Elton John & Jake Shears’ TAMMY FAYE: THE MUSICAL - News & Discussion Thread — Page 3

The Post's Johnny Oleksinski does it again:

https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elton-johns-lacking-tammy-faye-musical-needs-a-prayer/

Most of the reviews I’ve seen are pretty lukewarm. Seems they are just retreading the same old story with passable tunes. There is definitely a more interesting story with Tammy Faye but no one seems to be able to find the right balance.


Rannells seems to be doing his same schtick. The actress playing Tammy is getting raves but will that warrant a life after this run?

Four stars, The Guardian, review

"But it pulls out all the stops to stage a show as glittery as these starry names. Infectious in its music, exuberant in its performances and gloriously kitsch in its aesthetic, it is stylishly pulled together by director Rupert Goold."

RippedMan said: "I've yet to see Rannells do anything outside of his one-note schtick."

Don't let him hear that, he thinks he's the second coming.

New York Times is an all out rave.

New York Times RAVE!!!!

Congrats.....

I was very excited to see this show - FINALLY a new British musical with a prestigious creative team (Rupert Gould; Elton John; James Graham) and an exciting Broadway casting choice (Andrew Rannells). In a prestigious off-west end theatre. The west end needs MORE of this - I recognise it’s probably a combination of who is producing shows in the West End and musicals being more cultural to the USA/NYC, but the state of new Musicals in the West End is not a healthy one and hasn’t been one for a while. They can import US productions, they can do creative revivals of US shows, they can occasionally (but not always) find good talent to perform in these shows - but they just can’t seem to write good new shows.

I think what I didn’t appreciate is that despite the prestigious team and Andrew Rannells what I ACTUALLY was seeing is “Katie Brayben IN Tammy Faye”. (Katie who?). Like Alice Ripley in next to normal, Bernadette in Sunday or Kelli in Bridges this is a rare pairing of actor, character and material that just really really works. Katie is giving a Tony-worth performance and is something that has to be seen in NYC. She plays multiple ages, she cries, she makes us laugh, she expertly plays the subtext of being on the show while something eventful backstage has happened, she has POWERHOUSE vocals and can ACT WHILE SINGING in a way I haven’t really seen of many west end actors. She gets 3 terrific solo moments to show this off, 2 of which are enhanced by the subtext of showing her move from singing the song backstage to on the TV show.

The three moments are ^^^^^SPOILERS^^^^^^:

1. A solo at the beginning where she just pours out her emotions and heart on the TV show for the first time, capturing fellowship of the TV audience (and us)

2. A 1st act closer, which begins as a response to Jim cheating on her and then ends as a passionate, desperate and devastating showcase on her TV show (with again with all the clever subtext of placing the song from backstage to TV)

3. A 11 o’clock number lamenting the fall of her career ‘If You Came to See Me Cry’


Plus of course so many other moments, such as the act two high-energy opener ‘Prime Time’ and other duet/ensemble numbers.

Andrew Rannells is a good sport - it’s very hard to be Herbie, to be Nick, to be Horace, to be Frank, to be Billy [AG] etc.. The show really isn’t about him - I think his personality adds to the tone of the show subtle in the background even if he isn’t really wowing.

The show feels VERY polished and I can see why it has a positive reaction, the book is generally well structured, the music sounds pleasant and in particular the direction is strong - very well staged, a clear tone, really cool period projection TV set and costumes. I do think an American director might find ways to pick up the pace a bit and deliver some of the funny lines a bit quicker, but overall they have done a good job.

I particularly love all the satire and themes around the influence of religion in Government that of course is still important today, and there is a hilarious standout performance as Ronald Reagan who could be one of those Featured Tony noms that you don’t really understand unless you there were (e.g. Jennifer Simard in Company).

HOWEVER, this does not mean that the show is good! Sorry but in my opinion the key limitation of this show is there is very little subtley. The idea that this is more ‘sophisticated’ or ‘funnier’ than the Book of Mormon is completely untrue. One of the key differences in the shows is that The Book of Mormon score is strong who use subtext FREQUENTLY in most of the songs (Two by Two, You and Me (but Mostly Me), Turn It Off, Salt Lake City, Making Things Up Again, Spooky Mormon Hell Dream, I Believe, Baptise Me, I am Africa etc.). All these songs have multiple layers as well as humour that are commenting on characters, beliefs and religion.

