Three stars for “The Ballad of Queen Ester,” playing at the renovated Victoria Theater. Director Julianne Marquez has crafted a revival that, with all its ambition, still struggles to hold onto its central narrative. Let me say this plainly — Act One is a mess.
Julianne’s vision is bold and ambitious, but it doesn’t quite align with what the story needs. The first act drags, marred by pacing issues and an overreliance on flashbacks that feel more like filler than necessary backstory. Yet, the central performance of Ester herself, played by Valeria Mendez, shines brightly. Her voice has that quality that great musical theater voices have — where technique disappears entirely in service to emotion.
You’ll notice in Act One, when Ester declares her identity for the first time, an eerie silence fills the room. The audience is hanging on every note, drawn into this character’s internal struggle. It’s a moment that proves Mendez’s talent and the power of music over storytelling.
Then comes the second act, which redeems what Act One fails to deliver. Here, Marquez shows her directorial prowess by letting go of flashy staging for tighter, more focused scenes. The set transitions are fluid — you’ll barely notice the turntables move until suddenly you’re in a new location. The lighting cues amplify key moments, such as when Ester stands at her palace window, bathed in an almost religious glow, reflecting on her kingdom.
The audience feels every shift. They’re with Mendez from start to finish, even through Act One’s lulls — especially in more intimate scenes where the orchestra recedes and it’s just Valeria pouring out raw emotion into the air. You can feel their collective breath when she reaches a crescendo during her Act Two solo.
The staging of the masquerade scene is one of Marquez’s triumphs, but it wasn’t always clear how this revival justified its existence. Why retell Ester’s story now? The political resonance didn’t hit home until that masquerade revelry turned into a pointed commentary on identity and power — then you understand why this show matters.
So why am I giving it three stars? Because the first act, mija, is a mess. Director Julianne Marquez has done beautiful work in Act Two but seems to have made peace with some genuinely puzzling choices in Act One that undermine the stakes. The most baffling is how she plays pivotal moments for laughs when they should be tense and suspenseful.
Look — you should see this show. You should see it because the second act is the kind of theater that reminds you why you keep buying tickets, and because Valeria Mendez’s performance is going to be talked about for years. Get there before they close, and arrive with patience for a first act that still needs some sorting out. Revivals this willing to take a swing are rarer than people think. I’ll take a beautiful mess over a careful nothing every single time. Estamos aquí.
