‘The Queen of Versailles’ Review: Kristin Chenoweth Shines in a Lavish New Musical With a Social Satire Bite
variety.comGordon Cox Theater Editor “The Queen of Versailles,” the much-anticipated reunion of “Wicked” collaborators Kristin Chenoweth and Stephen Schwartz, offers the diva her richest opportunity to date to flex her dramatic muscles, while inspiring the composer-lyricist to the most emotionally affecting score, bar none, of his long career.
This true-life riches-to-rags-to-rebirth saga, chronicled in Lauren Greenfield’s 2012 documentary of the same title, offers more in the way of sociopolitical critique than is usual for a mass-market entertainment.
But it’s the production’s lavish appointments, and equivalent star power that offer the strongest prospects for commercial success when the show, now premiering at Boston’s Emerson Colonial Theatre, lands on Broadway in 2025 or ’26.
The making of that documentary provides the Act 1 structure for Orlando’s own Jackie Siegel (Chenoweth) to review the backstory to her great endeavor: building the largest private home in America on the order of Louis XIV’s fabled mirrored palace.
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