War Paint

Overview

War Paint is a musical with music by Scott Frankel, lyrics by Michael Korie, and a book by Doug Wright. It is based both on Lindy Woodhead's 2004 book War Paint and on the 2007 documentary film The Powder & the Glory by Ann Carol Grossman and Arnie Reisman. The musical relates the rivalry between two important women of the cosmetics industry, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, from the 1930s to the 1960s. Elizabeth Arden was the daughter of a Canadian farmer and presented her products as emblems of an upper-class life of comfort. Helena Rubinstein, from Poland, "emphasized science", promising an "exotic look." That was "code for Jewish" according to Scott Frankel.

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