THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES Previews — Page 4

I saw tonight’s first preview and am excited to share my first review/post on this Board after many years of reading.

To start – I was surprised to see the Queen herself, Jackie Siegel, having a mini photo shoot in front of the ATG branded “priority entrance” to the luxurious St. James side entrance. (You can’t make it up.) Her and her friends were also in the front mezz, which provides a great view of this fittingly oversized, almost problematically so, production.

The score is the strongest element of the evening and single handedly positively skews my opinion of the musical. The music is great, although I never felt there was a true showstopping moment. The solos dedicated to Kristin and Nina White are fantastic; however, I felt the finale the fell completely flat, which is also how I felt about the book and performances. I feel like the actors and creative team must feel constrained by the Queen’s involvement, or almost participation, in this production.

It seemed like there was no true point of view, and by the end of the second act, I truly didn’t know how to feel about any of what I was watching. The last twenty minutes zip by in a flash and you really don’t see any change in any of the characters. They’re just … so one note throughout the entire evening. I was somewhat invested, but I was ready for things to wrap up once I realized there was no true commentary to be made. They’re not afraid to poke fun at Jackie and those around her, but they’re afraid to involve them in any true discussion or depiction of these recent, true events. There is undoubtedly more drama to incorporate into the musical, especially between the Queen and her daughter. The way the plot was handled and somewhat glazed over truly took me out of the piece, especially the last twenty minutes. I couldn’t tell if I was supposed to feel bad and relate to Jackie, or be disgusted and completely turned off by her. Maybe the team can't tell as well. 

The set is huge and I do think it’s utilized well. It seemed more involved in the second act, and someone commented it reminded them of the original Sweeney Todd, which I think is very kind. The lackluster reveal of the final product of the house also felt completely flat for me and I’m sure this can be improved upon. I appreciated how it felt emptier than ever by the end. There is live video incorporated throughout most of the first act which works well. The lighting was fine, as were the costumes. Kristin looks fantastic, even if her first dress seemed to be a work in progress!

The performances are fine across the board, but they are certainly held back by the book. Everyone sounded fantastic, especially Kristin and Nina White, but their characters are so one note throughout the evening, I feel anyone could slip into these roles and do just fine.

The St. James looked lovely, and I had a smooth entrance and path to my seat. Michael Arden gave a brief speech around 7:41 and intermission came in around 9:01. Intermission was long, certainly over 30 minutes, and the show was over by 10:42. 

I’m not quite sure what to make of this one. My thoughts land somewhere between mixed to positive, and although it’s only the first preview, I’m not sure there is much that can be done to improve what’s onstage. Now that I've written this I'm thinking they're actually mixed to negative. Perhaps I’ll revisit and see Sherrie, but let’s see.

Updated On: 10/9/25 at 12:09 AM

Damn. I was going to avoid this for multiple reasons, but it sounds like the kind of trainwreck one has to be able to claim they actually saw years later. May have to try to get the cheapest ticket possible to put the least amount of money in their pockets...

Well, now we know what happens when a poet who writes haikus takes ayahuasca.

People will give a standing ovation to a fart these days! 

Jordan Catalano said: "
After the show, the real Jackie was outside, passing out small orders of McDonald’sfrench fries to people, and I think that that kind of just summed up the entire thing. A billionaire passing out something tiny to the masses, to make people like them."

 

“Let them eat fries!”

Really baffled by them putting Siegel front and center like this. She’s not famous, she’s not inspirational, the source material isn’t flattering to her. If this was a condition for moving forward with the project, it was a deal with the devil. 

 

Last night, I was reminded of the stories people tell who saw the original Merrily We Roll Along. At the first preview, the energy was through the roof. The overture started and the audience went wild. But then scene, by scene, by scene...the walk outs started. Make no mistake, this is not musically on the level of Merrily, but Schwartz is aiming much higher than Wicked. He desperately wants to be taken seriously here, but every time you think its going to soar, it just veers off and dies. The evening is painful.

It will be interesting to see how Arden survives this and how it informs his reputation moving forward, especially with the massive Lost Boys on the horizon. Right now, he is the golden child. But Versailles is going to tarnish his shine. 

The real culprit is the inept libretto. As others have stated, the whole thing feels like a collection of stock characters that never reveal more than what we see. So, we end up getting ahead of the story and not really caring much what happens.

I was at the first preview of Titanic. It ran almost 4 hours- lots of material they ended up cutting, long pauses for technical glitches. I thought it was glorious (so use that to put my feedback into context). It was a triumph, in my opinion. Last night will go down in history as one of the most disappointing nights of my life. They will never be able to salvage this during previews. You know how I know...? I saw this in Boston, too, and they did not do the work they needed to do to bring it to Broadway.

Oh, it's not so bad its good. Don't fool yourself. There are a lot of great people contributing pieces of what make them great artists. But the overall effect is a failure. It's Kristin's "Redwood."

I will say though that, for a first preview, they were basically throwing freebies at us to the point that I basically made back my rush ticket price. I ended up with an extra poster, a few specially designed stage door sharpies, MANY orders of McDonalds fries, and enough Diet Coke to last me through the end times.

I also met the actual Jackie Siegel, who definitely reminds me of (and with apologies to) Jennifer Coolidge. 

Updated On: 10/9/25 at 11:16 AM