Matt Gould (‘Lempicka’) on depicting the tension between ‘machine-made sound’ and ‘human’ qualities within his score [Exclusive Video Interview]
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It only took one look at a painting for Matt Gould to know he wanted to write the musical “Lempicka,” about the titular artist Tamara de Lempicka. “It’s usually a really fast, visceral idea that I get when I see something or hear something where I’m like, I know how to make that a musical,” he explains. Gould set out on a 14-year journey to develop “Lempicka,” creating music and co-writing the book with Carson Kreitzer. “These paintings just had this perfect, beautiful kind of veneer to them,” remembers Gould, “But then you get up close on the people and you see that inside of their eyes. There’s just this life that is just below the surface.” In Gould’s music, it’s what’s below the surface that springs forth. Watch the exclusive video interview.
In the pristine, Art Deco creations of Tamara de Lempicka, Gould was drawn to the machine-like quality of the women. Metallic hair. Perfect skin. “Immediately was like, oh, it’s metal,” describes the composer, “There’s a metal sound, and it almost wants to feel like a house beat, kind of like we’re in this sort of club. This machine-made sound up against this very real human lifelike quality.” As Gould researched the artist, he realized that the battle between human and machine that appears in the sonic landscape of his score was a perfect summation of Tamara’s inner struggle.
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The first song Gould wrote with Kreitzer is the searing anthem “Woman Is,” a moment of self-actualization for Tamara, and belted into the stratosphere by Eden Espinosa at the close of the first act. “I was really fascinated by just the idea of what is feminine? What does it mean to be woman,” notes Gould. The lyrics conjure harsh imagery, juxtaposed against what is stereotypically considered soft and feminine (“I want to feel your soft lips/your sharp teeth/Feel your nails in my flesh”). The composer elevated this push and pull in his music. “That was thrilling to me,” exclaims Gould, “And also sort of, I don’t know, against the rules.”
That song is one of countless examples of the musical’s decidedly queer storytelling. A no-brainer approach according to Gould, given Tamara’s open bisexuality and the queer identities of many of the show’s creatives. “It was important to me that this be a story that felt like home to me,” he explains, “And to all the young people who are coming in and going: this show is my safe space, I’ve been waiting for this.”
WATCH Carson Kreitzer video interview: ‘Lempicka’ book and lyrics
After spending 14 years of his life developing the show, Gould says he feels nothing but “grief and gratitude” in sending the musical off into the world. “Is she ready? Did we prepare her? Did we give her everything she needs,” he asks, comparing opening the show on Broadway to sending a child off to college. “I’m living inside a dream and I’m living inside of something that so many people want, and so few of us get. Especially to create a new work that is so queer, that is about a woman,” he describes. “And to hear the way that the audience is so responding, which is with joy and elation…that is a thrill beyond thrills.”
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