There are actors who seem tailor-made to play certain roles, and then there is Kristin Chenoweth in The Queen of Versailles: Not since she belted “Popular” in a bundle of pink tulle has Chenoweth sunk her teeth into a part so uniquely suited to her talents. And it makes sense, given that The Queen of Versailles reunites the performer with her Wicked composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who developed the role of Glinda the Good Witch with Chenoweth in mind back in the early aughts.
“Stephen has been teasing me and saying he wants to write me an original musical for years!” Chenoweth tells Vogue. “Every time he said, ‘I promise I’m gonna do it before I die!’ I’d just go, ‘Yeah, yeah, sure, buddy.’”
It may have taken more than two decades, but Schwartz finally delivered on his promise. Currently running at Boston’s Colonial Theatre, The Queen of Versailles stars Chenoweth as Jacquelie “Jackie” Siegel, the real-life pageant queen turned socialite who collects Birkin bags like Funko Pops. F. Murray Abraham plays her significantly older husband, David Siegel, the founder of a timeshare company with a net worth north of $6 billion.