Through April 18, Sotheby’s New York is hosting “The World of Tamara: A Celebration of Lempicka and Art Deco,” a selling exhibition centered on the paintings of pioneering Polish-born artist Tamara de Lempicka, along with works by her contemporaries and jewels of the era. The sale was purposely pegged to the April 14 opening of the new biographical Broadway musical Lempicka, written by Carson Kreitzer and Matt Gould.
Incidentally, jewelry pops up frequently in the play: Tamara (played by Eden Espinosa) offers diamonds to guards in an attempt to free her imprisoned husband, Tadeusz (Andrew Samonsky); she buys herself a jewel to celebrate her success; and she gifts her lover Rafaela (Amber Iman) a bracelet, telling her that if she ever needs money to sell it stone by stone.
So that got us thinking about jewelry to go with more of this season’s new shows…
The Notebook
Apparently Monica Rich Kosann had the same idea as we did! The designer, who’s renowned for her sentimental necklaces, created an official heart necklace for The Notebook, a musical version of the 2004 tearjerking Rachel McAdams–Ryan Gosling movie. The drop-shape white sapphire is Kosann’s homage to the story’s famous rain scene.
Water for Elephants
The circus-set acrobatic musical Water for Elephants puts the elephant front and center everywhere in its marketing: You can get an official W4E pin, magnet, keychain, T-shirt, hoodie, and cap with the show’s elephant logo. There’s even an elephant plush toy for sale. We couldn’t think of a better jewelry pairing than Parisian brand Mazarin, which calls the elephant its “totem.”
The Who’s Tommy
After seeing the revival of The Who’s Tommy, naturally we went in search of jewelry that paid homage to the show’s catchiest song, “Pinball Wizard.” Mondo Mondo’s Pinball necklace comes in two colorways, but this one has a silver ball—just like in the lyric (“Ever since I was a young boy / I’ve played the silver ball…”).
Suffs
In Suffs, the struggle for women’s voting rights gets a musical spin with an all-woman cast and powerhouse female producers including Hillary Rodham Clinton and Malala Yousafzai. Show your support by wearing the suffragists’ official colors—purple, gold, and white—which are all in this Arnold Jewelers piece dating back to the 1910s (the 19th Amendment was passed in 1919, and ratified in 1920).
Hell’s Kitchen
Alicia Keys’ valentine to her New York City teen years, Hell’s Kitchen, demands made-in-NYC jewelry. Nothing else could do justice to the “concrete jungle where dreams are made of,” as Keys’ hit “Empire State of Mind” goes. Does it get more New York than Julie Lamb’s City collection, which features manhole cover and subway token designs? Fun fact: Lamb’s first Manhattan apartment was on 51st Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in…Hell’s Kitchen.
Cabaret
For Cabaret, it’s tempting to choose something sparkly that nightclub singer Sally Bowles (played by Gayle Rankin) might wear, or a flapper-era accessory to match one of the Kit Kat Club girls. But I have a soft spot for supporting characters Herr Schultz (Steven Skybell) and Fräulein Schneider (Bebe Neuwirth), whose unlikely romance involves an extravagant tropical fruit. In “It Couldn’t Please Me More,” colloquially known as “The Pineapple Song,” Fräulein Schneider swoons and sings: “I can hear Hawaiian breezes blow.” Replies Herr Schultz: “It’s from California.” Look at these pineapple earrings by Ariel Gordon, and you just might hear Hawaiian breezes; incidentally, they’re handmade in California.
The Great Gatsby
Any adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age–set The Great Gatsby is bound to be full of fabulous art deco jewelry: Think geometric designs, white metals, sautoirs and lariats, tassels, onyx accents…the list goes on and on. This stunner of a cluster ring dates to 1925, the year the novel was published.
The Wiz
Anything green would be appropriate for The Wiz. After all, Dorothy & Co. are going to the Emerald City. And anything gold would work when you ease on down the (yellow brick) road. But with this articulated Eden Presley locket you can—as the song says—“Be a Lion.”
The Outsiders
First, S.E. Hinton’s 1967 coming-of-age novel The Outsiders became a Francis Ford Coppola–directed, Brat Pack–filled 1983 movie; now, it’s become an Angelina Jolie–produced musical. The setting? Tulsa, Oklahoma. The color of this charming piece? Gold, because as Johnny famously tells Ponyboy, “Stay gold.” Guaranteed to please a Greaser or a Soc.
Merrily We Roll Along
If you’ve seen the hit revival of Merrily We Roll Along, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s backward-moving salute to showbiz and friendship, you’ll know where we’re going here: Taking place in 1957, the final scene finds pajama-clad future BFFs Frank (Jonathan Groff), Charley (Daniel Radcliffe), and Mary (Lindsay Mendez) on a roof, binoculars in hand, waiting for the arrival of a certain Soviet satellite. “Do you call it Sputnik or Spoot-nik?” asks Mary. This Sputnik cocktail ring is the perfect souvenir for any diehard Merrily fan (you know who you are).
Stereophonic
Technically, this is not a musical. But David Adjmi’s play, featuring songs by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler, takes place entirely in a recording studio as a squabbling 1970s band (read: Fleetwood Mac) struggles to record its second album. So anything from Jade Ruzzo’s Percussion collection—the Castanets earrings, the Cowbell earrings (in various sizes, because sometimes you need more cowbell), the Drum Head rings, the Chime earrings, the Snare Strand bracelet, etc.—sounds terrific to us. But we’re especially partial to the 18k gold Cymbal pendants, which come in small, medium, and large, with diamond and colored gemstone centers (and yes, they can be customized).
Top: Eden Espinosa as Tamara de Lempicka in Lempicka (photo: Emilio Madrid)
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