clips,” and now to tongue-in-cheek queerbaiting. It’s so strange.

[BJR]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 11:43am

ColorTheHours048 said: "hayden6 said: "As a gay man, I absolutely find it supremely silly. That’s far from the problem with this one social media post. The problem is whyisthisthe tone they’re taking in their marketing? We’ve pivoted from mysterious perfume ad aesthetics, to full out 80s power ballad music video, to “here’s exactly what the show looks like in clips,” and now totongue-in-cheek queerbaiting. It’s so strange."

Exactly that. The post is silly - and true - but this campaign seems to not know what the messaging is.

[jagman106]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 11:53am

Jordan Catalano said: "Oh my God. They have ads out with a photo Tof Eden and the quote

"Eden Espinosa is best known to gay menacross the country as one of the best Elphabas of all time”.

"

That's such an odd ad regardless of where it appears that I don't even know what to make of it.. I find it off-putting. I'm not sure how effective it is/will be attracting a certain demographic. For this gay man, Eden is best known as the woman who screamed her way through "Brooklyn."  I have tickets for mid-April and this is one show I was most looking forward to seeing. I'm not so sure now. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:07pm

Sounds like the marketing team is following the same MO as the production - throw whatever at the wall and see what sticks.

[MsPiety&Rectitude]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:11pm

ColorTheHours048 said: "Kad said: "This doesn’t sound like a show that can be fixed in previews. They’ve had two productions, several workshops, and many years at this point."

Exactly this. The show’s issues are deeper than another 3 weeks of putting the show in front of an audience. Maybe they’ll add or subtract more music or book scenes, they’ll tighten transitions, modify costumes and scenic elements, and generally brush up the cosmetic appearance. But it won’t solve the problem that there’s no reason to tell this story, with this score, with this choreography and design, with this cast, with this director. It’s all so wrong."

Wow, you are really dedicated to criticizing this show! I think this is your fifth or sixth post telling us how much you dislike it. I know March can be a dull time of year, hang in there xx

[Kad]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:14pm

It’s an appeal to camp value for a show that has until now presented itself and has been marketed as a serious musical, which is not really a great sign. 
 

For this gay man, and many of my friends, the ad was an eyeroll.