Instead, and within minutes, the Orlando-area colossus comes to represent the criminally bad show it’s in; a wrecking ball to good taste that opened Sunday night at the St. James Theatre.
At the center of the Broadway musical “The Queen of Versailles” is an unfinished, 90,000-square-foot house in Florida — one of the biggest private homes in America.
Misguided, over-the-top, well-intended and seemingly beyond repair, the mega manse is meant to act as a metaphor for the American Dream.
Well, keep dreamin’.
Instead, and within minutes, the Orlando-area colossus comes to represent the criminally bad show it’s in; a wrecking ball to good taste that opened Sunday night at the St. James Theatre.
Both Versailles, a very real property in Windermere, and “The Queen of Versailles” ultimately beg an identical question: Why on earth did they do this?
The real Jackie Siegel wanted to leave behind her low-class upbringing with a Sunshine State palace inspired by the French one she visited on her honeymoon.
On the stage, perhaps “Wicked” composer Stephen Schwartz and book writer Lindsey Ferrentino sought to make a bold statement on economic disparity in a nation where extreme wealth is a hot topic.
The musical, after all, is based on a popular documentary made in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.
Or, maybe, the creatives wished to hand star Kristin Chenoweth a meaty, campy diva role for her first Broadway musical in a decade.
But the answer more likely shares the same verbiage as one of the rough songs in the worst score of Schwartz’s long career: “Because we can.”
The end result is far too careless to believe anything otherwise.
For starters, the foundation is rotted. Even if the team won a lifetime supply of Wite-Out and started over from scratch, I don’t see the story of “The Queen of Versailles” ever being turned into a satisfying musical.
