WAR PAINT - Pre-Broadway Thread — Page 3

Is the music in the same vein as Grey Gardens or Far From Heaven - or something completely different?

I'm seeing it late in the run (August 5th I think I got tickets the day it went onsale) and Whizzer has made me even more excited!

Updated On: 6/29/16 at 01:01 AM

Ugh

I. Need. To. See. This.

Totally agree with Whizzer. We had an amazing time. Patti and Christine were phenomenal - both were in great voice and both have gorgeous numbers, especially in the second act. Christine's "Pink" made me tear up. They're in great shape for a first preview. Going to go back in a few weeks hopefully to see what changes they've made.

Some more thoughts this morning:

I think Frankel, Korie and Wright have done a good job balancing the writing of a double star vehicle, allowing the leading ladies to show off and send their fans into estatic states of diva worship with presenting a serious, adult entertainment that examines powerful business women, economics, the role women's beauty in society, etc.



For example, the show begins with a blackout and then lights up on LuPone and Ebersole in spotlights, seated at their vanities, applying make up. A skrim rises slowly, allowing for the entrance applause to play out before they start in on their Prologue duet.

The following scene takes place in 1937 at Arden's boutique. The shopgirls are singing "Behind the Red Door" while they assist customers. All of a sudden...Miss Arden is coming! Miss Arden is coming! And here! She! Is! Ebersole appears at the top of the staircase, decked to the nines and shouts out, "I'm Here!" before proceeding to walk down the staircase taking "Behind the Red Door" home to an exciting finish. She got massive re-entrance applause with this old fashioned star entrance.

Not to be left out in the cold, the next scene takes place in New York Harbor where a gangplank rolls onstage. LuPone, equally decked out, steps out at the top of the plank and exclaims, "It's good to be in New York!" She then sings "Back on Top" as makes her way down the plank and around the Harbor. Another thrilling star entrance with re-entrance applause and LuPone dazzling on a tricky vocal line.

By this point we're 12 minutes into the show and my poor little gay heart might not be able to handle much more of this without the smelling salts, but all of this isn't indulgence for indulgence's sake. These women are larger than life and Titans of industry. Of course they could behave this way and the audience can worship them the way all their clients worship their makeup products. The songs work as both vocal show off set pieces as well as character-enriching moments that establish mood, time and place. The creators walk a fine line, and for me they succeeded.

These posts have me looking at flights.

Kad said: "Wow, this has gotten me very excited. When was the last time we had a real diva star vehicle like this?

Buyer and Cellar maybe?

Updated On: 6/29/16 at 10:52 AM

Saw the show last night… It is a great showcase for two divas. Patti's Eastern European accent make it difficult to understand some lyrics until you get accustomed to it. I do think, as a previous poster mentioned, that they should cut the scene at the end where the two ladies meet. It may be challenging for the audience but the scene, as is, seems contrived. Especially since the women purposely avoided each other in the rest of the show. I enjoyed act 2 more than act one. Also interesting, but not mentioned in the show, is the fact that earlier this month Revlon bought out Elizabeth Arden, putting an intriguing twist on the end of the show.

how long was the first preview?

Hum a tune said: " Saw the show last night… It is a great showcase for two divas. Patti's Eastern European accent make it difficult to understand some lyrics until you get accustomed to it. I do think, as a previous poster mentioned, that they should cut the scene at the end where the two ladies meet. It may be challenging for the audience but the scene, as is, seems contrived. Especially since the women purposely avoided each other in the rest of the show. I enjoyed act 2 more than act one. Also interesting, but not mentioned in the show, is the fact that earlier this month Revlon bought out Elizabeth Arden, putting an intriguing twist on the end of the show."

The two women never met in real life (which has been mentioned in several of the features on the show), so I'm surprised there's a scene where they DO meet.



There's an amazing anecdote in Lindy Woodhead's book about how Miss Arden took some friends/associates for a stroll past Helena Rubinstein's salon on Fifth Avenue right after Rubinstein died. She looked at the store, sighed "Poor Helena," and then they went to lunch. (I actually laughed out loud when I read that on the subway.)

The 2016-17 award season is so so exciting already

Just got my tickets to see this during it's closing weekend in Chicgao.

If Friedrich Schiller could get away with writing a scene in his 1800 play "Mary Stuart" in which a final confrontation takes place between Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Elizabeth I, who never met in real life, then surely Frankel, Korie & Wright can write a scene in which Helena Queen of Rubinstein and Queen Elizabeth Arden square off. I think it's a regal idea.

I'm of half a mind to pop off to Chicago.

Those first 12 minutes alone sound worth the price of admission. Just hearing descriptions I am reeling.