LEMPICKA Reviews — Page 2

NYT: 

Review: It’s No Sunday in the Park With ‘Lempicka’

A musical about the groundbreaking Art Deco painter is vocally thrilling but historically a blur.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/theater/lempicka-review-chavkin-espinosa.html

"Because yes, another reason the show is a “monster” is that it’s a jolly big sing, with superior belting from several excellent practitioners of the craft. As Lempicka, Eden Espinosa blows thrillingly through nearly a dozen songs by Matt Gould (music) and Carson Kreitzer (lyrics). She has excellent company in Amber Iman as Lempicka’s lover Rafaela and Beth Leavel as a dying baroness who sits for a portrait. For good measure, Natalie Joy Johnson, as the cabaret star Suzy Solidor, contributes a barnburner to herald the opening of her lesbian hangout. Naturally the song is called “Women” — and it’s a nice change that a musical about them gives them pride of place.

But if there’s no denying the realness of the vocal power, and the sleekness of Rachel Chavkin’s staging on deconstructed Art Deco sets by Riccardo Hernández, the story (by Kreitzer and Gould) too often feels incredible in the wrong sense of the word. It’s not just that Marinetti (George Abud, excellent) is so weirdly central, or that Rafaela is a composite, or that in real life Solidor was a Nazi collaborator and Lempicka the baroness’s betrayer, not her portraitist. (Lempicka began her affair with the baron, played by Nathaniel Stampley, years before he was widowed.) It’s that the condensing, rejiggering and flat-out fudging of the plot create a contextual blur that obscures the main character."

...

"That there is little if any historical truth in that characterization is not ultimately the problem. The painter Georges Seurat in “Sunday in the Park With George” — a show referenced in the first lines of the script — is largely fictionalized too, a cad to his mistress and generally unlikable. “Lempicka” doesn’t have the craft, especially in the mis-accented, often vague lyrics, to make its title character a relatable modern woman, nor the boldness to let her be awful and great. Perhaps if it were less of a machine she could be more of a monster."

Updated On: 4/14/24 at 11:01 PM

Chicago Tribune:

Review: ‘Lempicka’ struggles to make a painter’s life work as a Broadway musical

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/04/14/review-lempicka-struggles-to-make-a-painters-life-work-as-a-broadway-musical/

"Indeed, a perceived need to glob on enough sexy-modern Broadway pizzazz to appeal to a broader public might well be what torpedoed “Lempicka,” now at the Longacre Theatre. This potentially appealing show would have sat more easily as a feminist, non-musical drama in a less pressured space, where the director, Rachel Chavkin, and the performers, all too aware of their need to liven up this clunky bio-musical, did not have to push so darn hard.

These are among the most overwrought and uncentered performances of the Broadway musical season so far, even though they come from some of the most talented actors. Much the same could be said for Raja Feather Kelly’s choreography, which sexes the story up like we were all out clubbing with de Lempicka in some timeless bacchanal but struggles to find a vocabulary rooted in place or theme."

Somebody hide the fine dinnerware. Gonna be some tempers tonight. 

Lempicka’ is ambitious but clunky bio-musical about little-known artist

https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/04/14/broadway-review-lempicka-is-ambitious-but-clunky-bio-musical-about-little-known-artist/

 

Updated On: 4/14/24 at 11:07 PM

The Wrap:

‘Lempicka’ Broadway Review: Lesbians Get Their Big Musical Moment, Finally

The Art Deco artist named Tamara de Lempicka headlines a new show that’s at its best when she’s off the stage

https://www.thewrap.com/lempicka-broadway-review-lesbians-get-their-big-musical-moment-finally/

Those are some of the worst reviews of the season. The Tony nom is out of question, I guess and the grosses are really bad. I, sadly, sense a ''KPOP'' situation if they don't have enough money.

Washington Post:

An artist with a big, messy life gets a big, messy musical

On Broadway, ‘Lempicka’ resurrects Madonna’s favorite Polish art deco master as a contemporary icon of liberation

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater/2024/04/14/lempicka-broadway-review/

"In “Lempicka,” history is, as they say, just one dance number after another. It summons the shocks and jolts that forge the identity and resiliency of the artist, which doesn’t yield an actual character, but more of a ready-made hero for contemporary political tastes. Espinosa does heroic work tying the threads together, but instead of inhabiting a character with multiple facets, she’s left to reconcile multiple characters serving various theatrical purposes."

This site is characterizing the Green review as mixed? Has everyone with access read it? It’s a pan with a few nods to a handful of disparate elements. 

Auggie27 said: "This site is characterizing the Green review as mixed? Has everyone with access read it? It’s a pan with a few nods to a handful of disparate elements."

Yeah, there’s no way that’s mixed. Unless this site is trying to make the show happy, that needs to be changed to a thumbs down. 

1 star from NY Post

‘Lempicka’ Broadway review: Painter musical is an epic wreck

https://nypost.com/2024/04/14/entertainment/lempicka-broadway-review-painter-musical-is-an-epic-wreck/

 

id still be surprised if the cast is forgotten come awards season, these reviews for the cast still seem plenty strong.

NY Sun:

A New Broadway Musical, ‘Lempicka,’ Offers Opportunity To Get To Know an Art Deco Icon 

The titular artist, Tamara de Lempicka, is cursed to live in interesting times, fleeing both revolutionary Russia and Hitler-era Europe, and is burdened with the additional challenges of being a woman, and bisexual.

https://www.nysun.com/article/a-new-broadway-musical-lempicka-offers-opportunity-to-get-to-know-an-art-deco-icon

"As Tamara, Eden Espinosa gets to once again use the siren-like belt and the mix of might and vulnerability she deployed during several stints as Elphaba in “Wicked” — this time while sporting a platinum-blonde bob that makes her look like 1990s-era Madonna (a noted Lempicka fan, naturally). Granted, the vocal showcases she is provided by composer Matt Gould and lyricist Carson Kreitzer — who collaborated on the book, based on Ms. Kreitzer’s concept — are seldom as tuneful as they are flamboyant. "

What time does the “This show deserves to be SEEN!” effort begin tomorrow?