Lempicka Musical Album Lyrics

[Instrumental]

[TAMARA, spoken]
Do you know who I am?
The baroness? Old, eccentric bat?
The baroness with a paintbrush?
Reduced to a novelty act, and now not even that?

[TAMARA]
Now, the Hollywood stars —
The closest this ridiculous place has to royalty —
Have faded away, and then replaced on all the screens
By vapid children in blue jeans

How did I wind up here?
My beauty all behind me?
How did I wind up here?
Forgotten worlds inside me?
Unseen...
Unseen...

Once, the world knew my name
They fought to buy my work — the rich, the royalty
I painted them all, I made myself the living test
And you were no one if not painted by
Lempicka!
How the dandies fought for my commissions
Attended exhibitions, vied to buy
Anything my brushes ever touched
But, the real art was how to survive...

How did I wind up here?
My beauty all behind me?
How did I wind up here?
Forgotten worlds inside me?
Unseen...

I tangled with a world you can't imagine:
Luxury and deprivation
Princes fought to light my cigarette
Crawling up from nothing, I created for myself
Something that the world had never seen:
I painted what a woman could be...

Do you know who I am?
An old woman who doesn't give a damn that history has passed her by
History's a bitch, but so am I!

How did I wind up here?

[TAMARA & ENSEMBLE]
Unseen...
Unseen...
Unseen...
Unseen...

[TAMARA, spoken]
Do you know who I am?
The strange girl with a paintbrush?
Today I will marry the only man for me:
I will be a Lempicka!

[TAMARA]
Please, do you have my husband here?
I've been everywhere

[GUARD 1]
Your time is over, all you stole is in the workers' hands
The orchards, the fields, the wealth, the jewels, the horses and the lands
All that you took and took for granted, ours now, understand

[TAMARA]
Please, take this bracelet from my wrist
As a sign that we are friends
I give it to you freely
Friend, can you help me find my husband?
His name is Lempicki

[GUARD 1]
You stolе these from us
Our labor made you shinе
He died in the mines
To bring you these jewels
Your world is over

[TAMARA]
Please, my husband

[GUARD 1]
It's our time now

[TAMARA]
I need to see him

[GUARD 1, spoken]
Down the hall

[TAMARA]
You'll be surprised
Where a pretty smile can take you
Please, do you have my husband here
I've been everywhere

[GUARD 2]
Look at those hands, you never worked a day in all your life
Spoiled and useless, unprepared for toil or for strife
Living for nothing but some day to be the rich man's wife

[TAMARA]
Please, take this pendant from my neck
As a sign that we are friends
My mother gave it to me

[GUARD 2]
Oh, you stole these from us
Our labor made you shine
We died in the mines
To bring you these jewels
Your world is over

[TAMARA]
We have a daughter

[GUARD 2]
It's our time now
Your world is over

[OTHERS]
Your world is over
Your world is over

[ENSEMBLE]
Come on, girl, what did you expect?
That the world would never change?
We'd never rise, and you would live in ease
In a sea of hungry eyes

Come on, girl, what did you expect?
That the rage, that the rage would never rise
And you would live like this forever?

[TAMARA]
Please, do you have my husband here?

(spoken)
Tadeusz Lempicki

[GUARD 3, spoken]
Yes

[TAMARA, spoken]
Oh, thank God

[GUARD 3, spoken]
He is not to be released. Lempicki, plotting with the Czar's secret police

[TAMARA]
Please, take my ring
It is all that I have left
It's been in my family since-

[GUARD 3]
Since you stole it from someone else

(spoken)
Is that a diamond? I have never seen a diamond before. It's really just a stone, isn't it?

[TAMARA, spoken]
It's worth-

[GUARD 3, spoken]
Nothing. To me. Not everyone can be bought with money. What else could you trade? For a husband's safety?

[TAMARA, spoken]
I- I don't know

[GUARD 3, spoken]
Would you trade your body? For the night. That seems fair, for a husband's life

[TAMARA]
The room spins
Breathe, steady

[GUARD 3, spoken]
It's your choice, you can walk away. What will happen to him? Hard to say

[TAMARA, spoken]
I can't breathe

[GUARD 3, spoken]
Prisoners die here all the time, they're no more precious than we ever were to you

[TAMARA]
I'm dizzy

[ENSEMBLE]
You'll be surprised
Where a pretty smile can take you

[GUARD 3, spoken]
Now it's our time!

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Our time

[TAMARA]
You need to be
Stronger than you are
Stronger than you feel
Be steel

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[TAMARA]
Walking to hell and back
If I can bring him back
Walk out of this place alive

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[TAMARA]
Walking to hell and back
If I can bring him back
Walk out of this place alive

[ENSEMBLE, spoken]
Justice!

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[TAMARA]
Walking to hell and back
If I can bring him back

[ENSEMBLE, spoken]
Justice!

[TAMARA, spoken]
I'm not leaving without him

[GUARD 3, spoken]
It's funny. You walked in here a little rich girl. Now you're walking out a whore

[ENSEMBLE]
Oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh

Our time

Oh-oh-oh-oh

Our time

Oh-oh-oh

Revolution!

[TAMARA]
The world spins

[ENSEMBLE]
Woah-oh

[TAMARA]
Some live some die

[ENSEMBLE]
Woah-oh

[TAMARA]
I didn't know
I never knew
What I would do
To survive

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Revolution!

[TAMARA]
When everything shatters
What matters
You and I

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Whoa-oh
Whoa-oh
You and-
You and I

Our time
The grain growing rye

Revolution!

