TAMMY FAYE Reviews — Page 3

ivy3 said: "Elton and David are at the opening night.

https://www.rexfeatures.com/livefeed/2024/11/14/'tammy_faye'_broadway_opening_night,_arrivals,_new_york?"

The Rocket Man is back in action!

PipingHotPiccolo said: "what is being asked of us here?"

I know this question isn't for me but from what I can tell some British audiences are surprised to see such negative audience reviews to a show that received very positive critics reviews in UK. That makes them wonder if some people are intentionally giving unfair bad reviews (due to Andrew situation, prejudice towards British creative team, prejudice towards the topic of Evangelists etc.) to create a negative word of mouth and make the show fail.

I was at the opening performance tonight. House was not full. Sunglasses with Tammy Faye eyes were on every seat, but the Playbills did not have opening night stickers (and the show art and title is weirdly off center). The energy in the house was… polite, but strange. So much of the show wasn’t landing the way it seemed to be expected to land.


Elton gave a very gracious curtain speech.

Updated On: 11/14/24 at 10:01 PM

Timeout review mixed to negative

https://www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/tammy-faye-broadway-musical-review-elton-john-tammy-faye-bakker

Updated On: 11/14/24 at 10:29 PM

Play Esq. said: "PipingHotPiccolo said: "Jordan saw the show *three times* in NY alone, after loving it in London, and is getting attacked for....sharing his opinions about it? Am I getting this right?


People disagree with his take and want to express their disagreement: there's nothing wrong with that. I generally don't agree with his reviews, I just try tokeep that to myself."

What a vacuous, disingenuous response. No one, and certainly not me, and certainly not J Catalano, has ever once taken issue with anyone disagreeing with anyone else on any topic, let alone Tammy Faye. In this instance, Jordan *disagreed with himself* revising his prior rave to current disappointment. This is the height of honest criticism, and the childish responses to these cutting reviews is truly something and, pssst--NOT HELPING THE SHOW.

Its like our entire society went to bed sometime around 2016 and woke up as 12 yr olds.

Elisabeth Vincentelli in NY Times is a pan

Review: Tammy Faye Was Over-the-Top. This Musical Makes Her Small.
“Tammy Faye,” a bland, tonal mishmash of a show opening on Broadway, seems afraid to lean into what made the televangelist so distinctive.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/theater/tammy-faye-review.html

"narratively and emotionally, “Tammy Faye” is always on shaky ground because it can’t decide if it’s a satire of televangelism and power-hungry faith salesmen, the tale of the rise of politicized religion, or the earnest feminist journey of an independent-minded woman. By trying to hit so many notes, none of them resonate."

Updated On: 11/14/24 at 11:01 PM

Deadline negative

https://deadline.com/2024/11/tammy-faye-broadway-review-1236174460/

Updated On: 11/14/24 at 11:02 PM

Deadline: ‘Tammy Faye’ Broadway Review: Unanswered Prayers

https://deadline.com/2024/11/tammy-faye-broadway-review-1236174460/

"By all rights, Tammy Faye – she dropped the Bakker after divorcing her cheating, possibly gay husband and partner in the God business Jim Bakker – should make for a delicious stage musical, maybe something along the lines of Titanique or some of the sillier moments of the otherwise tedious Diana: The Musical.

Tammy Faye, that musical is not. Opening tonight at Broadway‘s Palace Theater, with a book by James Graham, lyrics by Jake Shears and music by Elton John, Tammy Faye is only slightly more fun than church on a hot July day. All concerned seem absolutely determined to transform the town madcap into a respectable, saintly and rather dull church-lady-next-door."

EW

Tammy Faye review: Elton John tunes can't save this middling musical



https://ew.com/tammy-faye-review-broadway-musical-elton-john-8743171?taid=6736c81c4785860001be1d56&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+New+Content+%28Feed%29&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=twitter

The Wrap

‘Tammy Faye’ Broadway Review: Elton John Delivers a Very Long Infomercial

The TV Evangelist scam artist with too much makeup is turned into a feminist saint worshiped by gay men

https://www.thewrap.com/tammy-faye-broadway-review-elton-john/

"You wake up Sunday morning, and instead of turning on a favorite news program, you punch in the wrong numbers to get one of those dreadful Evangelist megachurch shows. Even worse, when you try to switch channels, the remote control fails. You’re stuck watching those Christian grifters and con artists for the next 2.5 hours.

That ghastly waking nightmare will give you some idea of what it’s like to sit through the new musical “Tammy Faye,” which opened Thursday at the Palace Theatre after its world premiere last year in London. Just as TV Evangelists suck up to their right-wing audience, the makers of “Tammy Faye” pander to feminists and “the gays.” Jake Shears’ puerile lyrics to Elton John’s weak country-Western tunes encourage women to take control of their life by using those “credit cards.” Much worse and more pervasive are the many ways James Graham’s book turns the title character into a gay icon somewhere to the left of Lady Gaga. We’re expected to find Tammy Faye sympathetic, even though she begs for money from poor people so she can look like a hideously dressed drag queen."

Theater mania mixed

Musical About the Televangelist Turned Gay Icon

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-tammy-faye-a-broadway-musical-about-the-televangelist-turned-gay-icon_1755638/

Holdren in Vulture is negative.

Christian Nationalism, But Make It Fun: Tammy Faye

https://www.vulture.com/article/theater-review-broadway-musical-tammy-faye.html

"

The last thing I need right now is to watch the architects of our current Christian Nationalist fascism do jazz squares. Michael Cerveris, I’m sorry: It’s not you. It’s Jerry.

I don’t think I’m alone, either. When most of Tammy Faye’s numbers reached their big finishes, the audience around me produced awkward bursts of lukewarm applause. My heart went out to the cast. They are, like any and every Broadway ensemble, working their butts off up there, but, in the words of my favorite fictional Canadian hockey player, for what? Who, especially in the middle of November 2024 in New York, is the fan base here? “Whoever you are and whatever you believe, welcome to Tammy Faye!” says the chummy opening announcement — and then Tammy’s make-up-caked eyes, projected in an enormous image on the show curtain, blink softly, their mascara runs, the pink clouds around them part, and the play begins. The blithe big-tent-ism (which also seems to be Elton’s go-to interview stance) feels pat. Clearly the production’s not all that interested in people with serious Christian-conservative leanings, unless they have a whole lot of patience for endless puns about Jesus being “inside her/him/me/you” and “the sound of the Lord, coming right in your ear.” And if you are, to quote Tammy Faye’s version of Jimmy Swaggart, a “liberal-loving Marxist,” you’re probably too heartsick to find all this much fun."