Musical Lempicka — When Control Holds
An immaculate structure that refuses to break, and the fracture it quietly reveals
An immaculate structure that refuses to break, and the fracture it quietly reveals
편집부 노트
뮤지컬 《렘피카》는 2024년 브로드웨이에서 개막한 작품으로, 아르데코를 대표하는 화가 타마라 드 렘피카의 삶을 바탕으로 한다. 러시아 혁명과 전쟁, 망명이라는 격동의 시대 속에서 예술가로 살아남아야 했던 한 여성의 욕망과 생존을 다루는 이 작품은, 레이첼 채브킨(Rachel Chavkin)의 연출 아래 브로드웨이에서 강한 화제성과 동시에 엇갈린 평가를 함께 남긴 작품이기도 하다.
특히 한국 뮤지컬 특유의 멀티캐스트 구조 안에서 《렘피카》는 배우 조합에 따라 감정의 밀도와 리듬, 긴장의 결이 미세하게 달라지는 작품이기도 하다.
다음 평론은 박혜나, 손승연, 조형균, 김민철, 김혜미, 김현숙, 김남수 배우가 출연한 특정 캐스트 공연을 중심으로, 이 작품이 유지하는 절제와 구조, 그리고 그 안에서 드러나는 균열의 순간들을 바라본다.
뮤지컬 《렘피카》는 2024년 브로드웨이에서 개막한 작품으로, 아르데코를 대표하는 화가 타마라 드 렘피카의 삶을 바탕으로 한다. 러시아 혁명과 전쟁, 망명이라는 격동의 시대 속에서 예술가로 살아남아야 했던 한 여성의 욕망과 생존을 다루는 이 작품은, 레이첼 채브킨(Rachel Chavkin)의 연출 아래 브로드웨이에서 강한 화제성과 동시에 엇갈린 평가를 함께 남긴 작품이기도 하다.
특히 한국 뮤지컬 특유의 멀티캐스트 구조 안에서 《렘피카》는 배우 조합에 따라 감정의 밀도와 리듬, 긴장의 결이 미세하게 달라지는 작품이기도 하다.
다음 평론은 박혜나, 손승연, 조형균, 김민철, 김혜미, 김현숙, 김남수 배우가 출연한 특정 캐스트 공연을 중심으로, 이 작품이 유지하는 절제와 구조, 그리고 그 안에서 드러나는 균열의 순간들을 바라본다.
Editorial Note
The following criticism engages with a specific cast configuration from the Korean premiere production of the musical Lempicka, featuring Park Hye-na, Son Seung-yeon, Jo Hyeong-gyun, Kim Min-cheol, Kim Hye-mi, Kim Hyun-sook, and Kim Nam-soo.
The following criticism engages with a specific cast configuration from the Korean premiere production of the musical Lempicka, featuring Park Hye-na, Son Seung-yeon, Jo Hyeong-gyun, Kim Min-cheol, Kim Hye-mi, Kim Hyun-sook, and Kim Nam-soo.
By Editor-in-Chief Glenda Park and Senior Commentator Illkoo Park
AVEC G MAGAZINE
AVEC G MAGAZINE
Images Courtesy of Nol Universe.
A Life Engineered, A Self Composed
The musical Lempicka, which opened on Broadway in 2024, arrived carrying unusually high expectations. Its visual language was immediately recognizable: geometric framing, metallic tension, sculptural staging, and a heroine constructed less as an emotional center than as a figure of aesthetic force. Even before audiences encountered the work itself, Lempicka had already succeeded in building a powerful image around its own identity.
Yet the response that followed proved sharply divided. Critics frequently praised the production’s ambition, visual discipline, and musical scale while simultaneously questioning its emotional cohesion. Some regarded the work as exhilaratingly controlled; others experienced that same control as emotional distance. But perhaps the most revealing aspect of those reactions is that they ultimately describe the same phenomenon from opposite directions.
Lempicka is a musical fundamentally organized around restraint. It is not a production trying to overflow. It is a production trying not to.
Director Rachel Chavkin has long demonstrated a preference for compositional rhythm over emotional directness. In productions such as Hadestown and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, she repeatedly constructs tension through spatial architecture, repetition, and controlled accumulation rather than immediate release. The Korean premiere preserves much of this sensibility.
Hwang Seok-hee’s translation sustains the tonal sharpness of the original text without forcing unnecessary emotional expansion, while Noh Ji-hyun’s choreography transforms Art Deco geometry into movement itself.
Bodies rarely flow naturally across the stage; instead, they seem measured, framed, and positioned with architectural intent. This visual discipline becomes central to the audience’s experience of the production. Figures are frequently isolated inside sharply constructed compositions. Lighting emphasizes contour rather than emotional warmth. Scenes do not unfold organically so much as lock themselves into place.
What emerges most clearly in this particular cast configuration is the extraordinary precision with which the production sustains itself. As Lempicka, Park Hye-na avoids the temptation to build the role through sheer vocal dominance or emotional expansion. Instead, she accumulates pressure internally.
Her early solos remain deliberately measured, frequently resisting the instinct to fully explode outward even when the music appears to invite it.
The musical Lempicka, which opened on Broadway in 2024, arrived carrying unusually high expectations. Its visual language was immediately recognizable: geometric framing, metallic tension, sculptural staging, and a heroine constructed less as an emotional center than as a figure of aesthetic force. Even before audiences encountered the work itself, Lempicka had already succeeded in building a powerful image around its own identity.
Yet the response that followed proved sharply divided. Critics frequently praised the production’s ambition, visual discipline, and musical scale while simultaneously questioning its emotional cohesion. Some regarded the work as exhilaratingly controlled; others experienced that same control as emotional distance. But perhaps the most revealing aspect of those reactions is that they ultimately describe the same phenomenon from opposite directions.
Lempicka is a musical fundamentally organized around restraint. It is not a production trying to overflow. It is a production trying not to.
Director Rachel Chavkin has long demonstrated a preference for compositional rhythm over emotional directness. In productions such as Hadestown and Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, she repeatedly constructs tension through spatial architecture, repetition, and controlled accumulation rather than immediate release. The Korean premiere preserves much of this sensibility.
Hwang Seok-hee’s translation sustains the tonal sharpness of the original text without forcing unnecessary emotional expansion, while Noh Ji-hyun’s choreography transforms Art Deco geometry into movement itself.
Bodies rarely flow naturally across the stage; instead, they seem measured, framed, and positioned with architectural intent. This visual discipline becomes central to the audience’s experience of the production. Figures are frequently isolated inside sharply constructed compositions. Lighting emphasizes contour rather than emotional warmth. Scenes do not unfold organically so much as lock themselves into place.
What emerges most clearly in this particular cast configuration is the extraordinary precision with which the production sustains itself. As Lempicka, Park Hye-na avoids the temptation to build the role through sheer vocal dominance or emotional expansion. Instead, she accumulates pressure internally.
Her early solos remain deliberately measured, frequently resisting the instinct to fully explode outward even when the music appears to invite it.
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