THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES To Close December 21, 2025 — Page 18

The production made an active choice to very publicly embrace Siegel. It also chose to do their press event and Versailles-themed opening at the Plaza, which certainly sends mixed signals about what you’re trying to say. Those weren’t decisions by the creatives, of course, but rather the lead producers- who are conspicuously not quoted or even named in that NY Times piece. 

this has to be one of the biggest flops of this decade [so far]:

1. Tammy Faye - 24 previews, 29 regular performances
2. KPOP - 44 previews, 17 regular performances
3. Diana - 25 previews, 34 regular performances
4. Flying Over Sunset - 36 previews, 35 regular performances
5. Swept Away - 20 previews, 48 regular performances
6. Lempicka - 27 previews, 41 regular performances
7. Bad Cinderella - 33 previews, 45 regular performances
8. Queen of Versailles - 32 previews, 49 regular performances
9. How to Dance in Ohio - 27 previews, 72 regular performances
10. Dead Outlaw - 14 previews, 73 regular performances
11. Real Women Have Curves - 31 previews, 73 regular performances
12. Smash - 32 previews, 83 regular performances
13. Harmony - 28 previews, 96 regular performances

TheatreFan4 said: "FolliesCabaret said: "
If you can honestly look anybody in the eye and tell them that you earnestly believe Kristin Chenoweth knew who Charlie Kirk was before all of this, you're already in your ownsocial-media made psychosis. The dude was most famous for being a Jubilee commentator troll. The far right has pushed this narrative that he was much more famous and influential before he was shot, and you bought into it. You're quite literally using far right talking points to demonize someone with a blue voting record. But ok."

This is revisionist, he had a daily show that had millions of viewers. That's just the objective truth of it."

And you know what, I literally had no idea about that, so I apologize. Certainly not my intention to contribute to revisionist history.

altonido said: "Adding one more title to the list (and the longest running title): Another St. James Theatre disaster, "New York, New York," 110 performances

1. Tammy Faye -24 previews, 29 regular performances
2. KPOP - 44previews, 17regular performances
3. Diana -25 previews, 34regular performances
4. Flying Over Sunset -36previews, 35regular performances
5. Swept Away -20 previews, 48regular performances
6. Lempicka -27 previews, 41regular performances
7. Bad Cinderella -33previews, 45regular performances
8. Queen of Versailles - 32 previews, 49 regular performances
9. How to Dance in Ohio -27 previews, 72regular performances
10. Dead Outlaw - 14previews, 73regular performances
11. Real Women Have Curves -31previews, 73regular performances
12. Smash -32 previews, 83regular performances
13. Harmony -28 previews, 96 regular performances

"

I drew the line at any show failing to do less than 100 regular performances. there's quite a few that barely hit 100.

I am a huge Kristin Chenowith fan.  I have seen her one woman concerts and  hermLily Garland/ Mildred Plotnick in On the 20th Century which blew me away. I  first heard her ( not seen) here on the Steel Pier CD and her voice jumped out at me.

I heard she had said something about Charlie Kirk but I don't think that that much bearing on the outcome of Queen of Versailles. I did not pay it much mind.

I was looking so forward to Queen of Versailles.

I accidentally bumped into the documentary on some streaming service  and watched and my first thought was how are they going to make this a musical?

I think Michael Arden had a good idea juxtaposing;Jackie Segal with Marie Antoinette in that bourgeios "I want I want" mindset. I think he was on to something. Unfortunately it did not work.

But the main problem remained; You can't care about a main character whose only drive is to be rich rich rich at any cost. Let's face it.  Jackie Segal is a bourgeios bore and it is impossible to care about her. Her husband was a bit of a tyrant with a trophy wife so it was hard to care about him.

Kristin gave it her all. it just wasn't enough to cover the main flaw that Jackie Segal is not likable or anyone to root for.If you can't root for someone in a musical... well there is not musical. Think of any really good musical. There is always someone to root for. Oliver, Annie, Hamilton, Princess Winnifred, The Mormon Boys. etc

Don't blame Kristin. No one could make this work. And she almost did.

Don't blame Arden. No one could make this work. And he had some good ideas. I do think he needed to be a better editor of Schwartz's music.

And the score by the wonderful Steven Schwartz was a total disappointment. Some of those songs needed to be cut but no none dared cut  them cause he was Steven Schwartz

Arden had an idea  juxtaposing it with the French Marie Antoinette and Louis the XIV and it was a good idea but it was just  did not pan out and was not enough to make Queen of Versailles sail.

Kristen is a blessing to musical theatre. She did not make this show fail It failed at its core; the likability of its main character. Arden is also a blessing as a director. They all can't be homeruns. And Schwartz is a blessing but he missed the boat on the music.

It's a musical that just didn't work.  Stop beating up our wonderful creatives.

Our wonderful creatives?

Sounds like a cast member or producer just made themselves known...

FolliesCabaret said: "I actually didn't hate the show, saw it with both KC and SRS, and I also don't think Kristin said anything "wrong." But similar to the show itself, if people are mass-misinterpreting something, it's best to get ahead of it and make your stance painfully, obviously clear. She didn't do that. Which is certainly her prerogative. I know she's not MAGA, but because she hasn't done any work to really make that clear to people, others won't. C'est la vie.

The bottom line is that the real Jackie Siegel made money off of this, and she would have made more had it been a hit, which should tell you everything you need to know."

Actually KC embraced a hatemonger, racist, homophobe, sexist, gun worshiper by "appreciating some perspectives" of his.  Which ones?  So yeah, she did say something wrong.  Either she is woefully misguided or of the same mindset as CK.  One cannot be for someone and against them at the same time.  

Arden had a much bigger role in shaping this show than shaping MHE.

While he does deserve a good deal of blame, I don’t know that anyone else could have turned this into something better if the goal was always to make it a “big” musical (as opposed to like an 8-person character study that leaned into the darkness).

Agree with Kad that the producers deserve a lot of blame. But as with most flops, you cannot place the blame on one person. It’s a collaborative failure.

Updated On: 12/24/25 at 04:19 PM

Soaring29 said: "What exactly does she need to apologize for? As awful as Kirk was, him being assassinated was a terrible moment. Chenoweth grew up in a divided political household in the Bible Belt so her reacting how she did is not a surprise to me particularly as she herself was a swing voter until right after Obama was elected. All of this is in her book."

Her upbringing and voting history aren’t the issue. She publicly praised someone whose rhetoric is harmful to the very communities she’s long aligned herself with. That’s why people expected clarification or an apology. When a public figure posts something that contradicts their stated values and then chooses silence, the message is simple: she meant it. The excuses you’re listing don’t change that.