The Queen of Versailles has brought a dose of American royalty to the Main Stem. The new musical from Stephen Schwartz, and starring his Wicked muse Kristin Chenoweth, opened November 9 at the St. James Theatre. And the reviews are out.
Chenoweth is both starring and co-producing in the new work, playing the titular role of Jackie Siegel opposite Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) as David Siegel. The musical, adapted from Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary by book writer Lindsay Ferrentino (The Fear of 13), follows the couple's endeavor to build the largest private home in the country in Orlando, Florida, only for the 2008 recession to dampen their dreams and lavish lifestyle.
Read the reviews below.
- 1 Minute Critic (Matthew Wexler)
- Associated Press (Mark Kennedy)
- Cititour (Brian Scott Lipton)
- Culture Sauce (Thom Geier)
- Daily Beast (Tim Teeman)*
- Entertainment Weekly (Dalton Ross)
- Los Angeles Times (Charles McNulty)*
- New York Daily News (Chris Jones)
- New York Magazine / Vulture (Sara Holdren)*
- New York Notebook (Sandy MacDonald)
- New York Post (Johnny Oleksinski)
- New York Stage Review (Bob Verini)
- New York Stage Review (David Finkle)
- New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)
- New York Theatre Guide (Joe Dziemianowicz)
- New York Times (Laura Collins-Hughes)*
- The Recs (Randall David Cook )
- Slant (Dan Rubins)
- TheaterMania (Zachary Stewart)
- Theatrely (Joey Sims)
- Time Out New York (Adam Feldman)
- Variety (Aramide Tinubu)
- Washington Post (Naveen Kumar)*
*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Two-time Tony winner Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending) is at the helm.
Both Chenoweth and Abraham are reprising their performances from the musical's pre-Broadway tryout last year, along with Melody Butiu (Here Lies Love) as Sofia, Stephen DeRosa (BOOP! The Musical) as John, Greg Hildreth (Company) as Gary, Tatum Grace Hopkins (Meek) as Jonquil, Isabel Keating (The Boy From Oz) as Debbie, and Nina White (Kimberly Akimbo) as Victoria. Broadway favorite Sherie Rene Scott will play Jackie Siegel at certain performances (find out when here).
READ: To Kristin Chenoweth, Queen of Versailles Is 'a Cautionary Tale of the American Dream'
The company also includes Pablo David Laucerica, David Aaron Damane, KJ Hippensteel, Drew Elhamalawy, Michael McCorry Rose, Andrew Kober, Ryah Nixon, Shea Renee, Cassondra James, and Yeman Brown. Standby Christopher Gurr, and swings Jesse Kovarsky, Travis Murad Leland, Grace Slear, Anne Fraser Thomas, and Jake Bentley Young round out the company. Casting is by Stephen Kopel and Carrie Gardner of C12 Casting.
The production also features choreography by Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher Cree Grant (Parade), music supervision by Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Some Like It Hot), scenic and video design by Dane Laffrey (Maybe Happy Ending), costume design by fashion designer Christian Cowan, lighting design by Natasha Katz (Sweeney Todd), sound design by Peter Hylenski (Beetlejuice), hair and wig design by Cookie Jordan, orchestrations by John Clancy, technical costume design by Ryan Park, props by Ray Wetmore and JR Goodman, music coordination by Kristy Norter, and resident direction by Stephen Sposito. Clarissa Marie Ligon is production stage manager.
The Queen of Versailles is being produced by Bill Damaschke, Seaview, and Chenoweth's Diva Worldwide Entertainment, Jack Lane, Tanninger Entertainment, PamHurst-Della Pietra & Stephen Della Pietra, and Nelda Yaw Buckman/Natasha Davison/Dori Berinstein.
Visit QueenOfVersaillesMusical.com.