B'way/Off-B'way Review: The Queen of Versailles; The Baker's Wife

Kristin Chenoweth in The Queen of Versailles.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

Stephen Schwartz has the distinction of having three shows running simultaneously on New York stages. In addition to the long-running Wicked, Schwartz’s songs are on display in The Queen of Versailles, a new musical based on the documentary film about socialite Jackie Siegel’s quest to build the largest private home in America, and The Baker’s Wife, based on Marcel Pagnol’s film, which closed during out-of-town try-outs before reaching Broadway in 1976. Both scores serve their respective shows well. But the former is a mixed bag of confused storytelling choices and Broadway excess while the latter is an intimate, delightful Off-Broadway charmer.

There are many satisfying elements in Queen of Versailles, not the least of which is Kristin Chenoweth’s magnetic star performance as well as Michael Arden’s fluid, fast-paced direction and Dane Laffrey’s elaborate scenery and clever video design, combining elements of campy bad taste and European chic. The same can be said for Christian Cowan’s century-tripping costumes. But it’s unclear how Schwartz and book-writer Lindsey Ferrentino want us to feel about Chenoweth’s character, the vapid but tenacious Siegel. We learn plenty about her driven struggle to rise above the middle-class status of her hard-working parents (solid Broadway vets Stephen DeRosa and Isabel Keating). She works several jobs in high school, gets an engineering degree and survives an abusive first marriage. But her goals and means of achieving them are questionable at best. 

Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham
in The Queen of Versailles.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes

After marrying the decades-older, fabulously wealthy Time Share King David Siegel (F. Murray Abraham, doing his best with a thankless role) and going on a honeymoon in France, Jackie decides to replicate the extravagant Palace at Versailles in her hometown of Orlando, Florida. Why? “Because We Can” she and the company sing in a number celebrating unrestrained consumption. Louis XIV (Pablo David Laucerica) and Marie Antoinette (Cassondra James)—both exhibit lovely voices, BTW—pop up in parallel-time scenes, meant to demonstrate what? That Jackie and David are just as bad as the French aristocracy who ended up guillotined by starving revolutionaries? (Jackie buys an actual guillotine without irony.) But then are we also supposed to admire Jackie’s pluck and determination while simultaneously disdaining her boundless avarice and materialism? 

Kristin Chenoweth, Nina White, and 
Tatum Grace Hopkins in 
The Queen of Versailles.
Credit: Julieta Cervantes 

Despite the mixed signals, Schwartz’s songs are varied, funny and appealing and there is wit in Ferrentino’s book. There are poignant moments provided for Jackie’s sensitive, misfit daughter Victoria, seeking to break away from her mom’s obsessive acquisitiveness. Nita White feelingly delivers a heartbreaking ballad “Pretty Wins” detailing Victoria’s alienation from conventional notions of beauty. Tatum Grace Hopkins as Jackie’s orphaned niece Jonquil also chronicles a moving emotional journey, traveling from mimicking her aunt’s greed (the funny “I Could Get Used to This”) to independence and self-sufficiency. As David’s son Gary who also works for him, Greg Hildreth exposes the psychic damage rendered by his dad’s coldness. Melody Butiu conveys the loneliness of Sofia, the family nanny who has not seen her real family in the Philippines for years. 

But the star of the evening is Chenoweth who captures Jackie’s sparkling wit as well as her clueless avarice, re-establishing her status of the Queen of Broadway. Too bad Queen of Versailles is so confusing and doesn’t delve very deeply into the issues of shallow American consumerism it raises.

Ariana DeBose, Scott Bakula and cast
in The Baker's Wife.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Whereas Queen of Versailles documents over-the-top culture in both content and execution, The Baker’s Wife sets its sights on a much smaller level and achieves more. The original production struggled out of town for six months, replacing its leads Topol and Carole Demas with Paul Sorvino and Patti LuPone before finally closing in Washington DC without ever reaching Broadway. The show has since attained cult status with numerous productions in regional theaters, London, and Off-Broadway and one of Schwartz’s songs “Meadowlark” has become a popular choice for auditions and cabaret acts. Gordon Greenberg has staged many of these versions and his current incarnation at Classic Stage Company does not completely cover up the show’s flaws, but it does take full advantage of its high points. A cast full of experienced Broadway and Off-Broadway players gives full life to the slight story by the late Joseph Stein and Schwartz’s flavorful score.

Pagnol’s 1938 film, based on a chapter in Jean Giono’s 1932 novel Blue Boy, is a thin but enchanting tale concerning a small-town baker who sinks into depression and ceases making bread when his much younger wife deserts him for a handsome stud. The village, desperate for their daily supply of baguettes, unites to retrieve her. She finally realizes her younger lover can only fulfill her sexual urges but not her emotional needs and she returns. That’s it. Stein’s book stretches out the story and Schwartz supplies some extraneous musical numbers. 

Hailey Thomas, Samantha Gershman, 
Savannah Lee Birdsong, Nathan Lee Graham
and Kevin Del Aguila in The Baker's Wife.
Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

Fortunately, the cast fleshes out the many colorful characters of the village and Greenberg and set designer Jason Sherwood transform the CSC space into a believable, rustic environment inhabited by credible residents. As the baker and his errant spouse, Scott Bakula and Ariana DeBose have chemistry and spark. DeBose beautifully lands “Meadowlark,” the highlight of the show in which the baker’s wife expresses her inner conflict between passion and affection. DeBose and Kevin William Paul as her lover also exhibit Stephanie Klemons’ eloquent choreography. My only quibble with Bakula’s casting as the mature baker is he is still ruggedly handsome and trim, so there is less of a contrast between him and his romantic rival. 

Judy Kuhn is delightfully wise as the cafe owner’s wife and sort-of narrator. As the town teacher, Arnie Burton manages to get laughs with small gestures. Even a simple thing like removing his glasses gets giggles. Nathan Lee Graham is salaciously slinky as the lascivious Marquis who keeps a retinue of “nieces.” Robert Cucciolo, Alma Cuervo, Kevin Del Aguila, Manu Narayan, Sally Murphy, and Will Roland all have moments to shine in this amiable curio. Between the mansion of Versailles and this intimate French village, I’ll take the latter.

The Queen of Versailles: Nov. 9--Jan. 4, 2026. St. James Theater, 246 W. 44th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. stjamesbroadway.com.

The Baker’s Wife: Nov. 11—Dec. 21. Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th St., NYC. Running time: two hours and 30 mins. including intermission. classicstage.org.