NEW YORK (AP) — For much of the new Broadway show, *The Queen of Versailles*, the set is covered in tarps and slipcovers. That’s fitting for a musical that ultimately feels still under construction.
Based on a 2012 documentary film about the quixotic attempt to build the largest private home in America, the show reunites star Kristin Chenoweth with her *Wicked* songwriter Stephen Schwartz. Yet, despite this promising collaboration, the production has an unfinished feel, as if some spackling and sanding is desperately needed.
*The Queen of Versailles*, which opened Sunday night at the St. James Theatre, doesn’t quite grasp why socialite Jacqueline “Jackie” Siegel is so dogged in completing an American replica of Versailles in Orlando, Florida, despite recession and personal tragedy. Lindsey Ferrentino’s story wavers between ridicule and championing Siegel’s pie-in-the-sky vision, failing at biting satire and ultimately missing a chance to say something meaningful about wealth inequality as America flirts with economic disaster once again.
“I don’t know if they’re laughing with us or at us,” says a niece, summing up the whole audience experience.
The musical is very much in the shadow of the second administration of Donald Trump, with references to the White House, East Wing, and McDonald’s. It is set in a cavernous grand ballroom still under construction, which only in the final minutes reveals itself as an ornate room adorned with marble and gold trim. When Siegel is asked why she’s undertaking this massive project, her very Trumpian answer is: “Because I can.”
Jackie Siegel, a would-be engineer-turned-beauty pageant contestant, ends up a single mom leaving an abusive relationship. She later becomes the wife of the much older David Siegel, who earned billions selling timeshares, portrayed with reptilian charm by F. Murray Abraham.
“Only in America can you become a wife, a billionaire and a Jew all in one day,” she jokes.
After a visit to the real Versailles, the couple decides to build their own version. But the reason why remains unclear. Is it to have everyone she loves under one 90,000-square-foot roof? Or perhaps a bid at American royalty — a way “they’ll remember my family and me.”
This is not a void she is filling from neglect, as her loving parents are content in their small home, expressed charmingly in the song “Little Houses.”
Then comes the global recession of 2008. Jackie reflects, “David opened up a door to this other world. Did you know our whole country is actually run by a bunch of billionaires most of us had never even heard of? It’s real crazy.” This is as close to political commentary as the show ever gets.
Act 2 picks up where the documentary left off. It charts a riches-to-rags-to-riches-again story, though some moments remain puzzling—like a song about a dead lizard that feels out of place.
Following a tragic overdose by their daughter who longs to be normal, Jackie vows: “I’ve got to change / I’m going to change,” but ultimately she doesn’t. Members of the 18th-century French aristocracy, who have periodically appeared throughout the show, face the guillotine in a jarring tonal shift, reminiscent of *Hamilton*. Both reptile and human bodies pile up in the second act until Siegel ends up alone, holding a champagne flute and posing for social media on her ballroom’s glittering master staircase.
Tony Award-winner Michael Arden, directing a musical about excess, throws everything on the stage: golf carts, Elvis impersonators, a projection of George W. Bush, a small fluffy dog, bills and confetti tossed into the audience, and action spilling over into theater boxes and aisles.
Schwartz’s songs range from the twangy “The Ballad of the Timeshare King” to the brassy “Show ’Em You’re the Queen” and the cheeky “Keep On Thrustin’.” Perhaps the best song, however, is not sung by Chenoweth but by a daughter character, a strong Nina White, in “Pretty Wins.” Still, few tunes prove very memorable.
Chenoweth, born to shine in a spangly dress and command center stage on Broadway, is perfect for the role—a constant, welcome jolt of in-on-it theatricality—but she is let down by dialogue that’s not as funny as it could be and by a character that feels unfocused.
Despite an out-of-town tryout in Boston, *The Queen of Versailles* still feels like it needs a cast of construction workers hammering away in yellow vests to fill the stage. In short, it’s not quite completed.
https://mymotherlode.com/entertainment/10166391/theater-review-the-queen-of-versailles-with-kristin-chenoweth-gets-lost-in-a-hall-of-mirrors.html
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