Shoshana Bean, Greg Hildreth et al. Set for Yale Rep and New Dramatists' LEMPICKA Reading

Recording artist and Broadway actress Shoshana Bean will play the title role in an invited reading of Lempicka, a musical commissioned by Yale Rep and New Dramatists, about the tumultuous life of art deco artist Tamara de Lempicka.

Lempicka is a Working Title for the new musical with book and lyrics by New Dramatists resident Carson Kreitzer (Rosenthal New Play Prize for The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer, 2010 NEA New Play Development Prize, Behind the Eye) and music by Matt Gould (Jonathan Larson Award and ASCAP's Harold Adamson Award and Dean Kay Award for Witness Uganda).

Griffin Matthews (Witness Uganda) will direct the reading, with musical direction by Ian Axness.

In addition to Bean (Wicked, Hairspray), the reading will include Wayne Wilcox (Coram Boy), Gabrielle Stravelli, Greg Hildreth (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), Jamison Stern (By Jeeves), Nicolette Robinson (Perfect Couples), Jarid Faubel, Jon-Michael Reese, Jared Miller, and Rhyn McLemore (The Last Scene).

Lempicka is set around the erratic artist’s life in Paris between the wars. Using raw emotional language and a contemporary musical palette, Lempicka explores the life of a struggling artist hell bent on carving her undying mark on the worlds of art and fashion in the midst of social upheaval and sexual transformation.

This work is the first-ever Full Stage USA commission through Yale Repertory Theatre and New Dramatists, made possible by a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This first reading is scheduled to take place on October 28 in New York City.