In the fields
Our time
Those fields where we work for you

Hold on tight

Our time
What we deserve
Now it's
Our time

Our time!

History begins again

Our time!

History begins again

This time

[TAMARA, spoken]
Tadeusz

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
What's happened to our world?

[ENSEMBLE]
It's mine

Feels like I'm walking on ice
Feels like it's starting to crack
Can't keep ignoring the price
We've paid for getting off track
It seems for years we've held on
Just by a thread, you'd agree
We used to dream until dawn
But some dreams aren't meant to be

I can't say who's to blame
I can't keep asking why
Two of us in this game
And we both let something die

It's time for starting over
Time for letting go
Time to stop regretting
What could have been, we'll never know
Time for starting over
Nothing left to do
Time to start, though this broken heart
Won't ever stop loving you

I'm tired of fighting the rain
Just past the clouds, there is hope
Life can't be lived without pain
But you need sunlight to cope
Don't mean to push you away
Not trying to settle some score
What good is choosing to stay
Knowing we deserved so much more?

Let's end this with a smile
Or else there's just despair
No life spent in denial
Is a life we want to share

It's time for starting over
Time for letting go
Time to stop regretting
What could have been, we'll never know
Time for starting over
Nothing left to do
Time to start, though this broken heart
Won't ever stop loving

Only on our own
Can we feel less alone
Though we both face
An uphill climb
By breaking free
Of ties that bind us
Leave the past behind us
All our wounds can heal with time

It's time for starting over
Bravely say goodbye
Time the story ended
We gave it our best try
Time for starting over
That's all we can do
Time to start, though this broken heart
Won't ever stop loving you
Time to start, though this broken heart
Won't ever stop loving
You

[ENSEMBLE]
Paris, city of light
City of refugees
Arriving here overnight
The aristocracy

Gone, the past, the plans
Gone, the servants, the lands
Gone with the setting sun
[?] in Paris
And it's time to move on

[TAMARA]
It's the ugliest, beautiful city
I've ever seen

[TADEUSZ]
What did you do to get me out?

[TAMARA, spoken]
Nothing, Tadeusz, I gave them a few jewels

[TADEUSZ]
What did you do to get me out?

[TAMARA, spoken]
And that's the last of it. I sold my last necklace for the rent

[TADEUSZ]
When my father
With his influence
Could do nothing

[TAMARA, spoken]
Can you look for a job today? There's a polish bank on the Rue Vaneau. Your name will mean something there

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
You want me counting people's stinking bank notes?

[ENSEMBLE]
One small room for a family of three
Hot water, a forgotten luxury
Like eating when you're hungry

[TAMARA, spoken]
Perhaps I could get a job!

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
Are you trying to insult me?

[TAMARA, spoken]
Things are different here

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
What if someone sees you? How would that look?

[ENSEMBLE]
Ah
[?] in Paris

[MAN, spoken]
What are your skills?

[TAMARA, spoken]
I- I'm a very charming hostess

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Ugliest city...

[MAN, spoken]
We need cleaners. Overnight shift

[ENSEMBLE]
Ugliest, beautiful city
I've ever seen
Ah

[TAMARA]
Look at these women
Showing their bodies
As though there was no need for shame
It's a warmer climate here
I suppose, no need for so many clothes!

Look at the pastries
Shining like jewels
Look at these colors
A thousand different blues
Look at the women
Rushing by in their high heeled shoes

[ENSEMBLE]
Paris, city of light

[TADEUSZ, overlapping]
What did you do to get me out?

[TAMARA, spoken]
Tadeusz, look around you

[ENSEMBLE]
Arriving here overnight

[TADEUSZ, overlapping]
What did you do to get me out?

[TAMARA, spoken]
Your daughter is hungry!

[ENSEMBLE]
Gone, the centuries
Gone, the life of ease

[TADEUSZ, overlapping]
What did you do?

[TAMARA, spoken]
We need you here with us

[TADEUSZ]
What did you do to get me out?

[ENSEMBLE]
[?] of Paris

[TAMARA, spoken]
I swear to God, Tadeusz, if you don't stop asking me I will tell you


[TAMARA, spoken]
I am hungry, I am awake, can't break down. Can't break. Start again in this dirty city. How can I make it mine? Breeze off the dirty river. The smell of- oils and turpentine

[TAMARA]
Look at these hands
They once were pretty
The hands of a young girl
Waiting to marry

[TAMARA, spoken]
Look at them now. Cracked and bleeding

[TAMARA]
A lady must never get her hands dirty
Not a lady now
Could I be one of these women
Walking fast in the city
Could losing everything
Make you free

[MAN, spoken]
Armistice declared. The Great War is over. Treaty signed, the troops are coming home

[TAMARA]
The century is different
So why shouldn't I be

[MAN, spoken]
Russia remains in bloody civil war

[TAMARA]
Everything is different
All new possibilities

[MAN, spoken]
But at last, there is peace in Europe

[TAMARA]
My God, I've never been so hungry
It. Feels. Good
The city belongs to me
And I belong to her

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Ugliest, beautiful

[TAMARA]
Look at her! Shining, drenched in color
This is where I was meant to be
This beautiful city

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Paris, city of light, city of refugees
Paris, city of light, city of bakeries

[TAMARA]
Ugliest beautiful city

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Paris, city of light, city of refugees
Gone, the past, the plans
Gone, the servants, the lands

[TAMARA]
And I will capture all that it could be
Show the world what I see

[TOGETHER]
Beautiful city

[MARINETTI]
A painting is not a woman

[TAMARA, spoken]
But I am painting a woman

[MARINETTI, sung]
A painting is not a woman

[TAMARA, spoken]
But we are to capture life —

[MARINETTI]
Life, death, everything, nothing, how?
[sung] A painting is not a woman

[TAMARA]
A painting is not a woman

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Or a warhorse

[TAMARA, sung]
Or a warhorse

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Or a landscape, or a night filled with stars —

[TAMARA, sung and overlapping]
Or a glittering sky...

