House of McQueen, is an off-Broadway immersion into the late life of the Lee Alexander McQueen, it debuted on September 9. Written by award-winning playwright Darrah Cloud and directed by Sam Helfrich, the production approaches McQueen’s life with sensitivity while maintaining theatrical spectacle.
The show traces McQueen’s journey from his South East London beginnings to his rapid rise in fashion, portraying his close relationships and the traumas that haunted him.
Luke Newton, best known from Bridgerton, plays McQueen with uncanny accuracy–including a baggy tee, jeans, and a shaved head. He balances McQueen’s cool defiance with raw insecurity, humanizing an often-mythologized figure.
Emily Skinner, as McQueen’s mother, Joyce, provides the emotional core. Skinner paints McQueen not as an untouchable provocateur but as a vulnerable son, dependent on his mother’s love. A recurring scene featuring a BBC interview between McQueen and his mother, modeled after a real interview, is exceptionally tender and devastating:
“What is your most terrifying fear?” she asks.
“You dying before me,” he replies.
Skinner also delivers one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the play, pleading with McQueen’s circle, “Can all of you just please not give Lee any more drugs? Please? Answer me.”
Catherine LeFrere who plays Isabella Blow, as McQueen’s muse and mentor, provides a contrasting fragile eccentricity. Her wit lightens the darker narrative, adding refreshing moments of humor to an otherwise tragic story. The set is visually polished, spotlighting the script. Scenic Designer Jason Ardizzone-West keeps the stage minimal—just two platforms that rise and fall with the plot’s needs.
Video and Projection Designer Brad Peterson’s projections turn scenes into a living canvas. Water and blood, among other visuals, sweep across 1,000 square feet of LED screens.
The play finds clever ways to express McQueen’s spinning industry and inner life, blurring realism with metaphor. A standout sequence transforms the fashion industry into a non-stop dance competition, with characters engaging in whimsical choreography that conveys the cutthroat pace of the fashion world.
Beyond the play itself, audiences can explore a curated exhibition of 27 archival McQueen pieces before or after the performance. These include rarely seen garments from Plato’s Atlantis (S/S 2010), Scanners (A/W 2003), and Angels and Demons (A/W 2010), standing in front of their analogous runway images. Accompanying the infamous crucifix mask from Dante (F/W 1996) is a photo of model Debra Shaw–who also attended the show’s debut–wearing the mask on the runway.
The exhibition, curated by Byronesque in collaboration with the McQueen Vault, is one of the production’s most inspired elements. Viewing these artifacts’ impossible-looking details up close intensified the play’s subjects of creativity and mortality.
Creative director Gary James McQueen, the designer’s nephew, said his goal was “to help ensure my uncle’s legacy continues to inspire future generations.” His vision grounds the experience, honoring not just McQueen’s artistry but the vulnerabilities that defined him.
The production captures not only McQueen’s genius but also his humanity—his devotion to his mother, reliance on Isabella Blow, and struggles with fame, trauma, and addiction.
At 90 minutes, the show offers a brisk yet powerful collage of McQueen’s life. For fashion lovers, it’s a unique chance to step into McQueen’s world. For theatergoers, it’s an artistic example of performance honoring legacy. Like McQueen’s collections, it leaves its viewers haunted, inspired, and awed.
Homepage image: Luke Newton and Jonina Thorsteinsdottir, photo credit Thomas Hedges. Above images from left to right: Paris Fashion week SS 2007, photo credit Chris Moore, Horn of Plenty, AW 2009, photo credit by Stephane Cardinale-Corbis, and Paris Fashion week AW 2006, photo credit Michel Dufour. House of McQueen plays at The Mansion at Hudson Yards, 508 West 37th St, in New York till October 19th.
