THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES musical will have pre-Bway tryout this summer in Boston- Page 9

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/4/24 at 11:42am

BETTY22 said: "I was hoping the reviews would be stronger.....i assume lots and lots of changes will occur before the show comes to Broadway.

Fingers crossed."


Haven't seen, but it seems like they really lucked out with that largely-positive NYT review. Even if it's written by a second stringer.

[cjmclaughlin10]

Posted: 8/7/24 at 12:46pm

Rush report: 

Showed up  just before they opened (2 people in front of me) and got Orchestra Center row F for $30!!! 

 

i wasn’t given any choice of seating (not sure if that’s the new way shows are doing rush). The only thing the woman said was Orchestra and when I asked about Dress Circle availability I was told “no”

 

when I saw the seat prime seat location, I didn’t mind not getting a choice 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/8/24 at 12:20am

Saw this over the weekend as a double feature with Gatsby (and wow, what an interesting comparison!), and I largely enjoyed this a lot more.  While there are parts I think they could tinker with, I didn't really find much that was out of place, and I actually thought this felt more fully realized than some other shows we've recently gotten on Broadway.  The score was wonderfully tuneful and felt very "musical theater" (as opposed to some of the scores from pop artists we've gotten), even if it did have some echoes of Wicked (sometimes literally), and I thought the overall book was well constructed and moved at a clip that kept me entertained but also revealed some of the deeper themes in the story.

I think a lot of whether someone will like this show really depends on how much you're willing to empathize with those that have become ultra rich, and out of touch with the working class as a result.  I couldn't help but think that the more interesting musical with more far-reaching themes would've been to start after the 2008 crash from Victoria's point of view as she discovers who her mother was before getting rich and with act 2 being Jackie reacting to the outcome of Victoria's actions, but I think this show was meant to be more of a showcase for its leading lady.  But even as it is, I found Jackie fairly likeable in the first act, and even when she starts going off the rails in the second act, there was still something about her determination and aspiration that I found fascinating to watch, despite how removed she became from the general reality of life for other people (and there's an interesting sort of tragedy in that too).

Of course, this is the Kristin Chenoweth show, and I never felt the almost 3 hours with her prancing around the stage delivering big songs, quippy one liners, and a surprising amount of pathos.  She gets some really great song moments, and I loved her chemistry with F. Murray Abraham, and I really don't know if the show would fully work without her (though I'd also be interested in seeing an understudy just to see how it plays).  There's no song list in the program, but at a rough guess I'd say she gets about 70% of the songs in the show, and many of them are very very good.

I enjoyed both Nina White and Tatum Grace Hopkins as Victoria and Jonquil, respectively, but I do wish that Victoria in particular had better songs.  They're generally in places that make sense and they fit thematically, but they just don't "sing" as well as the rest of the score, so I felt that her moments were sort of the moments that dragged the most, though I'm sure the tonal shift from the over-the-top-ness of Jackie is also tricky to juggle.  The two actors have a good rapport with each other, but it would be nice to see their relationship breathe a bit more, since their attitudes towards each other change over time and it's not really shown how that happens.

I don't really know what to do with the Louis XIV scenes, as they were pretty enjoyable in a frothy kind of delight, but I'm not certain what they contributed to the show outside of a very obvious aside for when they needed to do a scene change.  They seem to flirt with some ideas touched on by the rest of the show (the idea of "we build this just because we can" and the direct social commentary after the 2008 crash), but never seemed fully realized to give a real reason for existing.  And additionally, I thought it would be interesting to touch a little bit deeper on just how much power and influence David Siegel wielded (between the claim that he got Bush elected and the insinuation that they were a primary contributor to the crash itself), but I suppose the show was already on the longer end and more concerned with Jackie's life story itself.

I thought the last third of the second half was really interesting to watch as Jackie spins more and more out of control with the idea that "more" will be able to fix everything, and it culminated in a few lines during the penultimate scene that really showed the cracks beneath her veneer, but then it seemed like the musical wanted to end on an upswing, so despite showing those cracks briefly, she's still portrayed as a sort of spunky heroine against the odds at the very end.  But because we know who she is and how much wealth she's accumulated and how that wealth has led her to lose sight of other things (like her relationship with her children), I thought it would have been much more fitting for the show to have ended with her realization of just how much she's lost in the process and that her life isn't quite as shiny and impenetrable as she's pretending it to be (like the ending of Live Laugh Love in Follies).

I'll definitely be curious to see what they work on in the year or so they have before taking it to Broadway, but I do still think that this was a very strong showing, and I'd be excited to see it again even if they don't change a thing. 