[MARINETTI, spoken]
A painting is a flat surface covered in paint

[TAMARA, sung]
A painting is canvas, pigment, plan, and design

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Colors ground to dust, suspended in oil, smeared across cloth — that's all

[TAMARA]
That's all

[MARINETTI]
Everything within your control!

[TAMARA]
(laughs) Wouldn't that be nice?!

[MARINETTI, sung]
We do not control the world;
We control one flat rectangle of canvas
At a time
[TAMARA]
We do not control the world;
We control one flat rectangle of canvas
We do not control the world;
We control one flat —

(Rafaela), (Suzy)
Who here likes to gamble?
My game is roulette
Spin the wheel, place a bet (Money in the hat?)
Love the rush, but don't forget (Support the arts!)
Always be ready to walk away
Only bet what you can lose
If you ignore these simple rules
What can I say?
You one of those fools!

(Rafaela)
You bet your life, don't bet your heart
That's not the thing you wanna lose
You bet your life, don't bet your heart

You bet your life, don't bet your heart
You'll just wind up singing the blues
You bet your life, don't bet your heart

(Rafaela), (Suzy)
The game of love is like roulette
You wanna play?
Spin the wheel, place a bet
Love the rush, but don't forget
Always be ready to walk away (Always be ready to walk away)
Only bet what you can lose
If you ignore these simple rules
What can I say, girl?
Love is for fools! (Love is for fools!)

(Rafaela), (Ensemble)
You bet your life, don't bet your heart
Remember, you can pick and choose
You bet your life, don't bet your heart

You bet your life, don't bet your heart (You bet your life, don't bet your heart)
You'll just wind up alone and blue (You'll just wind up alone and blue)
You bet your life, don't bet your heart (Don't bet your heart)

(Rafaela), (Ensemble)
You say "no way, I'm too smart"
"No one's gonna take my heart"
And then one day he looks at you
And no one's ever looked at you just that way
Watch yourself, that's the start
The wheel spins red or black
Lose your heart, you'll never get it back
Red or black, spin black or red
Live tonight 'cause soon we'll all be dead
Give back my life, give back my heart (Give back my life, give back my heart)
Come on!

[Instrumental Break]

(Suzy)
Contribute to the wine club? Fill me up, big boy

(Rafaela) & (Ensemble)
Listen close to me
Just keep these simple rules
I'm tellin' you the truth, girl
Love is for fools
He can bring you furs (He can bring you furs)
He can bring you jewels (He can bring you jewels)
It doesn't change a thing, girl (It doesn't change a thing, girl)
Love is for fools (Love is for fools)
He can say your eyes (He can say your eyes)
Are like heavenly pools (Are like heavenly pools)
But you know he lies, girl (But you know he lies, girl)
Love is for fools (Love is for fools)
He can say your eyes (You know men lie)
Are like heavenly pools
But you know he lies, girl (You know men lie)
Love is for fools

(Suzy)
Oh shit! The cops! We gotta get outta here!

[TAMARA]
Beauty on the Rue du Faubourg
Men stop, lascivious panting
I can't move, I can't speak, do her feet touch the ground?
This goddess among us, this beauty

Beauty takes your breath, takes your breath
Beauty grabs your heart in its fist
Beauty leaves you lost, just the taste
Come back, beauty, come back
Let me breathe you, beauty

If I ever see her again
I will speak, ask her name, ask her back to my rooms
She will take off her clothes, lie down
And I will
Paint her
I will

Heart, stop!
Am I losing my mind?
She's just a woman who's pretty

But she's flesh and she's chrome
She is steel, she is bone
Her eyes looked right through me like nothing

If I ever see her again
I will speak, ask her name, ask her back to my rooms
She will take off her clothes, lie down
And I will paint her
I will paint her
Oh, paint her
I will

Is this how it feels
When God sends you a muse
And you let her walk away?
I won't rest til I find her
Won't rest til I have her

Portrait
Til I have her portrait in my portfolio

Beauty takes my name, takes my soul
Beauty is the hand at my throat
Beauty, her mouth red with my blood
Come back, give back my soul
Let me love you, beauty

If I ever see her again
I will speak, ask her name, ask her back to my rooms
In the afternoon sun, inhale her perfume
Take her coat, then be close
Smell the scent on her neck
Smell the sweat on her skin
Move her lips, put her hand on her breast
See her there in the light

And I will paint her
I will paint her
I will paint her
I will paint her!

[MARINETTI, spoken]
We fought a war that broke the world in two
The world has irrevocably changed

[MALE STUDENT 1, spoken]
Yes

[MALE STUDENT 2, spoken]
Yes

[MALE STUDENT 3, spoken]
Yes

[MARINETTI, spoken]
We can't go back

[MARINETTI]
Our innocence is gone
We are sober, broken creatures
And we need art that speaks where we live now
With the knowledge of the knife's edge

[MARINETTI, spoken]
But look at this
Trees! The river! And... trees!

[MARINETTI]
A streetlamp glowing down on wet cobblestones
How very Parisian!
It would make some bourgeois housewife happy
When she hangs it behind her couch

[MARINETTI, spoken]
And speaking of couch...
Ah, here we go!
A nude reclining
Why do we ever need to see another goddamn naked woman?!
There's a new beauty in the world today

[MARINETTI]
This is the age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection

[MALE STUDENTS]
Ooh

[MARINETTI]
With speed and steel
Flame-spitting engine of the automobile
Machine perfection!

