Olivier Award-Winner Katie Brayben and Andrew Rannells Will Lead TAMMY FAYE

Hallelujah! Initial casting has been announced for the Broadway production of the new musical TAMMY FAYE.

Two-time Olivier Award winner Katie Brayben will recreate her Olivier Award-winning performance as Tammy Faye Bakker, and Tony Award nominee Andrew Rannells will reprise his Olivier-nominated performance as Jim Bakker when the Almeida Theatre production of TAMMY FAYE makes its Broadway debut this Fall at the legendary, newly refurbished Palace Theater (1564 Broadway).  

TAMMY FAYE will begin preview performances on October 19th and will officially open on November 14th, 2024. 

TAMMY FAYE features music by legendary songwriter Elton John, lyrics by Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, a book by Olivier Award-winning  writer James Graham (Dear England, Ink), choreography by Lynne Page (Ink, Standing at the Sky’s Edge), and direction by Olivier Award-winner Rupert Goold (Patriots, Dear England).

The production will feature scenic design by Bunny Christie, costume design by Katrina Lindsay, lighting  design by Neil Austin, video design by Finn Ross, and sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph. TAMMY  FAYE will feature orchestrations by Mark Dickman and Tom Deering, and music supervision,  arrangements, and additional music by Tom Deering. Casting is by C12 Casting/Carrie Gardner, Jullian Cimini. 

Additional casting will be announced in the coming months. 

ABOUT TAMMY FAYE 

The story of a traveling preacher’s wife who beamed into homes with a message of hope… and stole the country’s heart. 

It's the 1970s, and for the very first time, satellites are bringing cable television into American homes. As  families gather in their living rooms, young preacher Jim Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye hit the airwaves  to build a nationwide congregation and put the fun back in faith. 

But while Tammy dazzles on screen, rivals plot behind the scenes, jealous of her popularity and threatened  by her determination to lead with love. 

Wrapped in a joyful and deliriously fun score that could only come from Elton John, TAMMY FAYE shines  a sparkling light on the generous, loving, often lonely soul behind the illustrious lashes. Reprising their  celebrated West End performances, the divine cast will be led by Olivier Award winner Katie Brayben as  Tammy Faye and Olivier and Tony Award nominee Andrew Rannells as Jim Bakker. 

TAMMY FAYE had its world premiere at London’s Almeida Theatre in Fall 2022, where it received rave  reviews and was nominated for four Olivier Awards, including Best Musical.  Check out what the critics had to say!

ABOUT THE CAST 

Katie Brayben is a two-time Olivier Award Winner for Best Actress in A Musical for Tammy Faye (2023)  and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (2015). Her theatre credits include Tammy Faye (Almeida Theatre);  Nine Lessons and Carols: stories for a long winter (Almeida Theatre); Girl From The North Country (West  End/Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto); A Walk On The Moon (American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco); Honour (The Park Theatre); My Mother Said I Never Should (St. James’s Theatre); The Spoils (Trafalgar Studios); Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (West End); King Charles III (Almeida Theatre &  West End); American Psycho (Almeida Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Ragtime (Regent’s Park  Open Air Theatre); Joking Apart (Nottingham Playhouse/ Salisbury Playhouse); 13 (National Theatre);  Company (Southwark Playhouse); John and Jen (Landor Theatre); The Great British Country Fete (Bush  Theatre); Mamma Mia! (West End). Film: A Serial Killer’s Guide to Life. Television credits include  “Mandrake” (ITV), “Queen Charlotte - A Bridgerton Story” (Netflix); “Cell 8” (Fremantle); “Miss Scarlet and  The Duke” (Alibi); “War of the Worlds” (Canal+); “The Wheel Of Time” (Amazon); “Grace” (ITV); “Luther”  (BBC); “The Alienist” (Paramount); “Doctor Who” (BBC); “King Charles III” (BBC); and “Vera” (ITV). 

