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Today on Broadway: Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025
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Reviews for ‘Queen of Versailles,’ busy theatrical schedule, join Matt at Marilu Henner’s show Since 2016, “Today on Broadway” has been the first and only daily podcast recapping the top theatre headlines every Monday through Friday.
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Welcome to Today on Broadway for Tuesday, November 11, 2025. I'm Broadway Radio's Matt Tamineni. I wanted to apologize for not having an episode on Monday. I was planning on waiting for the for Queen of Versailles to be released but they were embargoed for midnight and one that's way past my bedtime. But two I had to be at the airport by 6:30 so that I could come up to New York because tonight as I'm recording this last night, by the time you're hearing this one Grace Aki and F. Michael Haney are getting married. So that is why Grace was off last week. She had lots of stuff to do to get ready for the wedding and I was out of town so we weren't able to make that happen. But we'll be back with regular episodes this week. Not sure when Grace will be able to rejoin us. I don't think they're going on an immediate honeymoon, so she'll probably be back at some point this week. And I am back stateside running through all of your news. But like I said, Queen of Versailles did not release their review embargo until midnight, which usually tells you things aren't exactly going according to plan. Now we will talk about those reviews just here in a second, but if you want to hear about all of my escapades here in New York City, I'm going to tell you what shows I'm going to see later in the episodes. It's still a little up in the air, but most of them are booked. But if you want to hear my in depth thoughts about every show that I see, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio broadwayradio.com patreon but let's dive into the Queen of Versailles. It officially opened up on Sunday night at the St. James Theater. It is the new musical with a score by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Lindsey Ferrantina that's directed by Michael Arden and choreographed by Joran Yolango Grant and Christopher Cree Grant and the show stars Kristin Chenoweth as Jackie Siegel, F. Murray Abraham as her husband. Also features Melody Boutiu, Steven DeRosa, Greg Hildreth, Cassandra James, Isabel Keating, Andrew Kober, Ryan Nixon, Nina White and others. If you are unfamiliar with what this show is, it is based on a documentary of the same name that is actually takes place not too far from where I live. But from computer engineer to Miss Florida to billionaires, Jackie Siegel sees herself as the embodiment of the American dream. Now, as the wife of David, the timeshare King Siegel and mother of their eight children, she invites us to behold their most grandiose adventure, building the largest private home in America, a $100 million house in Orlando, Florida, big enough for her dreams and inspired by the palace of Versailles. But with the Great Recession of 2008 looming, Jackie and David's dreams begin to crumble along with their lavish lifestyle as of recording time. Review aggregator site Did They like it? Has collected 17 reviews. Three were positive, eight were mixed, and six were negative. Fortunately for the production, though, Laura Collins Hughes, writing for the New York Times, was not only positive, but she made the show a critics pick, saying based on Lauren Greenfield's 2012 documentary of the same name and on the life stories of the real Jackie and David Siegel, the Queen of Versailles is more than an entertaining bio musical with a hummable score directed by Michael Arden. It's also a sociological fairy tale, the kind of which flawed people lose their way and something terribly sad happens. Irreversibly, she continues with a prologue set at the 17th century French court of the cosseted nitwit Louis XIV, where Schwartz has tailored the music to the period. The Queen of Versailles is a luxuriously appointed critique of winner take all and crush the rest capitalism. Chenoweth is a wonder sounding a little bit country whenever Jackie is most herself, as in each and every day a love song to the infant Victoria taking her high notes out for a spin in the royal we a duet with Marie Antoinette and convincing us for a moment a turn on a dime song called Grow the Light that Jackie has recalibrated her priorities. Not so for the central character of this tale, living out her American dream. There is no point of satiation. There is only a vast emptiness that must be filled with more, more, more. On the other side of the review spectrum is Sarah Holdren writing for Vulture who said, wow, this is a doozy one here there is a two hour and 40 minute luxury car crash happening at the St James Theatre. If I were the litigious type, I'd be trying to figure out how to sue for whiplash. Instead here I am staggering homewards, still trying to twist my head back into position after the Queen of Versailles. If you're morbidly curious about the experience. You could try for tickets to the new musical by Stephen Schwartz and Lindsey Fantino, with Kristin Chenoweth glittering relentlessly at its center. Or you could save the money and have someone slap