Rachel Chavkin is coming back to Broadway. The Tony-winning “Hadestown” director will helm “Lempicka,” the story of artist Tamara de Lempicka, who survived the Russian Revolution and Nazi-occupied Paris. Deadline confirms the musical will have a run at California’s La Jolla Playhouse this spring before opening on the Great White Way next season.
With a book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer (“The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer”), “Lempicka” sees Tamara and her aristocrat husband escaping the violence of the revolution and heading to Paris. “Relying on her raw talent and relentless ambition, Tamara claws her way from penniless refugee to in-demand portraitist, earning a place among Parisian high society. Her world is upended once again when she meets Rafaela, a free spirit from the city slums, who introduces Tamara to a new world of decadence and passion,” per the show’s synopsis. “Torn between her new muse and her husband, fighting to leave her mark on an ever-changing world, Tamara must discover the depths of her own strength to survive.”
“Lempicka” counts Jana Shea and Jenny Niederhoffer among its producers. The show’s cast has yet to be announced.
Chavkin won Best Direction of a Musical at the Tonys this year for “Hadestown,” the Anaïs Mitchell-penned show interweaving the myths of Orpheus and Eurydice, and Hades and Persephone. The show also took home Best Musical, the first time a play both written and directed by women has ever received the award. “Hadestown” recently had its best-yet weekly gross: $1.5 million for the week ending October 13.
Chavkin previously directed the 2018 Williamstown Theatre Festival’s production of “Lempicka.” Her other credits include Broadway’s “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812” and short film “Remind Me.”