Tammy Faye: A New Musical - Broadway

There are a couple of unusual chords in the trailer that sound like an edit or transition to another song - we're so used to the rhythm of show trailers that I was expecting that. It makes it an odd watch. I think they've made a mistake.

I'm baffled if this isn't finding an audience. I can only guess that people heartily sick of slick money grabbing hucksters can't bear to watch (I wouldn't want to at this political moment), while others might fear it's going to mock religious faith. I'm not sure who that leaves  - collectors of new musicals?

Yet another show that goes down well in London so the producers get greedy and bypass the west end and rush straight for the bigger target of Broadway, and it's a massive failure. Just like Groundhog Day and American Psycho before it.

The reviews are pretty brutal. I honestly wish I could put my finger on what went so wrong here.

DTLI Consensus: Broadway’s latest biomusical, courtesy of Sir Elton John, is disappointingly hell-bound.

7 negative (including the NYT), 6 mixed, 1 positive.

didtheylikeit.com/shows/tammy-faye/

This isn’t gonna last until Christmas after those reviews.
I’m really sad for Katie, she’s such a brilliant talent and this should have been a big triumph for her in New York.

Valid points, but you still say they had to go to their 'Broadway commitment ' which implies they still had broadway planned very early on with a theatre and dated etc. So still a pretty quick transfer with assumptions made it would be a hit transfer.

But why is broadway always seen as the better goal anyway.

It's far more expensive and cut throat. But so many of these shows see broadway as the better goal and bypass the west end. London is like their regional try out.

Other shows take a more cautious approach and build on their successes, like Six and Operation Mincemeat (granted how that broadway transfer goes is tbc).

The show has neither the heft nor appeal nor substance nor songs

To be relevant in a mainstream setting

Issue remains both on broadway and west end

Too many theatres

Nothing worthy to fill most of them

I love Six and Operation Mincemeat but I'm not sure if they're good comparisons because they both started as tiny fringe shows created as passion projects by unknowns and evolved organically from being able to see which bits connected or didn't connect with audiences. Or maybe I'm wrong and that's why they are good comparisons, because maybe Tammy Faye's creative push was coming from the wrong place.


I assume people know this, but Tammy Faye only exists because Elton John has long been obsessed with Tammy and decided to use his vast wealth and fame to essentially commission a huge West End musical around his personal pet interest. He created the idea and concept and put everything in place for that musical to go into the West End, then after everything was in place he went out and started interviewing playwrights. James Graham landed the gig off being one of several playwrights who interviewed. Then James suggested Rupert Goold as director. Compare that to Dear England which started from James and Rupert's shared passion for football, shared obsession with Gareth Southgate, and shared interest in using theatre to explore 21stC masculinity. Or compare to Six or Operation Mincemeat which like Dear England both had the starting point of group of creatives realising they had a mutual interest and wanting to mutually explore that interest theatrically.



I know Elton was also one of the creatives, but it somewhat reminds me of playwrights in the Elizabethan era writing plays to serve the needs and interests of their wealthy patrons or royals. Maybe wealthy person hiring a playwright to write a custom-show to serve their own pet interest isn't the best way to create a show that will connect with wide audiences.

I assume Elton wasn't as hands on with Devil Wears Prada given that they completely changed the creative team from Chicago to Plymouth aside from him and Shaina Taub.