On the day of About Face Theatre's 20th-anniversary party at Chicago's Center on Halsted, gay playwright Doug Wright ( Quills, Ubu ) was regretful because he wasn't going to be able to attend. As the book writer for the world-premiere musical War Paint at the Goodman Theatre, Wright said he had to be at technical rehearsals rather than attending the June 17 party.
Of course, Wright is very appreciative to About Face, since the LGBTQ-theater company presented the 2003 world premiere of his drama I Am My Own Wife before it went on to triumph in New York. Wright's one-man play drawn from interviews with the East German transgender pioneer Charlotte von Mahlsdorf would go on to garner both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play. ( About Face plans to stage a reinvented I Am My Own Wife with transgender actress Delia Kropp this fall. )
"I Am My Own Wife would never have achieved its success it did if it had not been for its very valuable time in Chicago," said Wright, very happy to be back in the Windy City. But this time Wright is reteaming with composer Scott Frankel, lyricist Michael Korie, director Michael Greif and star Christine Ebersole—all collaborators on the acclaimed 2006 Broadway musical Grey Gardens.
War Paint focuses on the rivalry between cosmetics titans Elizabeth Arden ( 1878-1966 ) and Helena Rubinstein ( 1872-1966 ). Wright said he and his collaborators felt they found a worthy follow-up to Grey Gardens via Lindy Woodhead's biographical book War Paint: Miss Elizabeth Arden and Madame Helena Rubinstein—Their Lives, Their Times, Their Rivalry and the subsequent PBS documentary The Powder & the Glory.
Two-time Tony Award-winner Christine Ebersole ( 42nd Street, Grey Gardens ) plays Arden, whom Wright said epitomized the "American beauty rose" who flourished at a time when anti-Semitism was openly displayed among upper-class New York WASP society. Two-time Tony Award-winner Patti LuPone ( Evita, Gypsy ) plays Rubinstein, who saw a market for the Jewish women who were turned away as customers and employees at Arden's salons.
"We were joking the other day when someone asked us why Christine and Patti were doing the show. We said it was because Mary Martin and Ethel Merman weren't available," Wright said. "[LuPone and Ebersole] are that rare breed of classically trained actor and musical theater performer, so they bring an insight and conviction to the roles that I think is really unrivaled. So to get to work with them one on one to help craft these performances has been a real career highlight for each of us."
But one major historical challenge Wright and his collaborators had to face was the fact that Rubinstein and Arden never actually met in real life, even though they worked and built their cosmetics empires just steps away from each other in New York. Theirs was a heated rivalry where the two women were driven to outsell and out-innovate each other.
"Obviously, when an audience comes to see leading ladies like Christine and Patti, they will want to see them together and so we have found all kinds of inventive, dramatic ways to allow the two women to share the stage while at the same time honoring their factual history as two women who refused to meet," Wright said. "Our challenge has been to present these women in all of their complexity and I think that's what interests us as writers. We've truly endeavored to give the women scope and psychological complexity and to honor the incredibly remarkable careers that they both enjoyed."
Wright also stresses that War Paint isn't just about its leading ladies. There are strong supporting roles for Tony Award nominees John Dossett ( Gypsy, Newsies ) and Douglas Sills ( The Scarlet Pimpernel, Living on Love ). Dossett plays Arden's husband, Tommy Lewis, while Sills plays "Harry Fleming," a conflated character drawn from two of Rubinstein's close confidants whom Wright says were most likely gay.
"It's interesting to examine in light of all the gains that have been made [for the LGBTQ community] that even the cosmetics industry back then was a very inhospitable world for gay and lesbian people," Wright said. "Even an industry as arts-driven and unconventional as cosmetics, it wasn't entirely a safe harbor and we explore that in Harry's story in the play."
Far from just being a vehicle for two stage divas to do battle, Wright says that he and his collaborators are aiming to make War Paint into so much more.
"[War Paint] touches upon some true universals about the pain of aging and growing old," Wright said. "And the ways in which we reinvent ourselves every day to face the world."
The world premiere of War Paint, starring Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole, plays from Tuesday, June 28, through Sunday, Aug. 14, at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St. Due to dynamic pricing, ticket prices may increase due to demand. Many performances are already sold out. Call 312-443-3800 or visit GoodmanTheatre.org for more information.
