Lempicka Korea, Day 1 brief notes:
A caveat - I don’t know Korean so cannot accurately comment on meanings or nuance and will probably get romanizations wrong. If I refer to a line it’s the English equivalent based on the Broadway version, not a literal translation.
Cast: Park Hye-na as Tamara, Lin-a as Rafaela (cast wall below):
Park Hye-na was particularly good at expressing Tamara’s pain, the reactions every time to “what did you do to get me out?” were particularly effective (like repeated stabs to the heart). She also does a great Old Tamara and I was pretty surprised at how a particular raise of an eyebrow and twist of her mouth suddenly turns her into an old woman. I am not sure some of the comedic bits quite landed though; it was sort of hard to tell because some of the things that usually got played for a laugh on Broadway (like Tamara being unable to stop herself from commenting on the random street painter’s perspective) seemed to get no reaction.
Also thought Lin-a’s Rafaela and Jo Hyung-kyun as Marinetti were good. Cast was strong across the board but I am tired so may add more later.
The staging largely replicates the Broadway version including costumes, visuals, sets, lighting/projections and choreography. The most obvious difference is the addition of “Stillness” (!!!) and the subtraction of “I Will Paint Her” and “In the Blasted California Sun” (two of my favorites) as well as “Here lt Comes” (not so much). Weirdly I missed “Blasted California Sun” more even when they also added in a brief scene at the end with adult Kizette. Maybe it’s a version of what they used pre-Broadway; I will have to look up how to say “throw my ashes into a volcano” in Korean because there was definitely a line Tamara said that had that spirit. I also enjoyed the split-screen projection of the orchestra as they played the entr’acte.
This week they are allowing people to take photos and videos at curtain call. I did take a video but to be honest I’m not a fan of doing so personally; I want to clap for people and see the actors receive their acclaim with my own eyes. May post it later once I get some time to edit.
There was a couch for people to take photos of themselves on:
The show’s art and graphics were all over the theater, including:
By the escalator wall inside the theater
By the elevator going up from the ground floor
On the elevator wall inside the theater
On the columns in the lobby
Audience seemed to be largely young women
Decent merch selection, including program, pins, stickers, tote bag, zippered pouch, shot glasses, sweatshirt. Prices are generally quite cheap compared to Broadway merchandise.
andulkaphoto
germansingergirl
dededos
snowghoul
janainaart
yousharknotpass
jbbartram-illu
2087
titsay
