THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES To Close December 21, 2025 — Page 3

‘Queen of Versailles’ to Close as New Broadway Musicals Struggle

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/theater/queen-of-versailles-broadway-closing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.308.faV4.EGRPg0L5-z4l&smid=nytcore-android-share

uncageg said: "EDSOSLO858 said: "32 previews and 65regular performances at the St. James Theatre.

Sure, word-of-mouth was largely negative, but it was grossing over $1 million a week at the time of this notice — if that's not at least somewhat safe these days for a musical, then what is?"



I assume they are looking at advance sales."

Re: advance sales —

Most every Broadway show, old and new, is struggling with this since the pandemic, the exceptions being limited-run plays with major Hollywood celebs that audiences may or may not get to see live ever again. Schwartz's own WICKED has yet to sell 90-95% of the Gershwin for weekends in the dead of winter. Sure, the 2-for-1 discounts should help with that a bit, but most people right now are buying closer and closer to curtain for shows they want to see (most often same-day).

Team VERSAILLES chose to cut their losses before a precipitous drop in grosses justified it first. A gutsy yet painful decision.

And the scary part is, with budgets and production costs soaring through the sky, this probably won't be the last time a show grosses seven figures consistently (at least, at first) but closes nearly on-the-spot, even if there is much better word of mouth.

SmokeyLady said: "It was a bad show. It happens. I hope they don’t try to make it like it was all the Charlie Kirk thing because it wasn’t. It was just a horridshow. Her big mouth didn’t help any either. And she could’ve said so much to correct it a little and she didn’t. So that part of it’s on her.
I can imagine after the horrendous reviews and the poor audience attendance that they all just hated going to work every day. It had to be very depressing to know your show is crap."

Those poor actors having to go in every day and put on such blah. I bet they can't wait for it to be over.

Azúcar! said: "SmokeyLady said: "It was a bad show. It happens. I hope they don’t try to make it like it was all the Charlie Kirk thing because it wasn’t. It was just a horridshow. Her big mouth didn’t help any either. And she could’ve said so much to correct it a little and she didn’t. So that part of it’s on her.
I can imagine after the horrendous reviews and the poor audience attendance that they all just hated going to work every day. It had to be very depressing to know your show is crap."

Those poor actors having to go in every day and put on such blah. I bet they can't wait for it to be over."

Because you evidently didn't like the show doesn't mean they "can't wait for it to be over". They will be out of jobs. And seeing that less musicals are opening, that means less prospects. So I doubt they all have that feeling about doing this show. JMO

uncageg said: "Azúcar! said: "SmokeyLady said: "It was a bad show. It happens. I hope they don’t try to make it like it was all the Charlie Kirk thing because it wasn’t. It was just a horridshow. Her big mouth didn’t help any either. And she could’ve said so much to correct it a little and she didn’t. So that part of it’s on her.
I can imagine after the horrendous reviews and the poor audience attendance that they all just hated going to work every day. It had to be very depressing to know your show is crap."

Those poor actors having to go in every day and put on such blah. I bet they can't wait for it to be over."

Because you evidently didn't like the show doesn't mean they "can't wait for it to be over". They will be out of jobs. And seeing that less musicals are opening, that means less prospects. So I doubt they all have that feeling about doing this show. JMO

"

I would imagine artistically they hate putting on that slog every night. There is something to be said for dignity. But loosing jobs is always tough. Showbiz is rough. But time to put a period on it and move on.

They may even pull the plug quicker depending on November and early December sales. The theater had to have pulled the plug on them. We doubt this was producer choice.

I realize that people are inclined to extrapolate based on legitimate concerns about the high costs of new musicals - and the small number of new Broadway musicals this season. But wasn’t the main problem of The Queen of Versailles that it had terrible word of mouth?

As someone who is planning a trip of New York City next year, this show didn’t interest me at all based on the comments here, the reviews and the subject matter.

EDSOSLO858 said: "32 previews and 65regular performances at the St. James Theatre.

Sure, word-of-mouth was largely negative, but it was grossing over $1 million a week at the time of this notice — if that's not at least somewhat safe these days for a musical, then what is?"

I thought the same thing. I have NO interest in the subject matter, but the set looks cool. I thought this was hitting over 1mil a week, according to posted profits. I was imagining after the holidays things would severely die down, but not yet.

Oh well. Onward and upward. Kristin and Idina need to do a gig together, stat. Uh, perhaps?

Updated On: 11/25/25 at 01:57 AM

CoffeeBreak said: "Hearing clause WAS used for January 4. Show hasoption for sooner."

What does this mean? I mean what clause, how might that work?

Anyone know what threshold a stop clause would be these days?

To be honest, this is the kind of scenario that as a theatre owner I would pull even if the producers wanted to continue on. If they had let the show continue they risk the show closing at a time that might have made the next booking possible - and there were probably a whole host of other shows with a better commercial outlook waiting in the wings.

TotallyEffed said: "Very cool that you ran into a Broadway star while vacationing here from Reno. 😎"

First, never been to Reno. Secondly, though I now live in Laguna Beach, CA I lived in Manhattan for 7 years and still own my apartment in the Village so I’m in NYC at least once or twice a month.

Can someone explain how the stop clause could be invoked when the show has been grossing ~$1M/wk? I can’t imagine their earnings thus far would be falling below a negotiated number. I entirely understand future projections may have been falling short, but future sales can’t trigger the stop clause.