We round up the reviews for the new musical from Stephen Schwartz, starring Kristin Chenoweth.
The Guardian: “Whatever fine points Schwartz and Co hope to make are instead subsumed by Chenoweth’s gale-force performance – fun, in a diva-off with Marie Antoinette, and altogether less moving when the subject is Jackie’s spendthrift determination, even after devastating (and jarring) tragedy.”
New York Times: “Chenoweth is a wonder, sounding a little bit country whenever Jackie is most herself, as in “Each and Every Day,” a love song to the infant Victoria; taking her high notes out for a spin in “The Royal We,” a duet with Marie Antoinette (Cassondra James); and convincing us for a moment, in a turn-on-a-dime song called “Grow the Light,” that Jackie has recalibrated her priorities. Not so. For the central character of this tale, living out her American dream, there is no point of satiation. There is only a vast emptiness that must be filled with more, more, more. Preferably, of course, dipped in gold.”
Time Out: “Like the rest of the show, however, the score doesn’t quite cohere; it feels like less than the sum of its parts. Arden’s direction provides good small moments but can’t provide an overall attitude that the material lacks, and the production’s look is inconsistent: Christian Cowan’s costumes are great fun, but Laffrey’s TV-set design relies too heavily on a large mobile screen, and the final marble staircase looks a mess at the bottom. The Yiddish word for The Queen of Versailles is ongepotchket: tacky and busy, with components that might be fine alone but don’t come together. If you want to see it, you should probably see it soon: Like all those unlucky French courtiers, this show seems headed for the chopping block. “
Variety: “The scenic and video design by Dane Laffery is flawless, transporting audiences between 17th-century France and early 2000s Florida. Additionally, costumes spearheaded by Christian Cowan showcase who Jackie is before she even opens her mouth. From a bedazzled Hermes’ tote covered in red, blue and white to match the French flag to her over-the-top beaded gowns and penchant for gold and glitter, her presence immediately screams new money.”
New York Post: “Misguided, over-the-top, well-intended and seemingly beyond repair, the mega-manse is meant to act as a metaphor for the American Dream.”
Entertainment Weekly: “It’s a situation where Jackie has both won it all yet also lost it all at the same time, and the show seems prepared to end abruptly with its protagonist forced to confront her entire life’s mission that has left her at this crossroads. But the moment is fleeting, as the orchestra strikes back up, the sharp edge is dulled, the curtain falls, and audiences are left to ponder how a show so big could also say so little.”
Slant Magazine.com: “If the pieces of The Queen of Versailles aren’t cohesive, Kristin Chenoweth’s performance is.”
Daily Beast: “The Queen of Versailles doesn’t come to vanquish the Siegels or skewer their beliefs and lifestyle, or to contextualize or condemn Jackie and the bubble of crazy she lives in. She doesn’t face any personal or moral reckoning; she just carries on. What she really wants, why she really wants it, and what this musical really understands about any of it remains firmly concealed under those dustsheets.”
Theaterly.com: “Chenoweth herself is excellent throughout, finding pathos in Siegel’s journey without ever sentimentalizing. But no-one else has much to work with. Abraham is mostly brusque; Jackie’s niece Jonquil (Tatum Grace Hopkins) enters late and feels narratively needless; her neglected daughter Victoria fares better but is underdeveloped, despite the best efforts of an excellent Nina White. “
New York Stage Review: “Director Michael Arden, who has tightened things up considerably since a 2024 Boston tryout, controls the pacing and focus with his usual confidence such that audiences may not even register the material’s ambivalence. Me, I was content to revel in Schwartz’s score, perhaps the most heartfelt, varied and robust of his career; in the variety and inventiveness of the production’s scenography; and above all in seeing a genuine Broadway star at the peak of her powers. Chenoweth embraces all her character’s contradictions as if they didn’t exist, translating her own belief in herself into Jackie’s. Unforgettable, the both of ‘em.”
New York Theater.me: “We are asked to find some cultural significance in her excesses. But we wind up mostly entertained or taken aback by her eccentricities, which seem to fit Ripley’s Believe It or Not! or Guinness — or a Reality TV show — more than anything directly emblematic of America: As David says to her, “You can’t have one dog, you’ve got to have eleven [which she has a taxidermist stuff after they die] Can’t have one child, you’ve got to have eight. You can’t help it. That’s who you are.”) And rather than our absorbing a lesson on the downside of American capitalism, we mostly ogle the visual splendor of the production that her lavishness encourages – Dane Laffrey’s monumental sets, Christian Cowan’s lush costumes, the elegant furnishings, a warehouse’s worth of Jackie’s ludicrous purchases, such as a full-sized guillotine and even a giant birthday cake “that someone can jump out of.””
New York Theatre Guide: “Make no mistake, diminutive Tony-winning dynamo Chenoweth works overtime. In short skirts and plunging tops, she showcases her comic chops while fully deploying her voice: big belt, soaring soprano, and warm, mellow middle tones. Like a timeshare broker, she’s up there selling her character and the show. (It’s a contrast from the documentary, where the real Jackie appears more low-key, not exaggerated or overtly performing.)”
To find out more visit: https://queenofversaillesmusical.com/