Tammy Faye: A New Musical - Broadway

EXACTLY



Goold should probably stop directing musicals at scale


Made in Dagenham

Didn’t set the box office alight either

Some other sh*te will have it’s turn soon enough anyway good luck to them

Perhaps Goold could do with some women creatives in his Musical Theatre teams. Some have commented that Tammy Faye wasn't quite the centre of her own show, and we never really got close enough to her or her motivations - attention getting funnelled off to Jimmy and Jerry. Perhaps that was necessary evasion, so the team could avoid ever quite nailing their stance and opinion - but that seems to have tripped them up on Broadway where sensitivities to 'what exactly do you mean by this?' are higher with this close-to-home subject matter.

I'd forgotten Goold directed 'Made In Dagenham', until your post. Few would accuse 'Made In Dagenham' of not having women at its centre, but the musical repeated the film's great insult - the prime mover in the industrial action was a million miles from the willowy slim protagonist portrayed. Photographic realism isn't essential (as discussed in another thread right now) but it was sad to see our current culture struggle to take a woman seriously unless she looks 'conventionally pretty', whereas in the late 60s she was a winner who changed industrial relations legislation. The musical then cast someone who had to cede the big impressive money notes to someone else at the end-of-Act-One closer - an earthy soulful singer more fitting to the entire role. (Gemma Arterton is a good actress, and seems a lovely person, so no shade on her btw)

Overall a shame about the 'Tammy Faye' - I enjoyed it a lot at the Almeida, but with a nagging feeling the material was being carried by a great cast, rather than surfed on.

So I saw this last week on my trip to NYC - in fact, it was one of the main reasons I was going, as I loved it so much at the Almeida.

I still really liked the show, but it was a bit of a disappointment. I said this before, but I don't believe Tammy Faye is a big show, and the overblown production with added bells and whistles, was lost in the barn that is The Palace theatre.

There were quite a few changes and i'd say that probably half the songs in Act 1 had different lyrics and there were bigger changes in the 2nd half, with run this town being cut and 'Don't Shine A Light' added. Borle was miscast, Cerveris was lost in the mix and Katie Brayben belted her little heart out and got massive cheers for all her numbers and made more than a few people shed a tear at the end.

I'm still jet lagged, but will write more about the specific changes later this week.

I now have a tshirt from both the London and NYC production. They'll go into a vault and be the stuff of legend when i'm old!

Announced closing

It's interesting that this had the same critical response and journey to Broadway that Enron had; I guess Goold didn't learn the lesson that Americans don't like having their institutions brit-splained to them.

To lift a production to the Almeida to Broadway biggest theatre, what could go wrong?

What was Tammy Faye 'brit-splaining' to them about?

I agree.

If anything, it's more of a reason to make an album. As someone pointed out (I can't remember if it was on this board or elsewhere on the Internet) big Broadway flops usually go on to get cult followings. Look at Merrily or Carrie.

What new theatre fans would listen to the cast recording of "just another show" like Days of Wine and Roses or How to Dance in Ohio in 10 years time? But a biblical sized flop, well, now I'm intrigued and I'm going to search out the recording.

If you're going to flop, flop big and be talked about for years to come. So you might as well play the long game and I think producers and creatives realise that.

Also, what was the last original Broadway musical (not revival or jukebox) from previous seasons that didn't get a cast recording? (Bad) Cinderella had the London recording and Here Lies Love had the Off Broadway recording. I think King Kong was the last not to get a recording?

I thought there was a London cast recording made?

I bet Elaine has a few tracks stashed in her magic box of exclusive tracks that she busts out every now & then.

“Lestat” has one, yet it’ll never be released.