TDF Stages

The up-and-comer is giving a star-making performance as the depressed daughter of Kristin Chenoweth's over-the-top character

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The reunion of Wicked collaborators Kristin Chenoweth and songwriter Stephen Schwartz may have been the draw of The Queen of Versailles, the Broadway musical based on Lauren Greenfield's documentary chronicling the real-life rise, fall and semi-resurrection of Orlando socialite Jackie Siegel, who was obsessed with building her own Louis XIV-style castle. But Nina White's devastating performance as Jackie's fragile eldest daughter Victoria, aka Rikki, is what's captured the hearts of audiences and critics in this polarizing show, which is closing early on January 4, 2026 at the St. James Theatre after a challenging run.

Yet for White—who graduated with a BFA in musical theatre from University of Michigan right after the pandemic hit and has only one previous Broadway credit in Kimberly Akimbo—The Queen of Versailles feels like a resounding success. After all, she's starring opposite her longtime idol—White's Playbill bio reveals that she did a book report on Chenoweth's memoir A Little Bit Wicked: Life, Love, and Faith in Stages back in sixth grade! "It's very surreal, honestly," she admits. "It's so funny when amazing things are happening in your life that your younger self would have never believed."

White has been involved with The Queen of Versailles since early 2023, when the production had its first full reading. Her years of developing Rikki, at the Boston tryout and now on Broadway, are evident. She's a tricky character to play. Chenoweth's Jackie is a literal diva. Although she purports to love her kids (she and her timeshare mogul husband have eight, though we only see two onstage), Jackie demands all the attention and wants everything her way as she poses and preens for the documentary cameras. The moody, uncomfortable-in-her-own-skin Rikki lives unhappily on the periphery of her mother's spotlight, as her Act I showstopper "Pretty Wins" poignantly conveys: "I know mom wishes I was prettier/I think her friends all sort of pity her/That she got stuck with me... 'Cause she's so pretty/And she's always been/ Here's when I'll be pretty: never."

As anyone who's seen the doc or read Jackie's Wikipedia entry knows (spoiler alert if you haven't!), Rikki died at age 18 of an overdose of methadone and antidepressants in 2015. Her inevitable tragic ending colors the comedy that comes before—Jackie is often hilarious in her pursuit of excess. Playing a real-life person is always a huge responsibility, but because Rikki is no longer here, White was adamant about doing her justice.

"It's a very delicate balance between being aware that I am playing someone who was real and whose life was incredibly short—almost 10 years shorter than mine has already been," she notes. "But I also need to support the story that we're telling. In the beginning, I was like, okay, I need to research everything about her and that will be my performance. But in real life, Victoria struggled even more deeply with eating disorders and substance abuse than she does onstage. So I have to play what Stephen and [book writer Lindsey Ferrentino] have written on the page. Yet all the time I spent learning about her in real life, I think that was essential. I feel a spiritual responsibility to her."

White recalls it was particularly nerve-racking to play Rikki in front of her real-life mom the first time. "Jackie and I have met, but we've never spoken at length. I have to imagine it's really strange to talk to the person who's portraying your deceased child," White acknowledges. But Jackie seems to tacitly approve. "If Jackie had something that she really wanted to impart to me about my performance, I imagine she would make that known. So I've just been doing my thing. I try to honor Rikki to the best of my ability. That's all I can do."

Although White is sad The Queen of Versailles is coming to a premature end, she is thankful for the two years she's spent with the production. She hopes during its final month, audiences hungry for a thought-provoking musical will give the thematically complex show a chance. Class, consumerism, narcissism, gender roles and parental neglect are all explored, and the show earned a coveted New York Times Critic's Pick from a reviewer who appreciated the way the central relationship between Jackie and Rikki balanced out its "muchness".

"A lot of people have a lot of feelings about The Queen of Versailles and think that maybe we're glorifying [Jackie and her family]," White says. "I encourage those people to come see the show. I don't think it's a flattering portrait, although it's very complicated and not black-and-white. No one is evil. Yet I play the person who suffers the most from their flaws. We are not deifying them. How could that be possible with the story that unfolds onstage? I think the show does a good job of laying things out and allowing people to come to their own conclusions, which is very valuable and kind of rare these days in a piece of theatre that's political."

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TDF MEMBERS: At press time, discount tickets were available for The Queen of Versailles. Go here to browse our latest discounts for dance, theatre and concerts.

The show is frequently available at our TKTS Discount Booths.