[MALE STUDENTS]
Ooh

[MARINETTI]
Destroy the past
Destroy convention
Everything that hinders our ascension
To perfection

[MALE STUDENTS]
Beauty, speed, the machine

[MARINETTI]
No more paintings of ballerinas
No more paintings of sad musicians
No more paintings of naked women
Or bowls of f*cking fruit
All must be smashed
Rules are meant to be broken
Glorious destruction — pave the way for truth!

[MALE STUDENTS]
In this new age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection
Ooh

[MARINETTI & (MALE STUDENTS)]
With speed and steel
Flame-spitting engine of the automobile
Machine perfection
(Machine perfection)
(Ooh)
Destroy the past
(The speed, the machine)
Destroy convention
Everything that hinders our ascension
In this new age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection
(Ooh)

[MARINETTI]
Beauty, speed, the machine
The future is barrelling down on us
Feel the rush
Feel the beauty of speed, the machine
The future's careening like a drunken thing
Hear it sing!
Feel the rush of the wind
While the pistons push
Hear the whoosh of the engines that pass you by
See the sky filling up
With machines
Each silver plane, a bird on the wing
The future's upon us!
What a glorious thing!
Can you feel it? This minute?
The future is here!
It's tomorrow now!

[MARINETTI, spoken]
We fought a war that broke the world in two
The world has irrevocably changed

[MALE STUDENT 1, spoken]
Yes

[MALE STUDENT 2, spoken]
Yes

[MALE STUDENT 3, spoken]
Yes

[MARINETTI, spoken]
We can't go back

[MARINETTI]
Our innocence is gone
We are sober, broken creatures
And we need art that speaks where we live now
With the knowledge of the knife's edge

[MARINETTI, spoken]
But look at this
Trees! The river! And... trees!

[MARINETTI]
A streetlamp glowing down on wet cobblestones
How very Parisian!
It would make some bourgeois housewife happy
When she hangs it behind her couch

[MARINETTI, spoken]
And speaking of couch...
Ah, here we go!
A nude reclining
Why do we ever need to see another goddamn naked woman?!
There's a new beauty in the world today

[MARINETTI]
This is the age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection

[MALE STUDENTS]
Ooh

[MARINETTI]
With speed and steel
Flame-spitting engine of the automobile
Machine perfection!

[MALE STUDENTS]
Ooh

[MARINETTI]
Destroy the past
Destroy convention
Everything that hinders our ascension
To perfection

[MALE STUDENTS]
Beauty, speed, the machine

[MARINETTI]
No more paintings of ballerinas
No more paintings of sad musicians
No more paintings of naked women
Or bowls of f*cking fruit
All must be smashed
Rules are meant to be broken
Glorious destruction — pave the way for truth!

[MALE STUDENTS]
In this new age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection
Ooh

[MARINETTI & (MALE STUDENTS)]
With speed and steel
Flame-spitting engine of the automobile
Machine perfection
(Machine perfection)
(Ooh)
Destroy the past
(The speed, the machine)
Destroy convention
Everything that hinders our ascension
In this new age of the machine
Man now can dream of perfection
(Ooh)

[MARINETTI]
Beauty, speed, the machine
The future is barrelling down on us
Feel the rush
Feel the beauty of speed, the machine
The future's careening like a drunken thing
Hear it sing!
Feel the rush of the wind
While the pistons push
Hear the whoosh of the engines that pass you by
See the sky filling up
With machines
Each silver plane, a bird on the wing
The future's upon us!
What a glorious thing!
Can you feel it? This minute?
The future is here!
It's tomorrow now!

The most beautiful bracelet
Is always the one in the window
It's the want, the sweet stinging
Palpable desire, ooh

The most beautiful drug
Is the one you can't get enough of
It's the rush, the warm, the sting
That turns your blood to fire

I know you
Because I am you
We're sisters
'Neath the skin
The only thing you want
Is what you have to win
So what you got to win?

The most beautiful woman
Is always the one across the room
Forbidden by the looks all around you
Fanning your desire

Oh, what happens
When I'm wrappеd around you?
So close
You cannot breathe
Will you livе to hold me?
Or will you up and leave?

Will you leave?

[TAMARA]
Woman is plane, lines, form
Woman is plane, color, light
Woman is speed, green, shattered
Woman is powerful

Woman is shape, breath, form
Woman is bone, muscle, light
Woman is curve and shadow
Woman is beautiful

Black night, bodies and breath
I am alive
Black water, roll me another one
Tobacco and opium
I am on fire

Please let me blow the smoke into your open mouth
Here in the light

Woman is gone all night
Sneak past the room where my daughter sleeps
Sleeping child
Woman is flesh, kiss, lifting
Woman is Rafaela

Black night holding its breath
Are we alive?
Black eyes, falling fast into them
Tobacco and opium
Flicker, match, light

Please let me hold you close here in the breathing dark
Don't close your eyes

A painting is not a woman
Or a warhorse
Or a glittering sky
A painting is canvas, pigment, plan and design
Always design
Every minute designed

Teach me to live, teach me to breathe, teach me to see
No question, no hesitation
Kiss me

I want to feel your soft lips, your sharp teeth
Feel your nails in my flesh, your light, your color, your pulse
Your sweat, your speed, your muscle, your flesh
Your skin, your bone

Your shadow, your breath, your blood
Your mouth, your cry shattered
Your heartbeat, your heartbeat, your heartbeat
Your heartbeat, your heartbeat