For ticketing, we did the TodayTix rush in the morning (it didn't seem all that competitive) and got center orchestra row T.  I also have another friend that won the digital lottery and her seats ended up being front row.

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 8/14/24 at 7:23pm

Caught this last week and was super disappointed. Kristin is working hard, but the material, especially the book, is a mess. Except for one moment, the music didn't allow Kristin to use her gorgeous soprano notes. Truly a crime. The costumes and set are great but this needs a complete book overhaul imho.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/14/24 at 7:48pm

There are many things wrong with this show....but the most glaring seems to be that the show is trying to show Cheno's character as inspriational, to follow your dreams.  To what?  Get boob jobs and marry well?  Shop till you drop and rack up debt?  

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 8/14/24 at 7:56pm

To shoot for the stars!!!  She just wants MORE!!!  I haven’t seen it but my friend who has the same opinions as me said this. 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/14/24 at 8:04pm

I have been wracking my brain trying to figure out if there has ever been a big musical built around such a ridiculously shallow person.  I haven't remembered one yet, although there are probably a few where the character gets their comeuppance before the curtain comes down, which is not the case here.

While I was never bored, I just thought it was such a waste of talent, just as Versailles -- at least the one in Orlando --  is such a waste of good money.  Better it should have been donated to Habitat for Humanity.  I am not a bleeding heart liberal, but I just thought the Siegel's were despicable people, redeemed only because she was being played by KC.

[dan94]

Posted: 8/14/24 at 10:17pm

I saw this a few days ago. It needs work but I enjoyed it. The potential is there and on display.

I thought the last half hour of the show was pretty thrilling. I had seen the doc, I had seen the TV series. The musical hit something neither of the other projects did. Jackie is profoundly needy and lonely. And therein lies the problem, they get somewhere interesting with the character, but the first half hour of the show in no way prepares us for it.

They aren't building the house because they can, they are building it because she has to. She will never be satisfied. She purposely bit off more than she can chew with the house because she subconsciously knows she will never achieve it. And even if she did, she will never be happy, she will only have the veneer of happiness.

Chenoweth having to face this reality in the finale was worth the price of admission. Her delivery of that number is possibly the best moment of her career.

What needs fixing - Cheno needs a new opening number. The one they have works functionally but doesn't spark off the show or center the ultimate theme in the way it needs. I think Champagne Wishes and Caviar Dreams is also probably the wrong I Want song for the show. The "American Royalty" section is fine, but we need something that hints at the desperation under the surface more. Cheno is playing the desperation rather well throughout, the material isn't supporting that yet.

The arc of the second act is really Victoria's. It needs work. Nina White never seems more than mildly inconvenienced. We need to get the sense this girl is on edge more. The material needs to do a better job at that, and Nina White needs to start delivering that. This is the current biggest problem of the show. You have a whole second act that is more or less focused on this girl and it just isn't landing. It's dramatically potent. I don't think they should pull away from the character at all. Embrace and finesse more (and recast if ultimately necessary. Nina White was good but if she can't eventually present a deeper psychological underpinning the second act will never work.)

Based on other posts, it seems they've added a love song for F Murray Abraham to sing in the middle of the first act called Trust Me. It's charming and one of the better songs in the score so it does seem like they are working on it. F sings well.

As for Cheno not having a lot of soprano material in this show - the voice has gotten noticeably heavier in the last couple years. I get the sense she's more comfortable at the lower end of her range. She sounds terrific in this show, best she's sounded in years. She cements herself as a true Star of the musical theatre on a level only a couple can currently rival. (I hope we eventually get her Sally in Follies.)

The production is appropriately ravishing. It looks like no expense was spared. It is well directed. But the orchestrations are too small, 14 is disappointing and not able to deliver the aural sense of grandeur that is called for.

Center the themes, work on Victoria, take a second pass at all of the lyrics, put a new opening number in, and I think it could become an amazing musical

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 8/15/24 at 10:45am

I haven't seen an updated song list so I thought I'd post the ones I remembered from the preview.

 

Click Here To Toggle Spoiler Content

Act One

• Because We Can - King Louis - Establishes the themes
• The Biggest House in America - Jackie - Establishes the plot
• Caviar Dreams - Jackie - I want song
• Miss America - Beauty Pageant host 
• Lullaby - Jackie 
• Ballad of the Time Share King - David and his son
• Trust Me - David - Was a short song at the preview. This could be akin to Evita's "I'd be good for you" if the lyrics had more bite.
• Wedding - Jackie and David
• Golden Light (?) - King Louis
• To Be the Queen - Jackie 
• Pretty Always Wins - Victoria 
• I Could Get Used to This - Niece 
• The Crash - King Louis 
• This Is Not How My Movie Ends - Jackie - the documentary has been cancelled. She insists she'll put it back on track. The first hint she'll actually fight for something.

