The Queen of Versailles

 C
 
There’s a fascinating show on stage at the St. James Theatre. Unfortunately, it’s not the one that lasts for over two and a half hours and recounts the story of Jackie Siegel (Kristin Chenoweth) and her husband David (F. Murray Abraham,) The Time Share King, who set out to build America’s largest private home in Orlando, Florida in the early 2000s. No, it’s the one that starts about 15 minutes before curtain time, featuring beautifully dressed and bewigged figures at the Sun King’s court going about their rounds, raising and lowering chandeliers to trim their wicks, dusting, serving tea and cakes, and parading around a lavish room in Louis XIV’s pre-Versailles Parisian palace. It's too bad that at this point 90% of the audience is busy settling in and paying no attention to what is happening on stage. After an opening song about why the king wants to build the palace at Versailles (“Because I Can”), we move to Orlando and the Siegels. Alas, it’s downhill from there.  Although Lindsey Ferrentino’s book is largely based on the hit 2012 Sundance documentary by Lauren Greenfield, it somehow does not capture the film’s impact. Perhaps the ever-increasing excesses of the .1% in recent years have numbed us to Jackie’s insatiable quest for more. With multi-award winner Kristin Chenoweth in the lead role, Stephen Schwartz (Wicked) as composer/lyricist, two-time Tony winner Michael Arden as director and a seemingly unlimited budget for the spectacular sets and costumes by Dane Laffrey and Christian Cowan respectively, it seemed that success was a sure thing. It wasn’t. Although Chenoweth works hard to bring Jackie to life, her role is disjointed and the score does not give her much chance to demonstrate her vocal prowess. The parts of the book that don’t adhere to the documentary are not improvements. The first act comes across as an extended outline of Jackie’s life. When a tragic element enters in the second act, it feels like an add-on. If there is a clear point of view, I missed it. F. Murray Abraham’s moments on stage are few and far between. Nina White, as Jackie’s firstborn child Victoria, and Tatum Grace Hopkins, as her niece Jonquil, are both fine. The many other cast members perform admirably. Would that the score and book had been more engaging. As it stands, I was left to wonder how a show with so much going for it could so badly misfire. Running time: two hours 40 minutes including intermission.

Other

A

I’m generally not a fan of one-person shows, so I had no plans to see Ari'el Stachel’s show at Greenwich House Theater, even though I remembered thoroughly enjoying his Tony-winning performance as an Egyptian trumpet player in The Band’s Visit. However, after two friends whose opinion I respect separately urged me to see it, I relented and bought a ticket. I’m very glad that I did. Stachel is a phenomenal performer with enough energy for ten. He is also a very brave man to reveal his struggles since childhood with OCD and anxiety disorder, as well as his ongoing identity crisis as the child of a bearded Yemeni Jew and an Ashkenazi American Jew who divorced when he was a toddler. His attempts to mix with white friends was problematic once they got a look at his brown-skinned bearded father, especially after 9/11. Nor was his attempt to become a part of black culture ultimately successful. His anxiety disorder causes him to sweat profusely, which, together with the hostile environment in casting actors who present as non-Caucasian, has complicated his acting career. Over 90 minutes, Stachel relates his attempts to deal with his mental health issues and accept his identity. En route, he impersonates an impressive variety of characters, sings, dances and draws the audience into his orbit. The play is surprisingly funny, considering its themes. The production is enhanced by a simple geometric set design by Afsoon Pajoufar, excellent lighting and projections by Alexander V. Nichols and a topnotch sound design by Madeleine Oldham. Director Tony Taccone never lets the energy flag. The next time I fill out a form, I will think of this play and all it reveals about the lives of those who need to check the box “other.” Running time: 90 minutes. Closes December 6. Some performances are followed by a talkback about living with mental health issues

Maybe Happy Ending

A-

Since it has been running for almost a year and has been recognized by the Tonys for best musical, best book, best original score, best leading actor, best direction and best scenic design, there is very little I can add to the accolades that has not already been said. If there were a Tony for originality, I would have awarded that too. Darren Criss is a wonder as Oliver, an obsolete Helperbot spending his remaining years in a retirement home for robots outside Seoul, blindly optimistic that his friend, i.e. former owner, James (Marcus Choi,) will show up to reclaim him. Oliver has acquired a taste for classic jazz from James, especially for the fictional jazz pianist Gil Brentley (Dez Duron), whose song “Why Love” both opens and ends the show. Twelve years after his arrival, in a scene reminiscent of La Boheme’s first meeting between Mimi and Rodolfo, Oliver answers a knock at the door by Claire (Helen J. Shen), his neighbor across the hall, needing an emergency charge. Unlike La Boheme, it is not love at first sight. Oliver reluctantly lets her into his room and eventually into his life. Although also obsolete, Claire is a newer model Helperbot with greater sophistication and less optimism about human nature. Eventually, the two decide to undertake a trip to Jeju Island, where there is a firefly forest that Claire has longed to see and the place where James moved when he left Oliver behind. Disappointment awaits Oliver at James’s home. Claire and Oliver are each given the opportunity to erase their painful memories from their operating system to find a satisfactory ending. The acting is uniformly excellent, with Criss as the standout. The scenic design by Dane Laffrey is absolutely breathtaking. The blending of neon-bordered shape-changing boxes containing action in many locations with black-and-white projections depicting the bots’ former owners is skillfully done. The scene in the firefly forest is magical. The costumes by Clint Ramos are a delight. Michael Arden’s direction is flawless. Although the story is superficially about robots, its underlying themes delve into aspects of human behavior including the vagaries of love, jealousy, aging and mortality. The play never loses its good humor though and offers lots of laughs.  My only disappointment was that Will Aronson’s music, though completely congruent with the book (by Aronson and Hue Park), offers no “hummers."  I urge you to see the show while Darren Criss is back in the leading role. Running time: one hour 40 minutes; no intermission.