Warm dawn, bodies and breath
I am alive
Damp sheets
Watching your body rise
Tangled hair on the pillow
In the soft light

Please let me watch you here
Don't wake up turning
Don't open your eyes

[MARINETTI]
Right here, easy, life is sweet
We don't have much but enough to eat
Keep the butter on ice for the flaky pastry
That makes the other nations green with envy

Ah-ha, Ah-ha, Ah-ah, Ah-ha
Ah-ha, Ah-ha

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Ah-ha, Ah-ha, Ah-ah, Ah-ha
Ah-ha, Ah-ha

[MARINETTI]
We've come through the Great War
And now that's done
There will never be another one
That's what they told you when you lost your son

Whoa-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh

[MARINETTI]
There's a stock market crash across the sea
Sentiment une tragédie
But that won't affect us, here in Pari
Pari will always be Pari

Right?
Pari will always be Pari

[ART DEALER, spoken]
Yes, I see what you mean. More work like this

[TAMARA, spoken]
I've got more

[ART DEALER, spoken]
Then I can fit her in; early next year

[TAMARA, spoken]
I heard there's an opening next month

[ART DEALER, spoken]
You'd need thirty pieces

[TAMARA, spoken]
I've got thirty pieces

[MARINETTI, spoken]
You do?

[TAMARA, spoken]
I will

[MARINETTI]
There's a controversy heard 'round the world
Concerning women and girls
Is it too high, the new hemline?
The latest hat, let go, that's mine!

[MARINETTI and ENSEMBLE]
We've come through the great war
And now that's done
There will never be another one
That's the reason your husband's gone

Whoa-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh

There's a fire in the Reichstag in Germany
Sentiment une tragédie
But that won't affect us, here in Pari
Pari will always be Pari

Pari will always be Pari
Pari will always be

[TAMARA]
Paintings can be turned to money
Money can be turned to jewelry
In case we have to leave in the middle of the night
In case, in case, in case, in case

Paintings can be turned to money
Pigment can be turned to jewelry
Paint will never sleep in the middle of the night
Cobalt, viridian, cocaine, valerian

Paintings can be turned to money-

[KIZETTE, spoken]
Cherie, coffee

[TAMARA]
Money can- ah, Kizette, merci
In case we have to leave in the middle of the night
Time for bed now

[KIZETTE, spoken]
I'm not a baby

[TAMARA]
Paintings can-

[KIZETTE, spoken]
Cherie, coffee

[BARONESS, spoken]
What about Germany?

[TAMARA]
Money, Kizette, merci

[BARON, spoken]
Just a little unrest

[TAMARA]
Middle of the night
Where's your father?

[KIZETTE, spoken]
He's out with a lady

[TAMARA]
Paintings-

[KIZETTE, spoken]
Cherie, coffee

[BARONESS, spoken]
Germany?

[TAMARA]
Money

[BARON, spoken]
Just a little unrest

[BARONESS, spoken]
What about Hitler?

[TAMARA]
Middle of the night

[BARON, spoken]
He's a joke

[BARONESS, spoken]
That joke got elected

[RAFAELA, spoken]
You're late

[TAMARA, spoken]
Couldn't get away

[RAFAELA, spoken]
I'm drunk

[TAMARA, spoken]
Good God, the way you smell. You make me dizzy, just the scent of your skin. I've missed you

[RAFAELA, spoken]
Sweet talk

[TAMARA]
You make me weak

[RAFAELA]
I make you strong

[TOGETHER]
Breathing closer til the dawn

[MARINETTI, spoken]
The new woman is taking over Paris. She's driving an automobile. She's wearing pants. She even wants to vote. And now the new woman has her own painter

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Tamara de Lempicka finds inspiration in the women she sees daily in Paris

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Women with hard edges and intoxicating curves

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time

[MARINETTI, spoken]
Her first solo show opening tonight, the place to see and be seen

[ENSEMBLE]
Whoa-oh oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh

[TAMARA]
Woman is plane, lines, form
Woman is plane, color, light

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Our time

[TAMARA]
Woman is speed, shattered
Woman is

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Our time
Our time

[MARINETTI]
We've come through the Great War
Those days are done
There can never be another one
An endless peace now, under the sun

Whoa

[TAMARA, overlapping]
Paintings must be turned to money
Money must be-

[MARINETTI]
And they're building tanks in the factories
Sentiment une tragédie
But that won't affect us, here in Pari
Pari will always be

[MARINETTI and ENSEMBLE]
Pari will always be
Pari will always be

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Pari will always be

[MARINETTI]
Pari

[TADEUSZ]
The new woman
Strides through the world
The new woman
Drives a motorcar
The new woman
Pursued at every turn
By gentlemen filled with admiration

[TAMARA]
The new woman
Shows her profile
No longer looking down, demure
But to the horizon
She wants more

[TADEUSZ]
Than you could ever give her

[TAMARA]
More life

[TADEUSZ]
She will devour

[TAMARA]
More men

[TADEUSZ]
She will devour

[BOTH]
More speed and grace and power
The nеw woman

[TADEUSZ]
And maybe I need a new woman
Someonе amusing who won't give me grief

[TAMARA]
A little bit dumb?

