It was the summer of 2023, and actors were assembling for the very first table read of “The Queen of Versailles,” a new Broadway musical starring Kristin Chenoweth and F. Murray Abraham. The real-life counterpart of Chenoweth’s character had come to sit in, and the star had jitters. Or, as the Southern-inflected Chenoweth puts it, “I was nervous as a whore in church!”
Jackie Siegel, the billionairess subject of the 2012 documentary of the same name, was curious to see what the musical had made of her life. And Chenoweth was determined that Siegel know what she was getting into. “Finally, I just went up to her, because I think the truth sets you free,” she tells Alexa. “I said, ‘Jackie, we’ve been very authentic in telling your story, and some of it’s going to hurt you, and I’m sorry about that.’”
Long story short: Siegel wasn’t upset. In fact, she and Chenoweth became fast friends. But then, it’s hard to imagine anyone being mad at the ridiculously charming Chenoweth, that pixie-esque actor with the massive singing voice. Today, the Emmy- and Tony-winning star is Zooming from her home in New York. She’s got oversized pale-pink glasses perched on her nose and a cozy cardigan draped on her petite shoulders. It’s been a nonstop summer, with “The Queen of Versailles” moving to the St. James Theatre in Manhattan. Opening night is slated for Nov. 9 … though perhaps we shouldn’t have brought that up?
“Don’t even say that to me right now, I will literally die!” swoons Chenoweth, with all the melodrama befitting one of Broadway’s greats. “Versailles” is her second major collaboration with composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, whose 2003 “Wicked” featured Chenoweth as the original Glinda (the role Ariana Grande went on to portray in last year’s film, in which Chenoweth made a memorable cameo). “Versailles” is a different animal, a musical that was written specifically for Chenoweth.
The plot follows the Siegels, David and Jackie, a billionaire couple in Florida with plans to build the biggest private home in the country. It would be modeled on the famed French palace, where the duo honeymooned in 2000 (David was 65 at the time; Jackie, a former beauty pageant queen, was 34). The documentary first depicts the stunning excess of the Siegels’ lifestyle; then, abruptly, the Great Recession hits — and hits them hard. It’s an undeniable exercise in schadenfreude but doesn’t lack in empathy for Jackie. Still, Chenoweth says the musical runs a wider gamut of emotions than the film.
“You think you’re coming to get a comedy, and I definitely give that. But there’s also the question of how do you deal with losing everything? How do you deal with real loss?”
For the Siegels, the disappearance of their fortune was followed by the death of their daughter Victoria, in 2015, of a drug overdose. The show’s second half depicts the aftermath of the documentary’s chaos, the lives that were upended. (David passed away earlier this year at 89.)
Chenoweth says she found an easy kinship with Siegel via their backstories. Both grew up with dreams bigger than their small towns: Chenoweth in Broken Arrow, Okla., and Siegel in Endwell, NY. (The show’s first-debuted song, “Caviar Dreams,” traces that longing.) Their adult lives look quite different: “I live in two places, New York and Nashville; my husband’s a musician, so we live there, too,” Chenoweth says. “But we always live beneath our means, so that we can help people in need.” Her husband, Josh Bryant, is the guitarist for the country band Backroad Anthem; the two have been together since 2018 and married in 2023. “I’m not saying I’m a do-gooder, I’m not perfect,” she says, “but if my friend needs something, they’re not gonna have to want for anything.”
Chenoweth, 57, made her Broadway debut in 1997 and won her first Tony in 1999 for “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” You might know her from TV roles on “The West Wing” or “Pushing Daisies” or “Glee,” or if you’re a musical theater nerd, the Apple show “Schmigadoon!” In addition to her Broadway performances, she’s released eight albums. But her favorite project of all is Broadway Bootcamp, the summer program for aspiring young actors she’s been running for a decade in Broken Arrow. During the intensive camp, Chenoweth brings in heavy-hitter Broadway pals to help kids live the dream of being performers. (One of her former campers, Tatum Grace Hopkins, is playing one of Jackie’s daughters in “Versailles.”)
