[1] The musical follows the life of Tamara de Lempicka as she flees the Russian Revolution to Paris, France with her husband, Tadeusz, and daughter, Kizette.
[2][3] Facing the rise of fascism, Tamara takes to painting to survive, and when she meets the free-spirited Rafaela, a prostitute on the fringes of Parisian society, she's torn between the life she cherishes with her husband and the passion, ambition, and possibility awoken in her by her new muse.
[5] The production made its West Coast premiere on June 14, 2022 at La Jolla Playhouse, running until July 24.
[6] The musical began previews on Broadway on March 19, 2024 at the Longacre Theatre and opened on April 14, 2024.
[7] It closed on May 19, 2024, after 27 previews and 41 regular performances, and following low box office grosses and a mostly negative critical reception.
Tamara is in a wedding dress, painting, as we are introduced to her mother and then Tadeusz Lempicki, a Polish aristocrat and the man she will be marrying ("Unseen").
Eventually, Tamara sees a painter selling his work and decides that she could make a living by painting.
She attempts to create a still life painting of "Three Madeleines" before eating them all and deciding she should stick to human subjects.
She sings about how love is like roulette and not worth it, and Tamara wonders who she is, before Rafaela and her friend Suzy Solidor run away when the police arrive ("Don't Bet Your Heart").
Suzy warns Rafaela about being seen acting this way with Tamara in public, and fantasizes about the future when she will open her own club where they can finally be themselves.
Rafaela sings a song for the patrons of the club, flirting with the men but looking only at Tamara (“The Most Beautiful Bracelet”).
Tamara shows her portrait of Rafaela to the Baron and Baroness, and signs it as “Lempicka” instead of the male version of her surname that she had previously used.
Chilling images of World War II are projected behind him as the song becomes more frenzied and time spins forward to 1933.
The Baroness worries about Adolf Hitler’s rising power and wonders if her husband, who is of Jewish origin, will be safe.
Rafaela sings about her backstory and about how she might stay with a lover for once, juxtaposing her previous assertion that "love is for fools."
They both confront Tamara, and the Baron and Baroness show up, along with Marinetti — he reveals that he has joined the Italian Fascists, who have adopted Futurism as their official art movement.
Tadeusz says that she doesn't think about what he wants, and mentions that he met a woman named Irene.
The Baroness says that she has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness, and doctors have told her she has two more months left to live.
The myriad women Tamara painted pass her by, and she realizes that by representing them as unique and diverse, she has fulfilled her vision of the future.