[TADEUSZ]
Oh, would be a relief
Honestly

[TAMARA]
Honestly

[TADEUSZ]
Who looks up at me
Eyes filled with admiration

[TAMARA]
Not a moment's hesitation

[BOTH]
A new woman

[TADEUSZ]
Someone amusing

[TAMARA]
And carefree

[BOTH]
In line

[TADEUSZ]
Well, I don't want a new woman
I want

[TAMARA]
I want

[TADEUSZ]
A million miles of road
From where we were to where we are
It's hard to believe

A million miles of road
It's only made me love you more
Don't ask me to just watch you leave

[TAMARA]
I'll never leave you

[TADEUSZ]
A million miles of road
From a boy and a girl in a Petrograd night

[TAMARA]
How could I leave you?

[TADEUSZ]
A million miles of road
I won't give you up, not without a fight

I know she's still in there
That girl, wide-eyed
The only one I ever wanted
By my side
The girl who would cling to me
Like a vine

Well, I don't want a new woman
I want the woman who's mine

[RAFAELA]
Been on my own since I was 10
Show any weakness and you're dead
Now look at me
Emeralds on my wrist
My heart beats, trying to get out of my chest
Is this what it feels like to lie down and rest?

When I wake up
You're painting
When I wake up
You're here

Maybe I'll stay
The stones glitter hard and bright
And clear
Maybe I'll stay
You make me want things I thought
Would never be mine
I learned to love the leaving
That was fine

Now look at me
A messy bеd in the corner, my lover
Mixing just that shadе of green
Is this what it feels like
To be seen

When I wake up
You're painting
When I wake up
You're here
Maybe I'll stay

One light hard and bright
And clear
Watching the world you see
Come into shape on the canvas
The way you look at me
Can I escape from the canvas
Colors hard and bright
And clear
In the middle of it all
I'm here

You're painting

I think I'll stay
Hard, bright, and clear
I'm here

[RAFAELA]
I pictured you a little older

[TADEUSZ]
I pictured you lying down

[RAFAELA, spoken]
I often do

[TADEUSZ]
She has captured that aspect of you perfectly
At the last dinner party we attended
I had a view of your...
Charming anatomy
It seems you are following me

[RAFAELA]
Or are you following me?

[TADEUSZ]
I can see what she sees

[RAFAELA]
I can see what she sees

[BOTH]
I can see what she sees
In you

[RAFAELA]
You've seen the paintings

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
Ah, but there's more, a certain rough-

[RAFAELA]
I can see the appeal
Your sort of class
Those long, clean elegant lines
The tight ass

[TADEUSZ]
That irresistible whiff
Of the gutter

[RAFAELA, spoken]
F*ck you

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
That mouth

[TADEUSZ]
I can see what she sees

[RAFAELA]
I can see what she sees

[TADEUSZ]
I can see what she sees

[RAFAELA]
I can see what she sees

[TADEUSZ]
I can see what she sees / in you

[RAFAELA]
/ I can see in you

[TADEUSZ]
It's a shame

[RAFAELA]
It's a shame

[BOTH]
I was starting to like you
Don't wanna break your heart
But you know it's true

[TADEUSZ]
She needs me on her arm to get away with
Painting you
She may stray
But she's staying with me

[RAFAELA]
You seem very sure

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
I am

[RAFAELA]
But maybe she's changed
You know she's not the same
You can see it in her eyes
You know why?
Cause I'm the one who makes her feel alive

[TADEUSZ]
I know she'll always do what she needs to
To survive

[RAFAELA]
I can see

[TADEUSZ]
I can see

[RAFAELA]
In you

[BOTH]
I can see, I can
See

[TADEUSZ]
I can see what she sees in you

[RAFAELA]
And I wonder if she's like you

[TADEUSZ]
I can see / what she sees / in you

[RAFAELA]
/ I can see / what she sees in you

[TAMARA]
This can't be the end
The center will hold
This can't be the end
I will grow old here

In this place
Where I was always meant to be
Pari will always be Pari
But if Pari were not Pari

One, one bracelet
Replace three stones with glass
Papers to cross the border
Be ready for whatever comes to pass

One bracelet for passage
One little family of three
If we had to leavе tonight then
One bracelеt sets us free
But, no need to set us free it
Can't happen in Pari

If this might be the end
We'll fight with all that we are
In every taxi stand
And whiskey bar

We won't give in
To gangs of vicious men
Why should ugliness win again
But if they win again

One, one bracelet
Replace three stones with glass
Papers for Kizette and me
A little ink and we replace the past
My father's religion
Not Jew, but Christian

If we had to leave tonight then
One bracelet sets us free
But, no need to set us free it
Can't happen in Pari

Here it is, here it comes
Staring down the barrel of a gun
Will I stay? Will I run?
Will I stay, will I run

[ENSEMBLE]
Here it is, here it comes
Staring down the barrel of a gun
Will I stay? Will I run?

[TAMARA]
Is this the endgame of perfection?
No ideals here just destruction
This is not a revolution

[ENSEMBLE]
Destroy the past
Destroy convention
Anything that hinders our ascension
Revolution

[TAMARA]
The world spins

[ENSEMBLE]
Whoa-oh

[TAMARA]
Who lives who dies

[ENSEMBLE]
Whoa-oh

[TAMARA]
How will we know
Can we know
What to do to survive

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
Revolution!
Whoa-oh

[TAMARA]
When everything shatters
What matters
You and I

Why do I want to paint perfection?
Gleaming skin and steel
When all that matters
Is what is real

The heartbeat fluttering beneath her skin
The fingers curled around a glass of gin
The eyes accusing me
Of what? I don't know
Did she always know
I would have to go

Two bracelets
Replace three stones with glass
Papers for Rafaela
Be ready for whatever comes to pass

Two bracelets for passage
A dark time in Pari
But tonight
Tonight we're still free

[ENSEMBLE]
Here it is
Here it comes
Here it is
Here it comes
Here it is
Here it comes
Here it is
Here it comes

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
Where were you? With her?