you back and forth with a large salmon. Adam Feldman of Time out in New York was also negative. There were no stars along with this, which means that it was a two one or zero star show. They don't do anything below below 3s, but, he said like the 90,000 square foot $100 million palace that the Siegels were determined to build for themselves in Orlando, the Queen of Versailles is nothing if not ambitious. But like that same palace, it also feels misguided and very much still under construction. Armidy Tinubu was in the middle. There was mixed writing. The performances, including a mega talented ensemble, are also excellent. As expected, Chenoweth is a force, and though Jackie isn't really a likable figure, the Emmy Award winner draws out aspects of her personality that often glimmers of sympathy for this toxically positive billionaire woman. Naveen Kumar of the Washington Post was negative saying, but the new show from Wiccan composer Stephen Schwartz and playwright Lindsey Fantino is both overdone and undercooked. Rather than decide whether to romanticize or satirize its subjects, the musical ventures a gaudy and confused mix of both without a coherent point of view. We'll wrap up with Chris Jones writing for the New York Daily News, who was positive saying Chenoweth drives a new musical from Steven Schwartz and Lindsay Fantino with a singular combo of raw determination and a beguiling, empathetic commitment to veracity. Chenoweth, with the help of director Michael Arden, gets Jackie Siegel exactly right. The star refuses the temptation to ironically detach herself from the pile driving poor born woman who watches Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, marries rich and old, and then tries to build Versailles in Central Florida only to find in the end that it's no fun alone. Instead, Chenoweth just plays her as a complex human like the rest of us. If you would like to read more of these and other reviews, I will have the link to the Did They Like It? Roundup in the show Notes alright, now let's dive into everything that is happening in the theater world. Or at least some of it. Starting tonight, Tuesday, November 11th downtown at the Classic Stage Company, we will have what I believe is the first major New York production of another Stephen schwartz show, the Baker's Wife. It is playing at Classic Stage Company has already extended to December 21st and features a remarkable cast led by Scott Bakula as the baker and Ariana debose as his titular wife. Also in the cast are such great names as Robert Cuccioli, Alma Cuvera, Kevin delagula, Nathan Lee Graham, Judy Kuhn, Manu Narayan, Kevin William Paul, Will Roland, Haley Thomas and more. This is going to be a show that I'm going to see later this week, so very much like looking forward to this one. It will open on Tuesday night, then opening on Wednesday night over at the Roundabout Theater Company Off Broadway. We'll have the new play by Rajiv Joseph called Archduke. It follows the assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which started World War I, and some of his fellow revolutionaries. In the cast are Jake Byrne, Patrick Page, Jason Sanchez, Christine Nielsen and Adrian Rolais. This one is currently scheduled to play through December 21st over at the Laura Pelz Theatre. Then on Thursday, we have another opening night on Broadway. This one will happen literally like 20ft from where I am sitting right now at my hotel over at Studio 54, where Oedipus will officially open. This is the new production of the Sophocles classic adapted and directed by Robert Icke. It comes over to us from London. And returning to this production, as they did in the West End, R. Mark Strong as Oedipus and Leslie Manville in her Broadway debut as Yacosta. This one takes the classic Greek tragedy and puts a modern political spin onto it that it feels apparently very appropriate for today's day and age. This one has had remarkable word of mouth so far, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing this one. Also happening on Wednesday night, another opening this one downtown and with a absolutely remarkable cast. But this is from the Public Theater and it is the musical adaptation of Thornton Wilder's play the Skin of Our Teeth, called the Seat of Our Pants. It was adapted by Ethan Lipton and directed by Lee Silverman with Sonny Minsook Hitt as the choreographer. The cast is incredible, featuring some folks as Ali Bonino, Damon Duano, Michaela Diamond, Amina Faye, Andy Grotto, Lucian Schuler, Hensley, Ruthie Ann Miles and more. An absolutely phenomenal cast. This one is currently slated to play through November 30th and I've heard really good things about this one. Obviously we we saw the Skin of Our Teeth on Broadway from Lincoln Center a couple seasons ago and this is just a wildly invented, inventive and magical play. So I'm excited to see what it looks like in musical form. Then on Sunday we will have another Broadway opening, this one over at the Imperial Theater as the first ever Broadway revival of the musical Chess will officially open. This one features of course, the music by Benny Anderson and Bjorn Ulvaeus and with those two also writing some lyrics along with the great Tim Rice, who had the original idea for the show. It does feature a new book by Danny Strong and is directed by Michael Mayer with choreography by