This summer’s final event was a tribute to Broadway actor Gavin Creel, her friend who died last fall at 48 from a rare form of cancer. “Nothing would make Gavin happier than seeing these kids learn about him, who he was,” Chenoweth says. She felt his presence at the camp. “He was all over that theater that week,” she says. “I believe there are angels; I’m that person. I believe we have people watching out for us.”
Chenoweth has long been vocal about her Christian faith, and we delved into what it means at this moment in time. “What’s frustrating for me is that we’ve forgotten what being a real Christian is,” she says. “Jesus taught two things: love one another and feed the poor. He didn’t say, ‘Love one another, except the gays; love one another, except the Black people; love one another, except somebody who doesn’t even believe in me.’ He didn’t say that!” Chenoweth has had public dustups with the Christian community over her support for the LGBTQ+ community and vice versa (most recently regarding her post about the murder of Charlie Kirk); in 2011, she won GLAAD’s vanguard award.
When she’s not swathed in bright pink and costume jewelry onstage to play Siegel, Chenoweth says you’ll find her in cozy sweaters and denim. Her favorites, naturally, come from designers who specialize in petite sizes.
“The best one that’s new and very price-appropriate is Cinq à Sept. They have the double-zero petite,” she says. “I really enjoy A.L.C. They run small. And Aritzia! We’re not talking high-end here, but I can walk in there and get a double zero and it’s going to fit me, and I don’t have to spend my life with a tailor.”
Chenoweth’s shoot with us ventured outside her wheelhouse. “I’m 4’11” and 90 pounds, and I don’t wear a lot of oversized stuff, because I can’t get away with it,” she says. “There was a cream-colored jacket that was structured, and it had a big collar, and I was shocked that I pulled it off. I told them, ‘I’m going to look like Edith Ann,’” she says with a laugh, referencing Lily Tomlin’s character from the ’60s show “Laugh-In.” “But it worked. And I think it’s because I loved it.”
Like all Broadway stars, Chenoweth’s a true workhorse. But she also copes with an additional challenge: She has severe Meniere’s disease, an affliction of the inner ear that causes tinnitus, vertigo and migraines.
“Years ago,” she says, “I thought I was going to have to retire because some of the things that trigger them are spotlights, paparazzi, flashing lights, flying — all the things I have to do with my job.” She saw a doctor who recommended Botox. “I said, ‘No, not me, I have to be able to move my face!’ And he said, ‘Do you want to move your face, or do you want to retire?’” Chenoweth took the plunge, but she knew what was coming. “Obviously, the mean people online are like, ‘She’s had so much filler,’” she says. “Certainly, I get it in some places I enjoy, but I have to get 57 shots all over,” for the migraines. “I can’t really lift my forehead, but I think I’m expressive enough!” She also relies on her loyal service dog, a cockapoo named Thunder. “I’ve had her for eight years, and she can tell when the Meniere’s is about to happen, vertigo or a seizure.”
Like many a middle-aged woman, Chenoweth has lately found solidarity in the We Do Not Care Club, a social media account from a woman named Melani Sanders whose wry commentaries have garnered almost 2 million followers. The actor recently made a hilarious WDNCC post of her own.
“I have a much younger husband — he’s 14 years younger than me, so I have a motive to still try to look my best possible!” Chenoweth tells us with a laugh. “But also, because of perimenopause, I’m like, ‘Damn it. I just don’t care.’” The changes are going to happen whether you like it or not, she says. “I don’t want to go back to my 20s. I don’t even want to go back to my 40s. I don’t need to go backward. You can do facials, all the things, but aging’s going to happen. You can run, but you can’t hide. So, you might as well embrace it!”
Photographer: Victoria Stevens; Editor: Serena French; Stylist: Anahita Moussavian; Photo Editor: Jessica Hober; Talent Booker: Patty Adams Martinez; Hair and Makeup: Bruce Wayne; Fashion Assistants: Jena Beck, Lee Christmas, Tailor: Luis Cascante
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