[TAMARA, spoken]
It's been a terrible night. Can we fight about this later?

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
I will not be dangled like a plaything. I am your husband!

[TAMARA, spoken]
Alright. We'll do this now

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
It's her or me

[TAMARA, spoken]
Is that the best you've got? A polite ultimatum?

(sung)
Handsome men never learn to fight
Always had everything handed to you
Not me
Everything I have I grabbed with these two hands

You've never fought for anything, but I have
I got you!
Belly swelling as I walked down the aisle

Biggеst risk a girl can take
But I knew you'd marry me
In a drеss with a train forty feet long
I knew you'd marry me

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
My father was not happy

[TAMARA, spoken]
But we were! Remember

(sung)
Fight for this now
Don't let go
Don't walk away when we're so close
This is all we ever wanted

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
What you want. You don't know what I want!

[TAMARA]
Fight for this now

[TADEUSZ]
A land where I belong

[TAMARA]
Don't let go

[TADEUSZ]
Home

[TAMARA]
Don't lose your nerve, we're getting so close

[TADEUSZ]
Dignity

[TAMARA]
To all we ever wanted

[TADEUSZ]
This is nothing that I wanted

[TAMARA, spoken]
Do you know what I've done for you?
You used to ask
Did you just stop wondering the price I paid for your freedom?

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
Tamara?

[TAMARA, spoken]
You know how I got you out?

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
No!

[TAMARA]
I let them do anything to me
Whatever they wanted
And you know what?
It didn't touch me
I walked out of there clean

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
Tamara, God, no!

[TAMARA]
Because I had you!
Because I loved you
Fight for this now

[TADEUSZ]
No!

[TAMARA]
Come on!
Don't let go
Fight for this now
You must know
You are all I ever wanted

[TADEUSZ]
No!

[TAMARA]
Fight for this now!

[TADEUSZ]
You should have left me there to die

[TAMARA]
I won't let you go

[TADEUSZ]
God, I can't

[MARINETTI]
The chrome shines like a woman's hair
In the light
Feel the beauty of speed
The machine, make it clean

The beauty of speed
The machine, the future
Is barreling down on us
Feel the rush

[TAMARA, spoken]
There you are, thank God

[RAFAELA, spoken]
You think you know me because you painted my picture a time or two

[TAMARA, spoken]
Seven

[RAFAELA, spoken]
All that looking. Did you ever see me?

[TAMARA, spoken]
When I couldn't find you, I thought I'd go crazy

[RAFAELA, spoken]
I am tired of being something you hide

[TAMARA, spoken]
You know it's too dangerous. Someday maybe people will understand

[RAFAELA, spoken]
When?

[TAMARA, spoken]
When the world is not in flames

[RAFAELA, spoken]
When will that be?

[TAMARA, spoken]
Don't you see what's happening in this country? Across Europe? Everywhere! Money is the only thing that can protect you. Without money you get swept away, you're nothing!

[RAFAELA, spoken]
Oh. So I'm nothing?

(sung)
What was I to you?

[TAMARA, spoken]
My love

[RAFAELA]
Another bauble you had to have?

[TAMARA, spoken]
My jewel!

[RAFAELA]
A jewel?
Something you could buy to show the world?

[TAMARA]
Your eyes so cold
How can they be?
Like the Black Sea
So cold your heart stops before drowning

[RAFAELA]
Men buy, they rent me

[TAMARA]
I'll buy you anything you want

[RAFAELA]
I'm an hour or two they've spent

[TAMARA]
Shoes, dress, an apartment

[RAFAELA]
A week at the beach sometimes if they please

[BOTH]
A month at the chateau

[RAFAELA]
While the wife is overseas

[TAMARA]
Please

[RAFAELA]
I know what men say

[TAMARA]
Stay with me please

[RAFAELA]
I know what you believe

[TAMARA]
Rafaela!

[RAFAELA]
You stole my soul
I can't let go
Give back my life
Give back my heart
Give back the time I didn't know you

Give back my life
Give back my heart

[TAMARA]
You think I don't love you

[RAFAELA]
Give back my life

[TAMARA]
It's torture to love you

[RAFAELA]
Give back my heart
Give back the time I didn't know you

[TAMARA (overlapping)]
It's torture to let you go
Though you burn me, no
I can't let you go
I can't let you go

[RAFAELA (overlapping)]
Give back my life
Give back my heart

Leave him!
Be with me
In the light, no more lies

Leave him
Love me

There's no one watching
It's just the two of us

[TAMARA, spoken]
He is my name. My family. He is who I am

[RAFAELA]
You stole my soul
I can't let go

[TAMARA, spoken]
Rafaela, I can't

[RAFAELA]
I can't let go

(overlapping)
Give back my life
Give back my heart
Give back the time I didn't know you
Give back my life
Give back my heart
Give back my life
Give back my heart
Give back the time I didn't know you
Give back my life
Give back my heart

[TAMARA (overlapping)]
Fight for this now
You are all I ever wanted
Fight for this now
You are all I ever wanted

[TADEUSZ (overlapping)]
No
This is nothing that I wanted
No!
This is nothing that I wanted

[MARINETTI (overlapping)]
The beauty of speed
The machine, the future
Is barreling down on us
Feel the rush

Feel the beauty of speed
The machine, the future
Is careening like a drunken thing
Hear it sing

Feel the rush of the wind
While the pistons push
Hear the whoosh of the engines
That pass you by

See the sky filling up
With machines, each silver plane
A machine

[RAFAELA, spoken]
Coward. Run back to your husband

[TAMARA, spoken]
Rafaela, please

[RAFAELA, spoken]
You will regret this til your dying breath

[TAMARA, spoken]
Tadeusz. She's gone. It's just us

[TADEUSZ, spoken]
It's too late. I'm sorry, Mouse

[ENSEMBLE]
Ooh, ooh
Ooh, ooh
Our time, our time
Our time, our time

[MARINETTI]
The glory of metal that flies on by
The beauty of combustion, a knife that gleams
While it severs the past from us
Feel the rush, feel the freedom
Of now, made clean, make it speed
Make it metal, the future is now
It's a mighty gleaming thing
Cutting through the blue sky
To tomorrow
Now!

