British fashion designer and couturier Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) is the subject of the new Off-Broadway production House of McQueen, now playing a limited engagement of The Mansion at Hudson Yards – a venue created specifically for this premiere show. Tracing his life and legacy as a multi-award-winning, boundary-pushing, controversial visionary, the work, written by Darrah Cloud, directed by Sam Helfrich, and presented in collaboration with Gary James McQueen (Alexander’s nephew, who serves as Creative Director), combines storytelling with spectacle, an incisive theatrical portrait and memory play with extravagant fashion shows and afterparties, in an immersive celebration of the openly gay icon, who died by suicide in his home in London at the age of 40, shortly after the death of his mother.
The biographical narrative is presented in short segments that weave back and forth in time, from McQueen’s working-class background in London, with a loving mother, critical father, and abused older sister, through his beginnings and rise in the international fashion industry, to the foundation of his own label (in 1992), working with such legendary designers as Givenchy (where he was a lead designer from 1996-2001), reiterating his desire to achieve “everything, everything, everything,” and the intense labor and long hours it demanded. It also examines his relationships with a string of lovers (with NJ Agwuna serving as intimacy coach), brief (as yet legally unsanctioned) marriage to a man he didn’t really know, and failing friendship with his biggest patron, champion, and muse Isabella Blow, who bought his entire graduate show collection, convinced him to use his more sophisticated middle name Alexander professionally (rather than his first name Lee, as he was called by those closest to him), and gained him entrée into the upper echelon of the fashion world. And, most notably, it takes a deep dive into his troubled psyche, in his devastating struggles with homophobia, the initially scathing criticism he received from the press, his excessive use of alcohol and drugs, and his ongoing battle with depression, which culminated in the taking of his own life at the height of his flourishing career.
Much of the temporal shifting and recollections are interspersed with scenes of a televised interview, with his mother Joyce asking the questions and Lee reflecting on his answers, revealing the innermost thoughts, background, and humanity behind his irreverent personality, artistry, and celebrity, with a wall of live-feed video behind them (video and projection design by Brad Peterson). The immersive technology, including over 1,000 square feet of LED screens, sets the locales and moods throughout the production, from the young Lee drawing on the wall of his childhood home to the runways of his fashion shows, the clubs where his parties were held (providing a backdrop to the live, increasingly drugged-out choreography by Benjamin Freedman), the surreal altered states of his, and Issie’s, deteriorating minds, and the deceased figures’ exits into the bright white light of the afterlife.
Leading an across-the-board stellar cast of both American and British actors, all with spot-on accents indicative of the nationalities and classes of their characters (expert dialect coaching by Deborah Hecht) are Luke Newton as Lee, Emily Skinner as Joyce, and Catherine LeFrere as Isabella, each bringing depth and empathy to the characters, conveying their profound connections to one another, and delivering the poignant and often raw emotions of their journey.
Standouts in the supporting cast are Cody Braverman as young Lee, who displays his love of art and fashion from childhood, his defiance of his parents, and his budding sexual orientation, and Margaret Odette as the reporter, whose critical assessment of McQueen’s shows slowly changed as his global popularity increased, at first condescendingly disparaging his designs and the provocative performance art of his runway shows (questioning if he was a misogynist promoting the sexploitation of women, and not, as he claimed, a person who loved and empowered them), then raving about his groundbreaking originality and status. Rounding out the fine cast are Tim Creavin, Fady Demian, Joe Joseph, Denis Lambert, Spencer Petro, and Jonina Thorsteinsdottir, all playing multiple roles, distinguishing each from the others, and bringing McQueen’s story to life.
In contrast to the active and colorful projections, the minimal black-and-white set (by Jason Ardizzone-West) consists of two cubic platforms that rise and sink with the action of the narrative but never distract, enhanced with lighting (by Robert Wierzel) and sound (by G Clausen) in keeping with the story’s changing tones. Of course, the costumes (by Kaye Voyce) and hair, wigs, and makeup (by Tommy Kurzman) are essential to a play about a life based in fashion, and they successfully define the situations and personalities of the characters, from the modest over-sized tee-shirt and jeans worn by the financially strapped Lee in his early career, to the dazzling designs he creates for Issie and his models, and his vision of his younger self in sparkling blue sequins and fringe.
If you go to House of McQueen – and you should – try to select seats at the center of the house, as the handrails in the aisles of the new theater are higher than usual and block the sightlines from the sides. And plan to arrive early; your ticket also includes access to a specially curated fashion exhibition of archival Alexander McQueen designs in a gallery inside the venue.
Running Time: Approximately two hours, including an intermission.
House of McQueen plays through Sunday, September 28, 2025, at The Mansion at Hudson Yards, 508 W 37th Street, NYC. For tickets (priced at $56.20-236.60, including fees), go online, or find discount tickets at TodayTix.