Lempicka at WTF

I’ll be there this upcoming Sunday! Can’t wait!

They've been posting some song clips on their Youtube channel. The music sounds really good!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5VzyePaoBA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7baE59u2U9w

Excited to see this on Sunday!

From the NYT review:

“Lempicka” might be called a woke throwback. It’s an old-fashioned musical, at least if you think of “Evita” and “Les Miserables,” the blockbusters that ruled Broadway three decades ago, as old-fashioned. These were period shows of epic sweep, with propulsive electronic scores that force-marched you across decades of political struggle and strife.

That kind of costume behemoth hasn’t been fashionable for a while, for perfectly good reasons: It’s loud, it’s expensive, it’s exhausting. The closest thing to it in recent years was “Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812,” Dave Molloy’s rollicking adaptation of a hunk of “War and Peace,” directed most inventively by Ms. Chavkin.

But “Great Comet” had an intellectual wryness and an immersive, do-it-yourself presentation that made it both funky and thoroughly modern. “Lempicka” is as earnest a work of storytelling as “Les Miserables.” And it aspires to bigness in many of the same ways.

The surprise is how close “Lempicka” comes to realizing those goals — especially with limited rehearsal time in a sylvan summer theater. Ms. Chavkin and her ace design team espouse a style of rich minimalism, as we follow Tamara from Revolutionary Russia (where she is the bride of the aristocrat Tadeusz Lempicki, nicely embodied as a charming weakling by Andrew Samonsky), to very gay Paree (where she finds herself as a painter), to sun-soaked California (where she broods in later-life exile).

Link to full review

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Updated On: 7/27/18 at 03:13 PM

Those 3 ladies? Roundabout get about it!!!

Okay I'll keep asking till someone gives me a good answer - whatever happened to Cynthia Erivo? I thought she was attached with the WTF production originally. If she was back on board, with her upcoming four(!) movies, she's bound to be a large draw for a producer to bring this show to Bway.



* - I love Cussack, but I don't think she's a financially bankable lead yet

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I wish more than anything I could see this.

If broadway isn’t the track for this, maybe Ars Nova, St Ann’s Warehouse, or NYTW? Most of the off-bway theaters have already announced their seasons, so I doubt it’ll be here soon.

JVJ93 said: "Cynthia was attached in previous workshops but she’s been replaced by Espinosa and after the raves for her and Cusacks performances, I don’t see it changing if/when they move the project forward"

Although Cynthia Erivo did a public reading of the show at Williamstown last summer, Eden Espinosa has been attached to the project off and on for several years, so it makes sense that she would do it once it got to the point of a full production. I believe Carmen Cusack is the only person who participated in last summer's reading who moved on to do the full production this summer.

The rest of last summer's cast included Steve Pasquale, Bob Cuccioli, Mykal Kilgore, Jessica Phillips and David Pittu, among others.

Updated On: 7/29/18 at 11:21 AM

Prefacing this rave with the understanding that, as with any piece in development, there is still work to be done... but I saw this yesterday (7/30) and was totally amazed. I can't stop thinking about it and would definitely encourage anyone at a reasonable distance to spontaneously make a trip and catch one of the final performances. My boyfriend and I had to return to NYC yesterday evening, but we're turning around after work today and heading back to Williamstown to see it one more time (and will definitely travel to wherever it pops up next).

It's hard to describe what feels so new, but the comparisons to Evita make sense as far as the structure/flow and the central powerful woman. I also might compare it in certain ways to Here Lies Love, to Great Comet (makes sense w/ Rachel Chavkin) in terms of its contemporary score and direction. The book is very simple, very straightforward/easy, which at first surprised me, but proved helpful considering the magnitude of the story and score (many locations, role doubling, spanning many years, covering various episodes in history). It might be argued that the book is not as original as the show as a whole, but for me it definitely worked and I was never once disengaged.


