Original Broadway Cast, 2026 (Sony Masterworks Broadway) (1.5 / 5) The Queen of Versailles was the most high-profile failure of the 2025/2026 Broadway season, abruptly closing after a very brief and troubled run. Adapted from Lauren Greenfield’s acclaimed 2012 documentary of the same title, the musical charts a rags-to-riches-to-rags-and-back-to-riches trajectory for David and Jackie Siegel, two protagonists whose hubris in attempting to build the largest private home in America makes them fundamentally difficult to empathize with. Compounding these narrative flaws is a weird and totally ineffective framing device, used throughout the show, involving Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette in 18th-century France. The Broadway production was critically panned and faced considerable division regarding the off-stage politics and public commentary surrounding its real-life subjects, as well as its cast. It certainly wasn’t the glorious Broadway reunion that star Kristin Chenoweth and composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz had in mind. (This was Schwartz’s first new score to be featured on Broadway since Wicked in 2003, as well as Chenoweth’s first time originating a stage role since she played Glinda in that same landmark show.) All of that said, the cast recording does have a few redeemable qualities. Chenoweth gets a nice solo early on, “Each and Every Day,” and later a big ballad, “Caviar Dreams.” Additionally, the act one finale, “This Is Not The Way,” gives her a chance to show off her vocal prowess, and sharp-eared listeners can catch a sneaky Wicked “Easter egg” in the orchestral arrangements. But most of the rest of the score is weird and, yes, frankly bad. F. Murray Abraham gets a couple of wildly misbegotten musical moments as Jackie’s husband, David, and the album really tanks when Jackie’s daughter and niece, played respectively by Nina White and Tatum Grace Hopkins, sing a funeral song for their dead lizard. White gets another stinker, “Book of Random,” and finally the album concludes with Chenoweth singing a meandering, tuneless solo finale number that encapsulates the misguided nature of the entire show. — Forrest Hutchinson