Lauren Lotaro. The central characters in this one are played by Nicholas Christopher as Anatoly Sergaevsky, Lea Michele as Florence V Vassi, Aaron Tveit as Freddy Trumper, and Hannah Cruz as Svetlana Sergaevsky. Also in the cast are Bradley Dean, Sean Allen Krill, Bryce Pinkham, and an absolutely incredible group of ensemble members in this one as well. It is currently only scheduled to play through May 13, but I have heard some wild rumors about what could happen after that date. If I had to guess, I would think this show will extend again past the Tony's date. So like another month or so. Month, four or five weeks. And then if it's going well and things are doing well at the box office, if there's some awards, either this cast will extend or there will be a major announcement as to who will at least take over as Florence when Leah leaves. But that's putting a lot more gravity into some of the things that I've been hearing than it might deserve. Then we also have some closings off Broadway on Sunday, Caroline over at mcc, which I'm going to see this week. Did you eat at the Public Theater downtown? And then nothing can take you from the hand of God from Playwrights Horizons. Alright, let's run through some show and casting news. We found out last week that as it began performances on Friday, Gruesome Playground Injuries, which is starring Nicholas Brawn and Carrie Young, is going to extend. It will now play through December 28th. It is being directed by Neil Pepe and it's happening at the Lucille Lortel Theater. Then the Red Bull Theater Company's production of Richard II starring Michael Urie also announced an extension. It is running off Broadway at Astor Place Theatre. It is currently going to play two extra weeks through December 14th. And while this is not technically off Broadway, it is New York City and it is in Midtown and the Les Miserables, the Arena Concert Spectacular has extended its summer run at Radio City Music Hall. It is now going to play in a extra week, moving its closing from August 2nd to August 9th. Now, we'd previously talked about Jesse Eisenberg's new solo show, which he wrote and stars in called the Ziegfeld Files which was going to be playing on Dark Knights over at Studio Seaview when Prince F was not having performances. It was previously scheduled to have its final run on December 1st, but they've added three extra performances and will now play through deck December 8th. We will have information in the show notes on where you can figure out when those performances actually are in some different kind of Off Broadway News over the weekend the new group announced that it had finally found a permanent home. The Off Broadway Theater Company is taking over the theater at Saint Clements. Saint Clements has had both church services and theater performances for well over 60 years at this point and the new group has signed a 30 year lease with the church and there are plans to rent, renovate the space for this new long term partnership. It is very exciting to see. I've seen shows at Saint Clements and seen many shows by the new group, so I think this is a wonderful opportunity for a New York institution to find a permanent home. All right, as promised, I'm going to run through the shows that I'm going to see this week. There are still some things out there I'm waiting to figure out, maybe some matinees if I'm going to go to those and all of that. But the main shows that I have so far on Tuesday night. Tonight I'm going to go to MCC and see Caroline. On Wednesday night I'm going to see Oedipus ahead of its opening. As I mentioned earlier, Thursday night I'm going to see Kyoto at Lincoln Center Off Broadway. Friday I'm going to see Bo the Musical Off Broadway and then run over to see Chess on Broadway. Saturday I'm going to see the Baker's Wife at Classic Stage Company. And then on Saturday night I'm going to see our friend Mary Lou Henner's show over at the Green Room 42. I'll have linked a link in the show notes to doing this for a couple nights this weekend. There is nothing like a Mary Lou Henner show and if you have an opportunity to check that, I think you really should. I have been told that there will be at least a special guest on one of the nights. Mary Lou did tell me that there was going to be a special guest the night that I am there. It is somebody that I think went to college with at the same time. I don't. I mean I didn't know this person, but I think we were in college together at the same place at Ohio State at the same time at least, least for a year or so. If not a fellow Ohio State alum nonetheless. Then I'm on Sunday afternoon. I'm gonna see two strangers carry a cake across New York. And then rounding out my trip on Sunday night, downtown, the Public theater for the seat of our pants. I'm still trying to fit in. Maybe Ariel Satchel's other or Little Bear, Little Bear, Ridge Road or Liberation or something like that. But we will see what actually works out for my schedule. All right, everybody, that's all that we have for today. Thanks for listening to Today on Broadway. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram rodwayradio. If you want more BroadwayRadio, head over to patreon.com broadwayradio thanks for listening. Congratulations, Grayson F. And we will talk to you tomorrow.
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