Andrew Rannells originated the role of Jim Bakker in the London production of Tammy Faye, for which  he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He has appeared on Broadway in Gutenberg: The Musical, The  Boys in the Band, Falsettos (Tony nomination), Hamilton, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Book of Mormon  (Tony nomination, Grammy award), Jersey Boys, Hairspray. Film: The Intern, A Simple Favor, The Prom,  The Boys in the Band. Television: “Girls” (HBO, Critics Choice Nomination), “Black Monday” (Showtime,  Critics Choice Nomination “Girls5Eva” (Netflix), “Welcome to Chippendales” (Hulu), “Big Mouth” (Netflix),  “Invincible” (Prime Video), and “Live from Lincoln Center” (PBS). Rannells also adds author to his list of  credits with ‘Too Much Is Not Enough: A Memoir of Fumbling Toward Adulthood,’ and ‘Uncle of the Year:  & Other Debatable Triumphs’ (Random House/Crown). 

ABOUT THE CREATIVE TEAM 

Elton John’s (Music) theatre work includes: The Lion King (Broadway/ West End/ Worldwide, Tony  Award nomination for Best Original Score and Olivier Award nomination for Best New Musical), Elton John  and Tim Rice's Aida (Broadway/ US tour, Tony Award for Best Original Score and Grammy Award for Best  Musical Show Album), Billy Elliot the Musical (Broadway/ West End/ Worldwide, Olivier Award for Best  New Musical and Tony Award for Best Musical), Lestat (Broadway), and The Devil Wears Prada. Elton John  is one of the most highly acclaimed and successful solo artists of all time. He has achieved one diamond,  32 platinum or multi-platinum, and 21 gold albums, over 70 Top 40 hits, and he has sold more than 300  million records worldwide. He holds the record for the biggest selling single of all time, “Candle in The  Wind” 1997, which sold over 33 million copies. Since launching his first tour in 1970, Elton has performed  over 4,000 times in more than 80 countries. 

Jake Shears (Lyrics) is a founding member of the platinum selling band Scissor Sisters. He has created six  albums with the band and as a solo artist. His first musical, Tales of the City, went into production at the  American Conservatory Theater in 2010, and he starred as Charlie Price in Kinky Boots in Broadway and at  the Hollywood Bowl. In 2018 he authored his first book, the memoir Boys Keeps Swinging. He’s been  nominated for two Grammys and received three Brit Awards, as well as an Ivor Novello Award. He lives  between London and New Orleans. He recently made his West End acting debut as the Emcee in the  acclaimed revival of Cabaret. 

James Graham’s (Book) theater work includes Dear England (National Theatre/West End, nominated  for an Olivier Award for Best New Play), Ink (Almeida/West End/Broadway, nominated for an Olivier  Award for Best New Play and Tony Award for Best Play), Best of Enemies (Young Vic/West End), Boys from  the Blackstuff (Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool), Quiz (Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End), Labour of  Love (West End, Olivier Award for Best New Comedy), This House (National Theatre/ Chichester Festival Theatre/ West End/ UK Tour), Privacy (Donmar Warehouse/ Public Theatre New York), Monster Raving  Loony (Theatre Royal Plymouth/ Soho Theatre), the book for Finding Neverland (American Rep/  Broadway), The Whisky Taster (Bush Theatre), Bassett (National Theatre/ Bristol Old Vic), The Man, Sons  of York, Little Madam, Eden’s Empire, Albert’s Boy (all for Finborough Theatre), A History of Failing  Things (Theatr Clywd), Tory Boyz (Soho Theatre), Coal Not Dole, The Tour Guide (Edinburgh Fringe). TV  credits include Sherwood, Quiz, Brexit; The Uncivil War, Coalition. 

