Fashion designer Alexander McQueen seems readymade for a theatrical portrait, and “House of McQueen” is pieced together with bespoke extravagance. It is housed in a new Off-Broadway theater created expressly for this play, which includes a gallery exhibiting 27 of McQueen’s actual dresses and accessories. Several of the costumes in the production itself are precise reproductions of some of his most elaborate pieces, which we watch Luke Newton as McQueen meticulously assemble upon the models and other characters portrayed by the 12-member cast, among them Emily Skinner as his mother and Catherine LeFrere as Isabella Blow, his eccentric mentor and muse.
McQueen might well have approved of both the lavishness and the focus on the apparel: The colorful couturier thought of the clothes he made as works of art, and turned his runway shows into theatrical spectacles. (We know that his family approves: His nephew, Gary James McQueen, is credited as the show’s “creative director.”)
These efforts pay off in visual splendor. Yet, in part because of the great inherent promise of its subject, “House of McQueen” feels mostly like a missed opportunity.
Newton is best-known for playing the genial Colin Bridgerton who finds true love with Miss Penelope Featherington in Season 3 of the Netflix series Bridgerton. The real-life character whom Newton is now portraying could not offer a greater contrast. The bouffant hair has been replaced by a buzz cut, the aristocratic waistcoats by the t-shirts and jeans that reflect the designer’s working class background in the East End of London. Lee Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) was a creative kid who grew up in an abusive family, a skilled and driven craftsman, a haunted gay man who never found true love (“You run through boyfriends like I run through hose,” Isabella says.) At the age of 40, shortly after his mother died of cancer, McQueen committed suicide.
He was also a provocateur who became famous in his early 20s for his deliberately off-putting showmanship. His first collection was entitled “Jack the Ripper Stalks His Victims.” (the neighborhood he stalked was the one where McQueen grew up.) “I love it when my audience leave my shows and throw up,” Newton as McQueen says in the play.
Darrah McCloud’s script alternates scenes involving young Lee with those involving adult Alexander in no discernible order. It highlights his impressive resume: how he dropped out of school at age 16, but talked his way into working for a prestigious Savile Row tailor, then talked his way into admission into the prestigious Central St. Martin’s School of Design, then eventually became chief designer at Givenchy, and was hired away by rival Gucci, etc.
The problem is that much of this is handled in a fleeting, perfunctory manner, with constant frenetic video projections, lots of pounding music, and a dizzying relay of brief scenes by the large and blameless cast, most with many multiple roles. As watchable as Newton’s performance is, I never got the sense of McQueen’s outrageousness. Rather than actually reproducing any of his controversial runway shows, we’re told about them: “Rape victims staggering about in dresses that look like they’ve been clawed,” says a TV reporter (Margaret Odette) as if during a broadcast. “McQueen’s brand of misogynistic absurdity gives fashion a bad name”
That TV reporter returns frequently, reviewing his shows, catching us up on the latest turn of events, offering gossip, sometimes interviewing him — a lazy, artificial, and increasingly annoying narrative device.
There are several moments in the production that intrigued me. Alexander slowly dresses Isabella in a Joan of Arc outfit, complete with sword, to provide her armor for her forthcoming stay in a mental hospital. Lee’s mother Joyce interviews him for the BBC, reading questions supplied by viewers:
Joyce: What is your most terrifying fear?
Lee: You dying before me.
Joyce: Thank you, son. What makes you most proud?
Lee: You, Mum.
Joyce: Me? Why me?
Lee: No, no, ask the next one.
Joyce: What makes you furious
Lee: You!
…Joyce: What makes your heart miss a beat?
Lee: Love.
Joyce: Love for children? Love for adults? Love for animals?
Lee: Falling in love.
This is an idiosyncratic and implausible exchange – except it actually took place (not on the BBC, but in the pages of the Guardian.) But even here, the exchange is broken up into several short scenes interspersed throughout the play, which made it unnecessarily confusing. It’s a trivial example of how the production keeps getting in the way of one of the gifts Alexander McQueen left us – an inherently dramatic and theatrical life.
In the exhibition (which is open both before the performance and during intermission), the introductory panel (under the strange title “The Company of Melancholiacs”) informs us: “The ideas he pushed to their controversial limits were not simply to shock, but to wake people up, to buy into something bigger than fashion.”
I didn’t find “House of McQueen” to be bigger than fashion, but, more disappointing, I didn’t find it shocking at all.
House of McQueen
The Mansion at Hudson Yards through October 19
Update: Extended to November 2, with Liam Tamne taking over for Luke Newton after September 28
Running time: Two hours including an intermission
Tickets: $56 – $236
Written by Darrah Cloud
Directed by Sam Helfrich
Executive producer Rick Laxes, creative director Gary McQueen, original score by Andres Martin.
Scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West, costume design by Kaye Voyce, lighting design by Robert Wierzel, sound design by G Clausen, video and projection design by Brad Peterson, hair/wig and makeup design by Tommy Kurzman, choreography by Benjamin Freedman, dialect coach Deborah Hecht, intimacy coach NJ Agwuna, casting director Jamibeth Margolis, production stage manager Jason Kaiser Cast: Luke Newton as Lee Alexander McQueen, Emily Skinner as Joyce McQueen, Catherine LeFrere as Isabella, Cody Braverman as Young Lee, Tim Creavin as James/Andrew/Archie/Murray, Fady Demian as Simon/Eddie/Technician/Curator, Matthew Eby as Young Lee, Joe Joseph as Terence/Monsieur/Demon/George, Denis Lambert as Ron/Tom Ford/Robert/Lawyer, Margaret Odette as reporter/professor/model 1, Spencer Petro as BB/Jo. Jonina Thorsteinsdottir as Janet/psychic/ model 2. Understudies: Sam Dash, James Evans, Krystal Riggs, Jackie Sanders and Chris Thorn
