TAMMY FAYE will transfer to Broadway in 2024-2025 Season- Page 10

[TBFL]

Posted: 6/28/24 at 9:09pm

Ke3 said: "All the reports I've heard about this said it was Elton's best score in years but that Shears lyrics were bad. And since melodies can't cover terrible lyrics it kind of killed any excitement I had for it."

I disagree about the lyrics being bad. Granted, they're not Sondheim clever, but they're also not completely obvious, that you see coming a mile off. Not that this is great standard to measure them by, but they're 1000 x better than his lyrics were for Tales of The City.

It will be interesting to see how well this does, given that a much larger percentage of the audience will have some familiarity with the characters in it. Tammy Faye, Jim Bakker, Jerry Fulwell, Pat Robinson, etc. I wonder if Jerry Fulwell Jnr might have something to say about his father being the villain of the story?

It's a shame there isn't more excitement for this opening, but it's gonna need to do smething big to be able to stand out amongst all the bigger, starier productions.

 

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 9:29am

Question for those who saw it in London:  How big is this show?  Could it financially survive with no stars like Fun Home or Kimberly Akimbo?

If so, Hunter Foster as Jim seems like a no-brainer. 

[Kad]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 9:58am

verywellthensigh said: "Question for those who saw it in London: How big is this show? Could it financially survive with no stars like Fun Home or Kimberly Akimbo?

If so, Hunter Foster as Jim seems like a no-brainer."

Well, Christian Borle is playing Jim. Also, Hunter Foster seems to have largely stepped back from performing and has a pretty busy career directing regionally.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 10:37am

verywellthensigh said: "Question for those who saw it in London: How big is this show?."

This is what’s going to be interesting because in London it played at The Almeida which is a very small 325 seat theater and it’s moving to a 1740 seat theater, here. Expect a complete overhaul of every element of the show. 

[bway1430]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 11:54am

verywellthensigh said: "Question for those who saw it in London: How big is this show? Could it financially survive with no stars like Fun Home or Kimberly Akimbo?

If so, Hunter Foster as Jim seems like a no-brainer."

As the previous poster mentioned, it will likely be much larger than it was at the 325 seat Almeida.

But not every show needs names (Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen and a host of other shows  did fine without them) but the show certainly has potential to make a huge star out of Katie Brayben who is a knockout in the role. She avoids impersonation in favour of capturing the spirit of Tammy Faye and with a voice that can knock the roof off.

Updated On: 6/29/24 at 11:54 AM

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 11:58am

1648 seats now

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 11:59am

Broadway Flash said: "1648 seats now"

Didn’t realize they had lost seats. 
 

And yes, Katie is phenomenal in this - expect the races to pour in for her and they’ll be very well deserved. 

[lilpunkin]

Posted: 6/29/24 at 12:08pm

The production looked visibly squished at the Almeida. Both in terms of the size of the set and number of cast onstage. It looked like a show that had been designed for a main house stage then squished into a smaller theatre, rather than a non-West End size show with potential to be made bigger. It’s the kind of show that really needed a big stage.

[TBFL]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 4:34am

I don't think it is and that's why i think it will struggle at the Palace. At the heart of it is an intimate story between a hadful of people and supersizing the scale of everything you could lose that.

What was the reasoning behind taking The Palace? Because it's new refurb and opening? location? 1648 is a big number and as i recall, it's not the most intimate of theatres.

[bway1430]

Posted: 6/30/24 at 6:17pm

TBFL said: "I don't think it is and that's why i think it will struggle at the Palace. At the heart of it is an intimate story between a hadful of people and supersizing the scale of everything you could lose that.

What was the reasoning behind taking The Palace? Because it's new refurb and opening? location? 1648 is a big number and as i recall, it's not the most intimate of theatres."

I can't agree with your take that it is an intimate story. Yes, the story focuses on the relationship of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker but not just with each other. The bigger/main story is Tammy Faye's connection to the millions of viewers on PTL who adored her and sent cash donations by the truckload. 

The greater part of the show was set in a television studio which is far from intimate. The Almeida was likely a chance to tryout the material which, although it has been revised, would not at all have been hampered with a larger stage and room for the dancers/ensemble to do more than practically dance in place.

The Palace is a risky choice for any show but if the Nederlanders didn't have total faith that this show would look ideal in their newly refurbished theatre and have massive hit potential, they would have held out for another tenant....both SMASH and BOOP! are seeking theatres though BOOP! will now be housed by The Shuberts.

[TBFL]

Posted: 7/1/24 at 12:08am

bway1430 said: "I can't agree with yourtake that it is an intimate story. Yes, the story focuses on the relationship ofJim and Tammy Faye Bakker but not just with each other. The bigger/mainstory is Tammy Faye's connection to the millions of viewers on PTL who adored her and sent cash donations by the truckload.

The greater part of the show was set in a television studio which is far from intimate. The Almeida was likely a chance to tryout the material which, although it has been revised, would not at all have been hampered with a larger stage and room for the dancers/ensemble to do more than practically dance in place"

I totally agree with you about the connection with the viewers etc, but what i meant was that it doesn't need a massive space to do that, nor a big cast. It doesn't need an all singing, all dancing kickline chorus to fill the stage. I disagree that the Almeida was just a chance to tryout the material. If it had transferred, that was the production that was going. It wasn't suddenly going to get a new set design or any big changes like that.

I don't think this production will be that different to the Almeida production. Yes there is 1 new song, but i suspect the majority of it will be the same script, design, costumes etc, just with a bigger budget.
 

[bway1430]

Posted: 7/1/24 at 2:00am

TBFL said: "bway1430 said: "I can't agree with yourtake that it is an intimate story. Yes, the story focuses on the relationship ofJim and Tammy Faye Bakker but not just with each other. The bigger/mainstory is Tammy Faye's connection to the millions of viewers on PTL who adored her and sent cash donations by the truckload.

The greater part of the show was set in a television studio which is far from intimate. The Almeida was likely a chance to tryout the material which, although it has been revised, would not at all have been hampered with a larger stage and room for the dancers/ensemble to do more than practically dance in place"

I totally agree with you about the connection with the viewers etc, but what i meant was that it doesn't need a massive space to do that, nor a big cast. It doesn't need an all singing, all dancing kickline chorus to fill the stage. I disagree that the Almeida was just a chance to tryout the material. If it had transferred, that was the production that was going. It wasn't suddenly going to get a new set design or any big changes like that.

I don't think this production will be that different to the Almeida production. Yes there is 1 new song, but i suspect the majority of it will be the same script, design, costumes etc, just with a bigger budget.
"

You must have missed it when discussed here and in news/interviews/online items but the show went back into the redevelopment lab once the Almeida run finished and the decision was made not to move to The Gillian Lynne as the leading lady was pregnant. The redevelopment culminated in a 6 week workshop, after which, the show was picked up by the Nederlanders for one of their theatres. If the show Broadway is getting is a retread of the original, I can't imagine why money would be spent on redevelopment and an extensive workshop.

It wouldn't make sense.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 7/1/24 at 2:50am

I’m not sure how many seats are in the balcony, but they can always close that, no?  If they’re not capable of selling 1600 seats a night, they should just close the balcony which we’ve been seeing more of recently.  Illinoise closed the balcony, heart of rock and roll eventually closed the balcony, and the great Gatsby has closed off the rear mezzanine.  They can always open it if the rest of the theatre is sold out.