Rupert Goold (Director). Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre, founding Artistic Director of Headlong  (2005 to 2013), former Associate Director at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Artistic Director of  Northampton Theatres (2002 to 2005). Broadway: Ink, King Charles III (Tony nominated for both),  Macbeth (also BAM), American Psycho, Enron. This year he also has two new Almeida productions on  Broadway, in the spring, Patriots by Peter Morgan, and in the fall Tammy Faye, a new musical by James  Graham, Jake Shears and Elton John. For the Almeida: Cold War, Women, Beware the Devil, Tammy Faye,  Patriots, Spring Awakening , Albion, The Hunt, Shipwreck, Richard III, Medea, The Merchant of Venice, The  Last Days of Judas Iscariot, American Psycho; King Charles III, Ink. Theatre includes: Dear England (National  Theatre/ West End); The 47th (The Old Vic); The Effect; Earthquakes in London (Headlong/ National  Theatre); Time and the Conways (National Theatre); The Merchant of Venice; Romeo and Juliet; Speaking  Like Magpies (RSC); Enron (Headlong/West End/Broadway); Made in Dagenham; Oliver!; The Glass  Menagerie; No Man’s Land (West End); King Lear (Headlong/ Liverpool Everyman/ Young Vic); Six  Characters in Search of an Author (Headlong/ West End); Macbeth (Chichester Festival Theatre/ West  End/). In 2025 he will direct Hamlet for the RSC. Film includes: Judy (with Renee Zellweger); True Story. Television includes: “Macbeth,” “King Charles III,” “Richard II.” Opera includes: Turandot (ENO), Le Comte  Ory (Garsington Opera). Rupert has received Olivier, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard awards for Best  Director twice and won a Peabody Award in 2011 for Macbeth. Rupert received a CBE in 2017 New Year’s  Honours for services to drama. 

Lynne Page (Choreographer). For the Almeida: Spring Awakening, Ink (also West End/ Broadway),  American Psycho (also Broadway), There Came a Gypsy Riding, The Late Henry Moss Almeida  Theatre. Other theatre includes Stranger Things (West End), Standing at The Sky’s Edge (National Theatre  and West End, Olivier Nomination for choreography); Company, Assassins (Crucible Theatre, Sheffield);  The Grinning Man, Funny Girl (West End); La Cage Aux Folles, A Little Night Music (West End/ Broadway);  American Psycho (Broadway); Little Shop of Horrors (Menier Chocolate Factory/ West End); St George and  the Dragon, The Cherry Orchard, Never So Good, The Merchant of Venice (National Theatre); Volpone, The  Two Gentlemen of Verona (RSC); My Fair Lady (Theatre Du Chatelet, Paris); Jesus Christ Superstar (European Tour). Opera includes Death in Venice (Royal Opera House), Marnie (Met/ENO), Medea (ENO),  Les Troyens(La Scala, Milan/ San Francisco), Andrea Chenier (Bregenz Festival), Carmen (OHP). Film credits  include Judy, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Fred Claus, Hippie Hippie Shake. Television: The Crown, So You  Think You Can Dance. Lynne created her first work for The Royal Ballet main stage in May 2021. She won  a WhatsOnStage Award and was nominated for an Olivier, as well as a Tony and Drama Desk award for  her work on La Cage Aux Folles. She has choreographed all the Pet Shop Boys world tours since 2007 and  directed Pet Shop Boys: Inner Sanctum at the Royal Opera House in 2018. Her other music credits include  working with Kanye West, Muse, Stormzy, Jess Glynne and GoGo Penguin.  

Bunny Christie (Scenic Designer). Credits include: Company (West End/ Broadway – Olivier Award and  Tony Awards for Best Set Design); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (also National Theatre/  West End/ Broadway/ International Tour – Tony Award and Oliver Award for best Set Design); Ink (Almeida/West End/ Broadway, Evening Standard Award for Best Design); The Wild Duck (Almeida); Best  of Enemies (Young Vic); Animal Farm (UK tour/ West End); A Midsummer Nights Dream, Julius Caesar,  Guys and Dolls (Bridge theatre); After Life, The Welkin, The Red Barn (Easter Standard award for Best  Design) (all for National Theatre); People, Places and Things (National Theatre/ West End/ St. Anns  Warehouse, New York); Made in Dagenham (West End). Opera credits include: Medea (ENO); Tosca; Brief  Encounter (Houston Grand Opera). Bunny is a member of Scene/ Change, a collective of theatre designers.  She initiated the NT Design Bursary for emerging designers and was awarded an OBE for services to the  UK theater industry.  

