(Jason Sinoman’s article appeared in The New York Times, 7/6.)
This month, the Broadway world shifts its focus, as it periodically does, to Chicago, where one of the most anticipated new musicals of the year opens at the Goodman Theater, featuring two titans of the stage playing giants of industry. In “War Paint,” currently in previews and opening July 18, before what will be a certain transfer to Broadway, the two-time Tony winners Patti LuPone (“Evita,” “Gypsy”) and Christine Ebersole (“42nd Street,” “Grey Gardens”) play dueling C.E.O.s whose cosmetics empires helped define the multibillion-dollar beauty business. With a score by Scott Frankel and a book by Doug Wright, the show portrays the rivalry of Helena Rubinstein and Elizabeth Arden.