[BARONESS]
It's the end of time!
Can you stop time?

I'd like him to remember me
Just this way
Today, how the light comes in unhurried
As if it will always be a sunny April day
Can you capture this moment?
Catch me before I fall?
Your eyes — I know that piercing way you see
No sentiment, no weakness
Just let him remember me
Like this...
[spoken] My husband is a little bit in love with you

[TAMARA]
We enjoy each other's company, that's all

[BARONESS]
Take him with you when you go

[TAMARA]
You will go together

[BARONESS]
I don't need pretty lies, I need to know that you will do this!
[sung] Despair is a luxury
We don't have time
You want to give up? I don't care
Get up off the floor, do what only you can do:
Capture something small, capture something true
Just this moment, just this room
My arm resting on the chair
The light through the window

[TAMARA]
The shadow of a leaf on your hair

[BARONESS]
After I'm gone, what will remain?
My arm

[TAMARA]
Your arm

[BOTH]
Resting on the chair

[BARONESS]
The light through the window

[BOTH]
The shadow of a leaf

[TAMARA]
On your hair

[BARONESS]
Tell them once, "I was there"
Tell me now, will I be there?

I'd like him to remember me
Just this way;
How the light comes in unhurried
As if it will always be this sunny April day

The light comes in sublime
The scent of Persian lime;
And everything is perfect
In its way
Do you have that magic
To make a moment stay?

I'd like him to remember
Please, help him to remember
I want him to remember me
Just this way...

[KIZETTE, spoken]
Mama, it's time
[sung] Starting over...

[BARON]
Starting over...

[TAMARA]
In the blasted California sun
No grey can survive
Where is my blessed blue, deep and ancient
Glistening on canvas since the Medicis?
Where is the grey of the Paris sky?
The grey of her eyes?
Nothing but avocado and orange:
A palette utterly devoid of poetry

In the blasted California sun
It is a bitch to outlive
Your own context

Oh, you've gotta go to New York for culture
New York - I've got jewelry older than New York!
Nonetheless, everything else
Is gone...

[BARON]
Starting over...

[TAMARA]
The apartment on Fifth Avenue is lovely, darling
But perhaps I prefer Beverly Hills after all
This home used to belong to King Vidor
Of course, that's just his name
He wasn't actually a king

All the best people they've got clamor for the Baroness at their parties
But no one would dream of commissioning a portrait
Where would it hang?

No grand houses, no grand faces
No grand lights
Thirteen years, no gallery shows
I pass the time

Raoul died in his sleep
I wept, to my surprise, for five days straight
We were good together
Good to each other
We learn late sometimes
Mmm...
In the blasted California sun
It is a bitch to outlive
Everyone...

[TAMARA]
Woman is shape, breath, form
Woman is bone, muscle, light
Woman is curve and shadow
Woman is...

[AUCTIONEER 1, spoken]
Yes, I discovered her — the name is Lempicka. She had been completely forgotten. I found a whole cache of these canvases in a storage vault in Paris. Amazing representation of that era!

[TAMARA, sung]
And time — merciless beast —
Keeps speeding by

[AUCTIONEER 1, spoken]
So decadent! So Deco!

[TAMARA, sung]
Unsee seeing, making us dizzy
Spin and velocity
Grip the wheel tight

[AUCTIONEER 1 , spoken]
But there's something about this work —

[TAMARA]
Stop

[AUCTIONEER 1]
It reaches out

[TAMARA]
Just stop

[AUCTIONEER 1]
It grabs you

[TAMARA]
Catch one moment!

[AUCTIONEER 1]
Thе women are like machinеs! The machines are like women!

[BUYER]
I bid!

[AUCTIONEER 1]
Sold for $2.3 million

[AUCTIONEER 2]
For $12.6 million

[AUCTIONEER 1]
$25 million!

[TAMARA, sung]
Spinning so fast
The world rushes by, a giant machine
Can you make the world stop?
Just for a moment?

They're your dark eyes, they're your smile
Your laugh, your stride, your light
Your color, your pulse
Your sweat, your speed
Your muscle, your flesh
Your skin, your bone
Your shadow, your breath
Your blood, your mouth
Your cry shattered
[repeated]

[ENSEMBLE, overlapping]
The world spins...
The world spins...
Revolution!
Revolution!
The world spins...

[TAMARA, overlapping]
Your dark eyes, they're your smile
Your laugh, your stride, your light...

[ENSEMBLE]
The world spins
We live, we die
How can we know?
We never know what will survive (Revolution!)
When everything shatters, what matters?
You and I...
The world spins, hold on tight

Our time!
The world never stops its spin (Revolution!)
Our time!
The stars never stop their shine (Hold on tight)
You and I, what will we do?
(Now it's) Our time!
Our time...

[TAMARA]
We do not control the world

[ENSEMBLE]
Our time...

[TAMARA]
We control one flat rectangle of canvas
At a time...