F. Murray Abraham’s career began in an odd corner of New York’s ’60s musical theater scene.
Abraham didn’t come up in “Cabaret,” “Hello, Dolly!,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” or any of Broadway’s Tony-winning blockbusters. He made his way from a more humble starting point.
“I did a number of children’s musicals,” Abraham told the Boston Herald. “Very famous children’s musicals that were about an hour long and we would play schools at 10 in the morning and things like that. But it was my training as a singer.”
Abraham will draw on that training (and a lifetime of acting experience) when he performs with fellow stage legend Kristin Chenoweth during the pre-Broadway run of theater icon Stephen Schwartz’s new musical “The Queen of Versailles” — July 16 to August 25 at the Emerson Colonial Theatre.
Based on the 2012 documentary “The Queen of Versailles,” the musical stars Abraham as real estate mogul David Siegel and Chenoweth as his wife, socialite and reality TV subject Jackie Siegel (and their 75,000-foot, $100 million, under-construction home, unironically modeled after the French palace Versailles).
At first blush, it’s pretty wild source material for a Broadway-bound musical. But Abraham finds plenty of meat in the character of David.
“He accomplished, and is still accomplishing, the so-called American dream,” Abraham said. “He makes fortunes, and then makes more fortunes. It’s that driven thing that is so much a part of our culture… But you will see if you watch the documentary, what comes through is no matter how individual each of them is, and they’re quite different people, is their extraordinary affection for each other.”
Abraham is still grieving the loss of his wife of 60 years who passed away nearly two years ago. And, despite the maddening opulence of the Siegels’ American dream on steroids, he finds humanity in this love story. In “The Queen of Versailles,” he gets to sing a gentle ballad.
“Stephen writes some extremely broad and funny and big (songs), and then he’s written an absolutely beautiful love song for me,” Abraham said. “It’s a tender and meaningful love song for me.”
“When I sing this song, it’s very difficult to get through it without breaking down,” he added. “…that’s how tender and sweet the love song is.”
If Abraham can find humor and heart in the Siegels, it’s not surprising he can find joy and fondness in the cast, which he repeatedly gushes over (“It’s not always this way,” he insisted). He reserves the most praise for the show’s lead. For Chenoweth, “The Queen of Versailles” is a reunion with “Wicked” songwriter Schwartz, both of whom scored Tony nods for their work on the smash musical.
“She’s absolutely from heaven,” he said. “I’ve been in the business for many years and there are very few people about which nothing bad can be said. She’s one of those people.”
During those many years, Abraham has had an epic career on stage and screen. He won an Oscar playing Salieri in “Amadeus.” He’s won marquee awards for his work in plays by Shakespeare and Chekhov. But rarely has he had a chance to be in a musical this grand while playing opposite a talent with equal chops. Certainly he never worked with someone of Chenoweth’s skills back in his school lunchroom days.
For tickets and details, visit emersoncolonialtheatre.com
