War Paint
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Cititour.com Review
Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden were beauty-industry pioneers, yet the new musical War Paint doesn’t make their lives dramatically alluring. Thankfully, Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, playing the rival cosmetic impresarios, command the stage as these larger-than-life women, who began their rise to power before American women even had the right to vote.
Written by the creators of Grey Gardens — Scott Frankel (music), Michael Korie (lyrics) and Doug Wright (book) — War Paint, like their previous show, puts two iconic women center stage. But here they don’t interact until late in Act II. (In real life, Arden and Rubinstein never met.) Of course in theater that doesn’t mean they can’t be onstage at the same time and even duet, but it does create a hole in the action that no amount of dressing can entirely cover (although Catherine Zuber’s costumes, spanning four decades, are a lovely visual).
War Paint, which begins in 1935, when both women were already middle-aged and successful, focuses on the parallels in their lives. And there were many. Although Rubinstein (LuPone) came from a Polish Jewish family and Arden (Ebersole) was a Canadian farm girl, they faced similar obstacles as beauty-industry businesswomen, including rejection by New York’s upper echelon and loneliness.
But over two-and-a-half hours, the repetitive setup loses its sheen. Rubinstein’s business associate Harry Fleming (Douglas Sills) quits the company to work for Arden; then Arden’s husband, Tommy Lewis (John Dossett), takes a job with Rubinstein after the couple split up. Later in the 1950s, Arden passes on sponsoring a TV game show; in the next scene, Rubinstein declines too.
Director Michael Greif gets affecting performances from both his leading ladies, although LuPone, with her gruff Eastern European accent and outlandish hats, has the flashier role. LuPone’s ballad “Now You Know” aches with an outsider’s pain, as does Ebersole’s “Pink,” sung when Arden, famous for her red-door salons and pink packaging, realizes she’s losing control of the company she founded.
But, perhaps because of the time span War Paint covers (1935-64), many of the scenes and songs just scratch the surface of these remarkable women. There interactions with others are brief and low stakes, in part because Sills and Dossett and underused, and one of the show’s best numbers, “Fire and Ice,” belongs to two minor characters, Revlon founder Charles Revson (Erik Liberman) and model Dorian Leigh (Steffanie Leigh), who re-create one of the industry’s most famous ad campaigns.
Like its protagonists, War Paint has an old-fashioned quality to it. There’s a real set (no projections) from David Korins and a conductor in the orchestra pit (not onstage or backstage). But it’s light on action, and as fascinating as LuPone, Ebersole, Rubinstein and Arden, they can’t make War Paint a stunner.
By Diane Snyder
Visit the Site
http://www.warpaintmusical.com
Cast
Patti LuPone, Christine Ebersole, John Dossett, Douglas Sills, Barbara Jo Bednarczuk, Patti Cohenour, Mary Ernster, David Girolmo, Joanna Glushak, Chris Hoch, Mary Claire King, Steffanie Leigh, Erik Liberman, Barbara Marineau, Donna Migliaccio, Stephanie Jae Park, Jennifer Rias, Angel Reda, Tally Sessions
Open/Close Dates
Opening 4/6/2017
Closing 11/7/2017
Preview Open/ Preview Close Dates
Preview Opening 3/6/2017
Closing Open-ended
Box Office
800-745-3000
Theatre Info
Nederlander Theatre
208 West 41st Street
New York, NY 10036
Map
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