Katie Brayben and Christian Borle Tammy Faye: The Musical.
Photo: Matthew Murphy

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t applaud Jerry Falwell.

Even though I claim that Tammy Faye -Imported from England and designed by a British-dominated team that includes Rupert Goold to direct, James Graham on the book and Elton John on the score, the flamboyant new musical about the life of television preacher Tammy Faye Bakker is destined for a difficult future. There was a period. Whenever it reaches these shores it lands, This It’s a pretty brief moment. As I sat under the ornate dome of the newly renovated Palace Theatre, listening to the harmonies of artists like Falwell, Pat Robertson, Jimmy Swaggart and Marvin Gorman, my stomach began to feel queasy. Yes, these guys are the villains of the show — Tammy Faye, we understand, preached love where they preached hate — and yes, much of the show is a trope-fest of camp, and yet: The last thing I need right now is the jazz squares of the architects of current Christian Nationalist fascism Watching him do it. Michael Cerveris, I’m sorry: This is not you. Jerry.

I don’t think I’m alone either. most of the time Tammy FayeAs ‘s numbers reached their big conclusion, the audience around me erupted into strange, tepid bursts of applause. My heart goes out to the casting. Like every Broadway troupe, they work their butts off there, but in the words of my favorite fictional Canadian hockey player, Why? Who is the fan base here, especially in New York in mid-November 2024? “Whoever you are and whatever you believe, you are welcome. Tammy Faye!” says the cute opening announcement – and then Tammy’s make-up eyes, projected as a giant image on the show screen, blink slowly, their mascara runs, the pink clouds around them part, and the play begins. Merry big tenting (also looks like it) Elton’s stance going to the interview) feels pop. Clearly the production isn’t that interested in people with serious Christian-conservative leanings, unless it has a lot of patience for endless puns like Jesus being “in him/me/you” and “the voice of the Lord coming to the right” as long as. in your ear.” And if you are, to quote Tammy FayeJimmy Swaggart’s version of a ‘liberal-loving Marxist’, you’re probably too heartbroken to find all this that entertaining.

“All This” is the dizzying rise and tragic, if predictable, fall of our big-haired hero from small-town Minnesota girl and bright-eyed idolater of Billy Graham (Mark Evans) to a performer of Christian puppet shows for children alongside him. her husband, Jim (Christian Borle), to the queen PTL, thank GodBakkers’ television network rose to stratospheric heights before crashing and burning in 1989 amid accusations of fraud and conspiracy. Katie Brayben, who won an Olivier award for her role as Tammy Faye in London, reprises her role here with great gusto and excitement. big open heart. It’s a charismatic (in most senses of the word) centerpiece, but even its star transforms—whether taut and impassioned as in “Open Hands” or mature and defiant as in “If You Come to See Me Cry”—and Goold’s production It wasn’t enough to save the room from being unable to read. Something similar was at work last spring patriotsAnother British import directed by Goold; playwright Peter Morgan responds to the rise of Vladimir Putin with an almost flippant sort of “isn’t this interesting?” He was looking at me with his gaze. “The Electric Church, like everything American, is a spiritually meaningless abomination,” he sniffs Tammy FayeThe caricatured version of Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie (Ian Lassiter) rejects the televangelism phenomenon sweeping the United States. It’s a joke – and also all the Southern twangs and praise god Whoops, the series has oceans of distance in its DNA. “Aren’t Americans crazy?” It may be sold in the West End. It’s hard to swallow right here, right now. (We are simultaneously too self-centered and too concerned about the constraints of identity to ever return the favor; otherwise, Pasek and Paul The Margaret Thatcher musical would be on its way to London right now, waiting to get its ass picked up.)

Tammy Faye it also tries to have it both ways. Once Cerveris’ Falwell is convinced by an enthusiastic Ronald Reagan (also played by Lassiter), he reassures the candidate that together they can “turn this country back to greatness.” “Greatness again,” Reagan shrewdly thinks. “This is good.” But this stuff isn’t prophetic depth: It’s easy to score dramatic points from a real, ongoing disaster. And yet Tammy Faye While it makes an effort to pit its hero against Falwell and the rest of his obnoxious crew, it still requires some pretty painstaking mental manual labor to separate the Bakkers from their context. Sure, they, or at least Tammy, supposedly “teach warmth and compassion” (“Kindness never goes out of style,” they sing at the brilliant start of their journey), but they also ran a scam for years and received millions in donations from many. poor audiences. When reporter Charles Shepard (also played by Evans) comes to PTL and starts asking questions about the finances, Tammy says, “You’re talking to the wrong person.” “I’m not allowed into those rooms. I’d like to be, believe me.” I guess it’s true that Tammy Faye was a woman living in a super conservative community in the 80s; she probably wasn’t the one making the high-profile questionable decisions, and she wouldn’t be the one going to prison (Jim would be the one who served 5 of the 45 years he was sentenced to). ? “Love is love!” and “Girl power!” Are these the flags we should be flying, but will they really weather this shitstorm fresh and intact?

If Tammy Faye Heavy on hairspray and dick jokes, he bids for the redemption and sanctification of his eponymous figure, while Goold’s antiseptic, generally contemporary-looking production doesn’t help. Bunny Christie’s set is draped in white curtains and backed by a tall gray screen wall. White pedestals rise from the ground when a character needs to be lifted up in honor or shame. Despite the abundance of Katrina Lindsay’s colorful ’70s and ’80s costumes, the prevailing mood remains that of the emptiness of the Apple Store, the predictable canvas for the digital-image-happy modern director. “Every congregation is the same,” Billy Graham sings to his followers, although it makes sense to reference American Christianity’s television revolution in the 1970s: “They’d rather stay home / Watch TV alone / So we play games” — the aesthetic is chic rather than satellite broadcast and analog and gives a high definition feel. Sunset Boulevard Just a few blocks away, Goold is also punching out of his weight class: Just like Sunset, Tammy FayeIts second act begins with live footage of its stardom – Brayben backstage doing her make-up, emotionally arming herself for battle – and before she makes her grand entrance, she’s projected onto the big screen wall. Even if you want to throw all the livestream cameras at Hudson, there are a million ways to do it. If Jamie Lloyd has a Houdini form, Goold starts to look a little more like it Gob Bluth.

Pope John II “You know, many prophets have been persecuted throughout all time,” muses John Paul (Andy Taylor). Tammy Faye In the Illuminati group’s occasional meetings with Runcie and Thomas S. Monson (Max Gordon Moore), head of the Mormons. “Those we now hail as our Saints were far from perfect,” the Pope says enigmatically. After all, the most likely bet is that the show’s creators (who also include Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, who also writes lyrics for Elton John’s songs) are hoping to exploit the gay icon angle. The real Tammy Faye Bakker was an iconoclast among her fellow TV evangelists because she didn’t hate gay people. He is particularly and emotionally I interviewed Steve Pieters (here played by Charl Brown) was a gay pastor living with HIV/AIDS in 1985 who credited the gay community for its cultural quasi-revitalization following the collapse of PTL and her divorce from Jim. These facts are nothing, yet there’s also the expectation that Donald Trump will show up on Broadway on the heels of his re-election and replace decades of sickening American history with a major event. yes queen An energy that feels simplistic at best, condescending at worst. Tammy Faye It may think it serves love, light, and forgiveness—”Love is mentioned so many times in the Bible,” a teary-eyed Tammy tells us “489 times”—but most of the other ingredients in it stick in the stifle.

Tammy Faye At the Palace Theatre.