Kristin Chenoweth and "Wicked" composer debut "The Queen of Versailles" musical in Boston
BOSTON - Boston audiences are in luck: They will be the first to see "The Queen of Versailles," a Broadway-bound musical that reunites one of the composers from "Wicked" and star Kristin Chenoweth.
"Right fit" to premiere show in Boston
Tony winners Chenoweth and composer Stephen Schwartz are bringing "The Queen of Versailles" to life at the Emerson Colonial Theater in the Back Bay.
The musical is based on a documentary of the same name. Chenoweth plays Jackie Siegel, the Florida woman who dreamed of building the largest private home in the US. But when the recession hit, construction on the $100 million house in Orlando, modeled after the Palace of Versailles, stopped.
Chenoweth and the show's director, Michael Arden, sat down with WBZ-TV's Paula Ebben. They both said that premiering the show in Boston was an easy decision.
"It's an incredible audience, an incredible location, and a perfect theater for this show," Chenoweth said. "They come in droves to see things, and it just felt like the right fit," Arden explained.
Over the top main character
Arden says that turning the documentary into this musical was an opportunity to create an American fable with an over-the-top but relatable lead character.
"She's building the biggest home in America. She's a billionaire. She dresses in snakeskin every day," he said. "And so you go to the theater to see something foreign, to see something alien, but by the end of the evening, you've realized she's not that different."
Chenoweth feels a bit of a kinship with Siegel, knowing appearances can be deceiving.
"She actually has a brain. She's an IBM engineer. I'm not saying I'm a genius, but I'm being petite and sounding like Betty Boop, people are always shocked to find out I'm as educated (as I am) and I have opinions and thoughts," she said. "It's just interesting how you look a certain way, and then you're something different."
Star and director agree that this is one of Stephen Schwartz's best scores, with Arden telling WBZ-TV that it's incredibly comedic.
"It's operatic at times. It's epic at times. It's incredibly smart and acerbic at moments and it's very fresh and modern," he said.
Chenoweth says while the diversity and complexity is all there, she cares "more about the character and Stephen Schwartz cares more about the story than whether a song is going be the epic thing and that is why we get along."
"The Queen of Versailles" opens at the Emerson Colonial Theater on July 16. The show runs through Aug. 25.