War Paint tells the remarkable story of cosmetics titans Helena Rubinstein (Patti LuPone) and Elizabeth Arden (Christine Ebersole), who defined beauty standards for the first half of the 20th Century.
Brilliant innovators with humble roots, both women were masters of self-invention who sacrificed everything to become the country's first major female entrepreneurs. They were also fierce competitors, whose 50-year tug-of-war would give birth to an industry that would forever change the face of America. From Fifth Avenue society to the halls of Congress, their intense rivalry was ruthless, relentless and legendary- pushing both women to build international empires in a world dominated by men.
'War Paint' still has a lot going for it, including self-empowered protagonists, high-powered performances, well-crafted period-style songs, the classy aura of old-school New York and the smooth direction of Michael Greif (who staged 'Dear Evan Hansen' earlier this season). It ought to be a hit with Broadway's primary ticket-buying demographic: women from the tristate area who use cosmetic products, are familiar with Rubinstein and Arden's important legacies and know that LuPone and Ebersole are musical theater artists of the highest caliber.
The fierce, always formidable lightning rod that is Patti LuPone, plays a heavily accented, not always vocally distinct Rubinstein, while the vital, vivacious Christine Ebersole plays Arden. The production becomes a spellbinding study in the competition of wills. It also explores the difficulties of that their confidantes - Douglas Sills as Rubinstein's gay associate and John Dossett as Arden's husband - faced, as men in a women's world. Michael Greif's production is a multi-layered, extraordinarily textured story of the business of beauty and fashion that lets the women put, as the show has it, their best faces forward. As Arden says, 'Every woman has a God-given right to loveliness!'
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