Act Two

• Marie Antoinette - Marie and Jackie 
• Poor Little Lizard - Victoria and the Niece 
• Watch This - The Sundance Audience 
• My Book of Random - Victoria 
• Little Houses - Victoria and Jackie. With a counterpoint from her housekeeper and niece.
• Flying Sky High - David and Jackie 
• Funeral - Jackie sings a series of reprises between book scenes
• I Never Got Used to This - Niece
• Revolution - Marie Antoinette and her court
• This Time Next Year - Jackie 

Did I miss anything?

Updated On: 8/18/24 at 10:45 AM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/15/24 at 11:09am

dan94 said: "the orchestrations are too small, 14 is disappointing and not able to deliver the aural sense of grandeur that is called for."

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's less of a numbers problem and more a problem of John Clancy being an incredibly mid orchestrator.

14 can still sound very lush with a skillful orchestration + sound design.

I'm sure he's a nice guy to work with but I just don't get what people like Jeanine Tesori and Mary-Mitchell Campbell and now Stephen Schwartz see in him. He's fine for a small ensemble and a piano-driven score, but he's never demonstrated an ability to improve a score with his orchestrations.

If there's actually an orchestration problem, maybe they can pull a SUFFS and reorchestrate prior to Broadway.

Some of Schwartz's past scores have been orchestrated by some of the best to ever do it: the late Ralph Burns (Pippin), the late Bill Brohn (Wicked), the late Don Walker and later David Cullen (Baker's Wife), film score orchestrations by Danny Troob/Doug Besterman/Larry Hochman, etc.

[I am going only by his past work, I have not seen QoV]

[Up In One]

Posted: 8/18/24 at 12:56am

Went up to Boston last Sunday 8/11 for the matinee and found the show to be very dense in content. There's the thru line of the main characters life. There's the building of the Orlando Versailles. There's a mother daughter subplot. There's a story line about the making of the documentary. And then there are flashbacks to 17th Century France. While I enjoyed the political angle and juxtaposition of the 1680's Louis XIV scenes, I think it only highlighted the fact that the modern scenes were not delivering. I have not seen the documentary that the show is based on but at times it felt like their hands were tied and that they were not able to or didn't want to take liberties with the main story line. I can't say it wasn't interesting, But I can say even Schwartz fell into the trap of delivering a lot of exposition within the songs to fulfill the documentary brief and didn't play with the style and structure of the songs. Overheard many in the audience yearning for the blockbuster numbers of Wicked which this show has none of.

But it is a tour de force for Kristin Chenoweth who is too adorable to be playing this character who should not be liked.  Three quarters of the show paints her as a victim of circumstances, never criticizing - they leave that to us. Three quarters of the way into the second act we get a tragically dramatic development from which we move quickly to a very dark turn and then quickly to a meandering closing number that means nothing and is one of the blander songs in the show. By then the show is more about Kristin the performer being up on stage 90% of time than it is about the story being told. 

The play feels like it should end at that tragic moment - the lead character should go thru those emotional contortions, see her life flash before her and have us all in a puddle of tears. A musical number that should be something like a combination of emotions in And I am telling you, I'm not going, and the finale from Falsettos, They can flash a projection coda of what happened next on the show curtain to make it doubly sad.  They are telling an American Tragedy; this could be a variation on the ending of Imitation of Life.  We don't need to have our Kristen always served up perky. It is ok to end on a downbeat if it is served properly. And did we really need that extra niece turned daughter in the second act? They need to choose their battles on this one.  

Updated On: 8/18/24 at 12:56 AM

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 8/18/24 at 1:17am

Updated On: 8/18/24 at 01:17 AM

[CJRochester]

Posted: 8/18/24 at 9:47pm

I saw it today and pretty much agree with Up In One's review.

 
I very much enjoyed it, but the writing needs more work to make it on Broadway. The cast is talented and it’s clear a lot of money has been spent on it. The absolute main reason to see it is Chenoweth’s incredible performance!

 
The Emerson Colonial Theatre is stunning and opulent, making it the ideal place to stage this story.

Updated On: 8/18/24 at 09:47 PM

[nativenewyorker2]

Posted: 8/19/24 at 12:07pm

I think Schwartz should drop this project and focus on bringing Gepetto to broadway 

 

f Murray as the title role

chino as the blue fairy 

 

 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 8/19/24 at 12:40pm

Yeah, Cheno would agree to an extended cameo role over a highly raved tour-de-force role where she’s on stage 95% of a show.