“It’s shock, disbelief, excitement, you want to throw up, and happiness,” exclaims Amber Iman as she recounts the emotions she felt after learning that she earned her first ever Tony nomination. “There’s an overwhelming sense of joy.” The delight she felt is years in the making, having put her imagination to the test to create her character in “Lempicka.” Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Iman portrays Rafaela in the new musical, a muse-turned-lover of the titular Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka (Eden Espinosa). While there is plentiful information available about Tamara, little is actually known about Rafaela. “There’s literally two pieces of information. We know she was a sex worker and we know that she met Tamara, and Tamara painted her seven times in one year. That’s it,” reveals Iman. The actress is thankful that book writer and lyricist Carson Kreitzer crafted a multi-dimensional person from so few details. “There really was nothing to research because she really is Carson’s creation, and just a lot of conversations between she and I about who this woman is and how we believe she may have moved through the world based on the paintings,” explains Iman.
WATCH Eden Espinosa video interview: ‘Lempicka’
Kreitzer and composer Matt Gould have spent the past 14 years shepherding “Lempicka” to Broadway, but Iman only joined after seeing the 2018 production in Williamstown. But the performer still felt plenty of room to make Rafaela her own. “The reputation that I’ve built for myself is when people bring me in the room, they want me, all of me. My ideas, my thoughts,” describes Iman. “I approached it as if this was day one for Rafaela, period.”
Case in point: one of Rafaela’s signature songs, “Stay,” is a moment that Iman asked for. Several years into the development process, the actress told the writers that she couldn’t find Rafaela’s true motivations in the script. “I looked at Carson and Matt and I was like, I need to know why I’m here,” she recalls, “And then Matt went home and wrote ‘Stay.’ I just want the tools, the things that I need to tell the clearest story.”
The tenderness and simplicity of ‘Stay’ feels powerful for a character who, up until that point in the story, has been alluring but seldom vulnerable. The song allows the chance for Iman to depict Rafaela with her guard down as she reflects on the love she feels from Tamara, and sings the profound question: “Is this what it feels like to be seen?” “There are not a lot of supporting characters that are drawn so vividly and clearly and get to show and display so many different colors,” admits Iman. “It’s so much meat, which is rare for a lot of featured roles. So I’m so grateful that Carson and Matt listened to me and understood what I was asking for.”