A whopping Broadway show called “The Queen of Versailles ” and dedicated to the dissection of unhinged American materialism needs two fundamental things. One is a show crammed to the rafters with the kind of gilded excess that can take an audience’s breath away. The other is a resplendent monarch reigning at its heart.

And if the measure of a great ruler is that you cannot imagine anyone else surviving on the same dangerous throne, then the fabulous Kristin Chenoweth is your one and only queen, folks. What a star performance!

Never mind Glinda . Here, Chenoweth drives the new musical from Stephen Schwartz and Lindsey Ferrentino with a singular combo of raw determination and a beguilingly empathetic commitment to veracity. Chenoweth, with the help of the director Michael Arden , g

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