Tammy Faye
Opening Night: November 14, 2024
Theater: Palace Theatre
Website: tammyfayebway.com
It’s the 1970s. As satellites broadcast brand-new cable programming into American homes, millions fall in love with Tammy Faye Bakker–the charismatic wife of pastor Jim Bakker. Together, they build a nationwide congregation that puts the fun back into faith. But, even as Tammy dazzles on screen, jealous rivals plot behind the scenes, threatened by her determination to lead with love.
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November 14, 2024
But 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.
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November 15, 2024
All of this fast-paced fun dresses the show up like a hammy romp, but “Tammy Faye” isn’t actually that tonally focused. Instead, it’s caught in the current of two opposing tides: a straightly-played biopic or satire full of evangelical camp, neither of which are authentically realized.
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November 14, 2024
The new Broadway musical “Tammy Faye” touches on all of these points of view but lands on none with any sense of confidence, consistency or purpose. It’s as messy as Tammy’s mascara.
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November 14, 2024
Because so much of “Tammy Faye” takes place on the set of “The PTL Club,” the thought can’t be avoided, “Why didn’t I just stay home and watch something on Hulu instead?”
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November 14, 2024
With a plot as thin as the paper of a Bible page, Tammy Faye‘s only hope for salvation would have been some kooky singing and dancing, and yet the show falls short here too.
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November 14, 2024
You won’t have a bad time at Tammy Faye, but you probably won’t walk away with a new favorite musical, either.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 14, 2024
A surprisingly flat-liner musical involving tunes from Elton John scarcely composing in top form and a sorrowful cartoony story about American TV evangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, the production that opened Thursday at the Palace Theatre does not promise to become a longtime Broadway attraction.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 14, 2024
John’s music is OK, though without the effectiveness of Billy Elliot or The Lion King.
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November 14, 2024
Yet she doesn’t pop as vividly as she did onscreen. She’s smaller than life.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 14, 2024
Like its real-life title character, the Elton John musical Tammy Faye isn’t flawless. But you must admire its flash, energy, and a bright star turn by Broadway newcomer Katie Brayben in the lead role.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 14, 2024
“Tammy Faye” struck me as essentially hollow, without a clear reason for existing. The score sounds largely generic; the sets look deliberately chintzy; the book mistakes crudeness for cleverness.
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November 14, 2024
Yet the musical is called “Tammy Faye,” after all, and it’s ultimately up to Ms. Brayben to carry it. She does so gamely, belting out the anthemic power ballads Mr. John has created for the part and infusing several country-flavored numbers he has provided with the necessary twang.
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November 14, 2024
Who, especially in the middle of November 2024 in New York, is the fan base here?…“Aren’t Americans nutty?” might sell on the West End. Right here, right now, it’s tough to swallow.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 14, 2024
The musical adaptation of her life sacrifices both the time and space to properly explore her many trials and tribulations in favor of over-the-top gags and bright, flashing lights.
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November 14, 2024
At the end of the night, you start to realize that the show has created such a garish and unnerving landscape that it is near impossible for any true heroine to emerge.
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November 14, 2024
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.
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