TAMMY FAYE Reviews- Page 11

[Mr. Wormwood]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 1:11am

I saw some clips from the final bows. Definitely feel for the cast. Everyone is working hard and it's gotta be difficult to be in such a huge flop. Obviously lots of mistakes made and I'm not advocating for bad shows to stay open but I do feel for the worker bees involved who are giving their all and trying their best. It feels like it's been a very long time since a show was this roundly rejected.

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 3:15am

BoringBoredBoard40 said: "I was at closing.

They absolutely papered the orchestra at the last minute, when I arrived to pick up my ticket I could see a VERY long comp list in the box office.

That said, I was in the Mezz and there were MAYBE 100 of us, the ushers let everyone move down and center which was good.

This show was such a misfire but I will say I never found myself bored or looking at my watch. Katie got very loud applause at her entrance, and a VERY long applause break after "If You Came To See Me Cry" myself and several others in the Mezzanine gave her a standing ovation.

One very interesting moment tonight was during the end when Andy Taylor and Michael Cervaris essentially recreatedthe controversial conversationthat Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson had on the 700 Club after 9/11. During this scene there were TONS of people boo'ing and audience members yelling "F--k You" and other such things, wonder if it always elicited that kind of reaction.

Anyways this probably was the best audience I could have seen the show with, oh well, bye Tammy Faye, onward to the great flop house in the sky."

Onward and upward??? Downward?? 🧐 at any rate, so long, and onto the next flop at the ginormous Palace. 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 2:16pm

Per this reddit post, Rupert Goold sent this message to the cast just prior to closing:

[greensgreens]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 2:43pm

That’s an interesting letter. I guess if you don’t succeed, it’s easy to blame the audience and “political environment.” It’s interesting to hear his intentions and I’m sure the letter was well-intentioned. But it’s still insulting to blame everyone else for your failing show. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 2:51pm

It surprised me that they didn't make tickets more widely accessible to people.  Yes I'm sure they were papering and they had student rush and lottery (though it's not like the lottery was a guaranteed win), but no general rush or digital rush? Someone on this thread I think mentioned trying to see if they would sell them a ticket for general rush but got denied.  Why not change the policy just to get more people in if you're selling below 40% capacity?  The top comment on that reddit post was complaining about ticket prices so it seems like that's been a sticking point.

[gibsons2]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 2:54pm

Charley Kringas Inc said: "Per this reddit post, Rupert Goold sent this message to the cast just prior to closing:

"

Wow, way to completely misunderstand why the show has failed... It's not about division, red vs blue of even Elton John. It's because out of all obscure, random and frankly weird subject matters being regularly showcased on Broadway, TF was the strangest of them all. And of course, not enough people cared about TF and the musical written about her. Lempicka had the same issue. I repeat, not enough people cared (nobody would be a better term, but I feel it's rude). Suffs, Hamilton, Ragtime are far more political and divisive, yet they've succeeded. If not financially, but at least in terms of awards and recognition, and resonance. 

Updated On: 12/9/24 at 02:54 PM

[TBFL]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 4:25pm

greensgreens said: "That’s an interesting letter. I guess if you don’t succeed, it’s easy to blame the audience and “political environment.” It’s interesting to hear his intentions and I’m sure the letter was well-intentioned. But it’s still insulting to blame everyone else for your failing show."

He says he takes full responsibility for his part in  letting them down. When they deserved better. Thats hardly blaming everyone else.

[binau]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 4:37pm

It's amazing to read that Rupert G note because it's very clear that in their bubble they have had too many people saying "yes" and not enough people saying "no". How he could reason his way into believing that the show is basically too controversial, too avant garde, too ambitious etc. is beyond me. I knew this show would likely fail in New York (although the scale of the failure has shocked me). And none of this is revisionist we (me and many others here) have been saying this SINCE THE BEGINNING. 



I genuinely am starting to think that a lot of people on this forum have more common sense and probably know more about New York musical theatre than some of these out of touch artists who are too focussed on their own work and not the larger theatre landscape/market...and I can only assume that some of the British leadership makes the problem worse because they are not living and breathing New York theatre. 

Yes Rupert, I was there likely literally with you in that small 300 seat London theatre and the energy was so genuinely exciting it could have led you down the wrong path to believe that you and the show was invincible but you have to get some perspective. New York theatre is the highest quality and most competitive market for musicals, you opened in a very competitive season at the worst possible time in a theatre that was far too large. Who makes these decisions??? 

Updated On: 12/9/24 at 04:37 PM

[Kad]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 5:15pm

Goold thinks this show was preaching a message of love and acceptance and that's why it failed? With that one sentiment, he demonstrates how misconceived and out of touch this entire production was.

His acceptance of blame seems empty, considering he spends nearly all of the letter blaming cultural and political forces for its failure.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 5:16pm

I think alot of the failures of this show come down to bad lead producing, starting with letting the Andrew Rannells drama spill out into the open how it did.

Further more, wrong theater, wrong time of year (during the election is when you open this? were they high?), ticket pricing was totally out of wack, almost no press done by Elton.