In this show, there is very little subtext beyond some of the Tammy moments described above. It’s particularly terrible in the second act. If this team wrote the score for The Book of Mormon instead of “You and Me” he’d write “I am a selfish egotistical Mormon and you are here to watch me succeed”. Instead of “Turn It Off”, he’d write “I am a gay mormon whose religion is making my life difficult”. Instead of “Salt Lake City”, he’d write “I have dreams to get out of my country”. Instead of “I Believe” he’d write “I am a naive mormon”. "Hasa Diga Eebowai" would be sung in English to spoil the joke immediately. This key technique of subtext is what the ‘greats’ (e.g. Kander & Ebb and Sondheim in particular) brought to the art form, and this team just don’t want to, or don’t know how, to use it effectively.

It’s particularly terrible in the second act, with awful throughway songs such as “Run This Show” where the ‘baddies’ lament and conspire how they can literally ‘Run the show’ instead of Jim and Tammy. A song where people are complaining about Tammy Faye (think no one mourns the wicked or city on fire but so literal with that kind of cheesy feeling that British musicals have). Even the 11 o’clock number ‘If you came to see my cry’. God. Or “See You in Heaven” - what is meant to be (and kind of is successfully) a rousing way to end the show about LOVE is LOVE with the gay rainbow projected on the back (to be clear, I am gay). They try to use subtext with a song "He's Inside Me" (As in, the sexual subtext) - which I found funny, but again not subtle at all.

I mean, it still works. And I think the lack of subtley is probably a good thing for British musical audiences who lack the sophistication of New York musical audiences because it really can clearly communicate the ideas and themes in a way that won’t go over the audience’s head.

But overall, if this show was in NYC - we would and should expect more. The show is lacking the craft and magic of shows like Matilda, Groundhog Day or even & Juliet.

Updated On: 11/22/22 at 03:07 AM

I mean, I of course am pushing buttons intentionally when I say it, and of course making any kind of sweeping generalisation is bound not to hold true. But my personal opinion and experience having been to west end and Broadway theatre for years is that there are more likely to be audiences in New York that support more challenging and sophisticated NEW shows especially commercial Broadway shows (though maybe it’s chicken and egg - if producers in the west end are more cautious to mount them in the first place how do you build that kind of audience?).


The reason I am passionate about this is there is a very interesting stereotype that non-Americans often seem to have about American culture vs British culture, and assume that British culture is more sophisticated, cultured and tasteful whereas American culture is more vulgar, commercially driven and aimed to the lowest common denominator mass market. In the case of musicals at least, this is certainly not true - with New York City by far producing the most important, most revolutionary and most sophisticated musicals not just of our time but of the past 50 years too. I find it hilarious when people not in the know assume and tell me that they love west end because it’s more sophisticated and not Disney compared to Broadway without really knowing anything about it. Musicals are such an engrained part of NYC and American culture that no one does it better.

When something like Tammy Faye is produced because there is such a dearth of good new musicals produced from the UK of course the hype is going to be exaggerated by audiences, fans and critics. I’m sorry to say but Tammy Faye as a whole would not hold up to the scrutiny of New York City because the standards are so much higher.

Updated On: 11/22/22 at 07:53 AM

'I mean, it still works. And I think the lack of subtley is probably a good thing for British musical audiences who lack the sophistication of New York musical audiences because it really can clearly communicate the ideas and themes in a way that won’t go over the audience’s head.'



Ah yes, us unsophisticated Brits giving the world tradh like Good Vibrations, Spiderman, Dance of the Vampires etc. Oh wait!

The Almeida just posted a highlight reel since the show didn’t get to perform their originally scheduled final performances.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cly47WovEZh/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

The cast is in the studio recording a cast album.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn9RA--I2Ip/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Talk on the west end board is it will have a West End run this Fall with Broadway possibly after that.

lilpunkin said: "They’re reworking the show substantially for the West End so it probably depends how that goes."

They’ve recorded a cast album and now they’re going to substantially rework the show?