Eden is astounding. Needless to say, her voice is a force on its own, but her acting is the real treat of this performance, IMO. Her evolution is so nuanced and her act one finale was one of the most electric things I've seen live - every beat of her songs were packed with intention and her solo moments escalated so effectively/realistically - her movements in the songs, simple as the way she'd frame herself in a doorway, had me in tears.

Stating more of the obvious, Carmen Cusack is triumphant. Having such a diverse resume (Wicked, Sunday in the Park, Les Miz, Bright Star, Carrie, Phantom of the Opera etc.) I was blown away by her ability to deliver ANOTHER completely unique performance. Her range as an actress is incredible, and this score allows her to use her beautiful soprano, her smoky jazz voice, and, of course, her distinctive belt. She moves SO well in her numbers - her allure is effortless. She gives an evenly powerful performance, but I would single out "Stillness" and her act 2 duet with Eden as spine-chilling standouts.

I was also pleased to see that Rachel Tucker gets to shine and show off her singing chops in Act 2 - her talent is definitely not wasted (don't want to give away too much of the story, so won't go into detail). Most of the musical numbers are "BIG" but somehow it didn't feel too rote... others may disagree, but the story felt conducive to intense/ballady numbers. Maybe a few more breather moments could benefit a show that from start to finish is notably intense?

There are certainly areas for polishing (very minor cliches here and there/some ensemble issues/maybe some trimming could be helpful?), but I don't want to get into that considering the fine-tuning phase its in - anything I didn't enjoy (which were very few things) felt easily fixable. I could touch on the scenes between Eden and Andrew Samonsky which are juxtaposed SO effectively with the Carmen scenes, but I think I'll leave it at this for now! Go see it!!!!

I hope it transfers. No matter where it ends up, I'll be trekking to see it multiple times. It has SO much heart.

Updated On: 7/30/18 at 12:30 PM

Maybe it could work in LTC's smaller space?

I don't think being almost 3 hrs is a bad thing...I mean Angels was, what, 8 hrs and that flew by.

I saw the show this weekend and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this moved and excited by a new musical.

Eden is magnificent. Obviously, her voice is stellar and sounds better than ever, but her acting performance was what really did it for me. Her journey throughout the musical was natural, raw, and so well developed – every moment felt earned. I saw the reading last summer with Cynthia and, while I love Cynthia and her voice is fantastic (and, obviously, that was only a reading with minimal rehearsal), I think Eden much better fits the role. If this transfers, I really hope they don’t replace Eden with a bigger name. I think Eden’s performance could attract a following, once word of mouth spread.

Carmen is also excellent. She is really perfect for the part and it’s hard to picture anyone else in her role, as well. It’s really a joy to see two fully-realized, complex women characters depicted onstage. Eden and Carmen’s chemistry is great and anytime they were onstage together, it was a joy to watch them play off of each other.

The score is absolutely gorgeous. I would pay a lot of money for a cast recording of this cast.

I honestly don’t feel much work needs to be done on this. It flows extremely well and really felt like a solid, complete piece to me. Perhaps some slight trimming in the beginning (I think they could cut the first scenes/songs down just a little bit – I think we could get to their move to Paris a bit quicker), but the show didn’t feel long to me at all. I’d also like to see some of the ensemble staging reworked. Rachel Chavkin is one of my favorite directors, but I do notice a tendency in her musical work to keep the ensemble moving, even when it’s not necessarily needed. When this is called for (like in many moments in “Great Comet”), no one can stage it better than her. However, at other moments it becomes a little distracting and feels unneeded. There were times where ensemble members were cutting in front of the leads/characters the scene is focusing on, and it felt distracting.

But, honestly, those are all very small complaints and, if nothing changed, I would still find this Broadway-ready and a stellar production.

It’s hard for me to picture this in a smaller off-Broadway house. It feels “big” and I think it’s needs a Broadway-sized theatre. I do hope this has a life after this production (it’s hard to imagine it wouldn’t) and I would be extremely happy to see it make a transfer directly to Broadway with this cast intact.