TAMMY FAYE Reviews — Page 5

Musigamist said: "NY Times:https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/theater/tammy-faye-review.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aE4.z1OS.FBqvBdKxgXUe&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare



Review: Tammy Faye Was Over-the-Top. This Musical Makes Her Small."

Ah I see they kept the Pope scenes. I thought those were unnecessary and could have been cut. Excerpt from the NYT review:

“If the emotional charge does not detonate, neither does the toothless satire — a timidity illustrated by confabs involving Pope John Paul II (Andy Taylor), the president of the Church of Latter-day Saints (Max Gordon Moore) and the archbishop of Canterbury (Ian Lassiter). When those three spiritual leaders discuss the Bakkers, it feels as if we’re watching the heads of mafia families trying to figure out how to handle an upstart rival. But Graham does not commit to that thought-provoking angle so the scenes feel superfluous.”

runtime is 2h35mins so they did cut some things but it sounds like they needed to cut more. I’ll admit I wanted to see this again after opening to see the changes but after reading these reviews will most likely not watch it again.

I am genuinely baffled how the Pope party line scenes survived into the final show. As currently executed, they’re not funny enough for comedic relief, not sharp enough to be satirical, and totally unnecessary to the plot. Those scenes, and a number of other sequences and elements, feel like vestigial elements from an earlier, more irreverent and campier draft of the show. 

Updated On: 11/15/24 at 10:07 AM

So for those who’ve seen it…is it worth it to catch it before it goes? I’m in NY next week and have a slot left open, and my wife is very interested in seeing this before it vanishes, mostly out of morbid curiosity. “It’d be fun to see a bomb” vibes. Is it worth it? Is this worth seeing to say I was there and I saw this? Or is it too dull?

ChairinMain said: "So for those who’ve seen it…is it worth it to catch it before it goes? I’m in NY next week and have a slot left open, and my wife is very interested in seeing this before it vanishes, mostly out of morbid curiosity. “It’d be fun to see a bomb” vibes. Is it worth it? Is this worth seeing to say I was there and I saw this? Or is it too dull?"

I'd say skip it. If you have 1 slot left use it for something worthy of your time and money. As far as "seeing a bomb"...for me it wasn't so much one of those shows that is shockingly/laughably bad but more just a boring head scratcher that made me leave the theater thinking "Why?". Over all I found it to be very boring and a story we've seen before and told better. Just my 2 cents.

Where is bway1430 today?

I have been following the trajectory of this show since I heard about it on the West End up to reading the reviews today.  And as much as I adore Cerveris and Boyle, I knew I wouldn't be seeing it despite me usually seeing most of the shows on Broadway.  According to some people on the board, I shouldn't have an opinion on it if I haven't seen it, so I'll just keep it about me and not the specifics of the show, but it does perhaps explain the lukewarm reception of US audiences, especially those of us who are older. 

I'm 63. I was a child of the 70's. The hateful, judgmental rhetoric of the televangelical Christians affected me terribly growing up, and it has only gotten worse over the last 50 years. I suppose I can understand the UK's warm reception of the show if they really don't know who Tammy Faye was, but I'm still trying to understand why anyone would think any of this history is funny or lighthearted. If that deserves an "Ok, Boomer" or a "lighten up" then so be it. 

Theatre doesn't live in a vacuum, we all bring our emotional past and baggage into our seats. I'm thinking that a lot of people my age just refuse to be a part of this audience, and the reviews here and from the critics just haven't given me any impetus to change my mind. Anyway, just my meager two cents. 

And yes, I absolutely respect all the artists putting in the hard work. I hope I'll be able to enjoy seeing Katie Brayben in something else some day. 

 

Theatrely:

TAMMY FAYE Not Ready For This Close-Up — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/tammy-faye-not-ready-for-this-close-up-review

"Unsure of the tone it must strike, some of Goold’s staging would be considered inadvisable by even the least theatrical church mouse, such as opening with a dramatic costume reveal from hospital gown to … muted church dress, or capping a rousing ensemble number not with fixed jazz hands, but with the Bakkers welcoming Ronald Reagan onto the stage. Never has applause been so spectacularly curtailed. Such a move might work were this a show rigorous in its upending of audience enjoyment. Alas, the preceding song here is “He’s Inside Me,” a painfully unfunny string of double entendres (“He’ll cover you with all the joy he releases”) whose low blows won’t offend a single Christian, except for those with good taste.

And that points to the book’s greatest flaw: we need to believe that Tammy Faye believes, or that at least her belief is worthy of respect, even the institutions around it are reprehensible. Brayben certainly respects it; her big powerhouse numbers, sadly few and far between, are electrifying, especially the act-one closer, “Empty Hands,” which she sells with the magnetic ferocity missing from most of the show. (The underused Cerveris, in a “Hellfire”-like number questioning Falwell’s crooked path to righteousness, briefly becomes its most fascinating figure.) But while the musical finds in her an icon of kitsch and courage, it refuses to take her faith seriously, undermining any possible good that come out of her beliefs by either undercutting it with the other televangelists’ devious politicking or plainly mocking religion with the twerpy glee of a Bill Maher."

Someone near to the production informed me they have already received their notice but are not deploying it just yet.

quizking101 said: "Someone near to the production informed me they have already received their notice but are not deploying it just yet."

I see this closing after thanksgiving weekend

pablitonizer said: "quizking101 said: "Someone near to the production informed me they have already received their notice but are not deploying it just yet."

I see this closing after thanksgiving weekend"


just in time for

jimmy swaggart: the musical

to open in the spring

EDSOSLO858 said: "quizking101 said: "Someone near to the production informed me they have already received their notice but are not deploying it just yet."

Any news involving a cast recording yet?"


Only that the score will sound just as bad on record.