The show was far from a trainwreck and much worse have run longer under more competent hands.

[Kad]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 5:24pm

The fact they only discounted tickets in the last several days- and even then, the cheapest was still over $100- essentially ensured nobody would be rushing to see it before it closed. It's rare to see a show like this that closes quickly garner absolutely no rallying effect for its final performances.

[NotCarylChurchill2]

Posted: 12/9/24 at 6:25pm

I'll say here what I've been saying for years: SHUT UP Rupert Goold. And I actually loved the show.

 

 

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 1:03pm

Elton John claims that Tammy Faye flopped because it was "too political" for Broadway

“Tammy Faye came out during the US election," he says, "And it’s all about how the integration of church and state ruined America, which Ronald Reagan did. It was too political for America. They don’t really get irony.”

 

Seems like an excuse that glosses over the fact that it simply wasn't a good show at all. There have been hugely successful and well-received political shows on Broadway and all over the US. That's not the problem. The problem is that the show was bad.

[Kad]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 1:07pm

We get irony.

The problem is the show wasn't ironic enough.

[quizking101]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 1:29pm

TheGingerBreadMan said: "Elton John claims that Tammy Faye flopped because it was "too political" for Broadway

“Tammy Fayecame out during the US election," he says, "And it’s all about how the integration of church and state ruined America, which Ronald Reagandid. It was too political for America. They don’t really get irony.”

elton, girl, be serious…

 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 1:29pm

lmao “the audience was wrong!” Or maybe it was just a stale, shallow satire that had nothing new to say about a subject Americans have been drowning in for decades? The whole show was a warmed-over rehash of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady, a character that debuted nearly forty years ago. It seems like the British creative team were unable to understand just how much this material saturated our media landscape, and I find that to be kind of fascinating.

Updated On: 4/6/25 at 01:29 PM

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 9:44pm

The producing was also terrible.

Also Elton was nowhere to be found to do press....

[TBFL]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 4:37am

Charley Kringas Inc said: "lmao “the audience was wrong!” Or maybe it was just a stale, shallow satire that had nothing new to say about a subject Americans have been drowning in for decades? The whole showwas a warmed-over rehash of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady, a character that debuted nearly forty years ago. It seems like the British creative team wereunable to understand just how much this material saturated our media landscape, and I find that to be kind of fascinating."

And yet many people on here, apparently had never heard of Tammy Fay or knew the name but not the story, some not aware of the Chastain/Garfield movie, It couldn't have been that satuated.

Tammy Faye wasn't satire.eithr. Maybe they didn't lean into that enough. I can understand why Elton would say it's too political, as the show was as much about the rise of the Evanglical movement into powrer, as it was about her, though .you can't tell her story without that being part of it. This show opening right at the time this was happening again with Trumps 2nd term, was just bad luck. I don't blieve it was the reason why they closed though, because they wouldn't have been aware of how big that part of the story was.

Bottom line is they had zero advance.There had been very little marketing for the show. Practically no social media, no Elton and/or Katie  Brayben doing the rounds on tv, no big songs on tv, no offers, no deals and nothing encouraging young people with a cheap preview ticket. The Palace theatr was massively wrong for the show and by trying to make it fill that cavernous barn, it lost alot of the heart, charm and intimacy that it had at the Almeida.

 

Updated On: 4/7/25 at 04:37 AM

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 5:59am

Dear Elton,

the show sucked.

from,

Everyone 

[Charley Kringas Inc]

Posted: 4/7/25 at 11:31am

TBFL said: "Charley Kringas Inc said: "lmao “the audience was wrong!” Or maybe it was just a stale, shallow satire that had nothing new to say about a subject Americans have been drowning in for decades? The whole showwas a warmed-over rehash of Dana Carvey’s Church Lady, a character that debuted nearly forty years ago. It seems like the British creative team wereunable to understand just how much this material saturated our media landscape, and I find that to be kind of fascinating."

And yet many people on here, apparently had never heard of Tammy Fay or knew the name but not the story, some not aware of the Chastain/Garfield movie, It couldn't have been that satuated.

Tammy Faye wasn't satire.eithr. Maybe they didn't lean into that enough. I can understand why Elton would say it's too political, as the show was as much about the rise of the Evanglical movement into powrer, as it was about her, though .you can't tell her story without that being part of it."

The specifics of Faye's life, sure, but I meant more generally televangelism and bombastic American religion, both of which are cornerstones of American satire. Tammy Faye's approach to it was broad, and I think that works for a British audience because it's less familiar to them, but because it's such a well-worn subject here, it came across as muddled and outdated.

Also, I'm not sure what it was if it wasn't satire, because it definitely played like one. It just wasn't anywhere near incisive enough, especially not in our current moment.

[NotCarylChurchill2]

Posted: 4/10/25 at 2:15pm

Both Elton and Rupert need to be quiet (albeit Rupert's letter was leaked) and take a page out of James Graham's book, admit that mistakes were made, take the L, stay quiet, don't blame anyone else, then immediately book another Broadway transfer with actual creative control so it stands a chance of success this time.