New musical 'Lempicka' to open on Broadway in spring 2024

Eden Espinosa will star in the pop-infused show, which dramatizes the life and career of the trailblazing 20th-century Polish painter Tamara de Lempicka.

Art imitates life — and theatre! Lempicka, a new pop bio-musical, will premiere on Broadway this spring. Performances begin at the Longacre Theatre on March 19 ahead of an April 14 opening night.

The show is titled after Tamara de Lempicka, a 20th-century Polish painter known for her Art Deco portraits. The show dramatizes how Lempicka and her husband fled their life of luxury in Poland amid the Russian Revolution, moving to Paris — where Lempicka's talent and ambition soon earned her a place in Parisian high society.

Her life changes once again when she meets Rafaela, who becomes her artistic muse and introduces her to another new world, intensifying Lempicka's struggle to find her place and make her mark.

"When I first saw this show inspired by the life and times of Tamara de Lempicka, my great-grandmother, I got goosebumps and tears in my eyes," Marisa de Lempicka, president of the Tamara de Lempicka Estate, LLC, said in a statement. "We feel so happy and proud that Tamara’s art and life story keep inspiring new generations, almost one hundred years later, and that her resilience and iconic creativity are being portrayed in this extraordinary production."

The show premiered at the 2018 Williamstown Theatre Festival and had a pre-Broadway run at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2022. Eden Espinosa (Wicked, Rent) starred in the La Jolla production as Lempicka, and she returns to star in the Broadway production.

Additional casting for Lempicka on Broadway has yet to be announced.

Lempicka features a book by Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould, music by Gould, and lyrics by Kreitzer. Both are making their Broadway debuts. They collaborate with veteran Broadway director Rachel Chavkin, a Tony Award winner for staging Hadestown, and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly.

"Tamara de Lempicka’s life spanned some of the most consequential eras in modern history, and her deep and complex story is an ideal subject for exactly the kind of show I love to both see and create: one that is simultaneously intimate and epic," Chavkin said in a statement. “Carson and Matt are visionary storytellers — Carson is an under-recognized leader in the new play field, known for exquisite sparseness and thematic density, and Matt is a wild heart whose music fuses contemporary vibes with classical musical theatre."

The creative team also includes scenic designer Riccardo Hernández, costume designer Paloma Young, lighting designer Bradley King, sound designers Peter Hylenski and Justin Stasiw, projection designer Peter Nigrini, hair and wig designer Mia Neal, music supervisor Remy Kurs, music director Charity Wicks, orchestrator Cian McCarthy, and creative consultant Peter Duchan.

Photo credit: Eden Espinosa in Lempicka at the La Jolla Playhouse. (Photo by Matthew Murphy)