Lempicka Celebrates a ‘Singular, Spectacular, Sexy’ Broadway Opening

Lempicka, Matt Gould and Carson Kreitzer’s new musical about artist Tamara de Lempicka, opened at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre on April 14. Directed by Tony winner Rachel Chavkin, the production stars Eden Espinosa in the title role, bringing to life a complicated woman who was transgressive in both her life and her art during the tumultuous Interwar period in Europe.

“I don't think people were ready to receive everything that this show has to offer until this moment in time,” said Espinosa on the red carpet. “If [you’re] open to it, it will minister to your life in a way that theater does.”

“I feel like this musical is teaching me how to sing in a different way,” commented Amber Iman, who plays Tamara’s lover Rafaela. “It’s so much fun to be challenged at work and I feel like Lempicka is really challenging me in a way that I needed to be pushed.”

“There’s something about this work that wrecks me,” added Chavkin, who has been with the musical since its world premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival in 2018. “It’s seeing what this woman survived, it’s seeing an artist who desperately wanted to make everyone around her live forever and couldn’t, it’s what she did capture …,” the director said, pausing to gaze at the Lempicka artwork covering the Longacre marquee.

“It’s so original and daring and sexy,” gushed Tony winner Beth Leavel, who plays the artist’s wealthy benefactor, the Baroness. “It’s just singular, spectacular, sexy, and I can’t wait for everyone to see us.”