Katrina Lindsay (Costume Designer) is a set and costume designer working internationally in theatre,  opera, ballet and film. Recent costume designs include: The Motive and the Cue, National Theatre and  West End; Tammy Faye at the Almeida; Harry Potter and the Cursed Child in the West End, Broadway and  worldwide; The Lehman Trilogy at The National Theatre, in the West End and on Broadway; 101 Dalmations at Regent’s Park; Burn (with Alan Cumming for The National Theatre of Scotland/Edinburgh  International Festival; Hamlet (with Benedict Cumberbatch as Hamlet) at the Barbican and broadcast on  National Theatre Live; American Psycho at the Almeida and on Broadway. As set and costume designer at  The National Theatre work includes Hex, Small Island, Three Sisters, Mosquitoes, Behind the Beautiful  Forevers, Death and the King’s Horseman and London Road, plus production design on the film of London  Road (Cuba Pictures). Costume designs for opera include Terry Gilliam’s Damnation of Faust and  Benvenuto Cellini for the ENO and around the world. Katrina won the 2008 Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle  and Drama Desk awards for Outstanding Costume for Les Liaisons Dangereuses on Broadway and the 2017  Olivier Award and 2018 Tony Award for Best Costume Design for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Katrina  is an associate of The National Theatre and a member of the theatre design collective Scene/ Change. 

Neil Austin (Lighting Designer). Neil is the recipient of three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, and two  Drama Desk Awards. Theatre includes: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Leopoldstadt, Company, Hamlet,  Red, Ink (all West End & Broadway); Travesties, Hughie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Evita, The Seafarer,  Frost/Nixon (Broadway); Frozen, Rosmersholm, The Night of the Iguana, Shakespeare in Love, The Goat,  The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Photograph 51, (West End); Macbeth, The Night Alive, Julius Caesar (off Broadway). For the Almeida: Albion, The Hunt, Ink, The Treatment, Medea. 

Finn Ross (Video Designer). Theatre credits include Back to the Future: The Musical, Frozen, Les  Misérables (West End/Broadway); Spring Awakening (Almeida); American Psycho (Almeida/Broadway);  Chimerica (Almeida/West End); Sweet Charity (Donmar Warehouse); Mean Girls, Dancin’, Betrayal, All My  Sons (Broadway); Bat Out of Hell (West End/ International Tour); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (West  End/ Broadway); The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime (Broadway/ West End/ UK tour); Jagged  Little Pill, In the Body of the World (American Rep Theatre/ Broadway); The Tempest (RSC/ Barbican); The  Master and Margarita, Shunkin (Complicite). Dance includes Anna Karenina (The Joffrey Ballet); The  Nutcracker (Atlanta Ballet); The Feeling of Going (Skanes Dansteater/ Malmo Opera). Finn has won two  Olivier Awards, a Tony Award and three Drama Desk Awards. 

Nick Lidster FOR AUTOGRAPH (Sound Design) is a senior member of the Autograph design team in the  UK. His theatre includes Cabaret @ The Kit Kat Club / August Wilson NY; La Cage Aux Folles and Fiddler On  The Roof (OAT RP); Yeomen of the Guard (ENO); Cabaret (@ The Kit Kat Club London); Jesus Christ  Superstar (50th Anniversary US & UK Tour); Evita; Little Shop of Horrors; The Turn of the Screw (OAT RP);  City of Angels (Garrick); Sweet Charity, Pacific Overtures, Parade, Passion, Spelling Bee, The Vote (also Channel 4), Committee... (Donmar Warehouse); Martin Guerre (UK Tour); Miss Saigon (UK  Tour/Japan/Sweden); Les Misérables (UK Tour/Berlin/Belfast/Scandinavian Arena Concert Tour); Sweeney  Todd (Royal Opera House/ENO); Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK Tour); Sinatra (Palladium/UK Tour); Nicholas  Nickleby (Chichester Festival); On the Town (ENO); Mother Courage (National Theatre); Privates on Parade 

(Noel Coward); A Chorus Line (Palladium); Urinetown (Apollo); The Last Five Years (The Other Palace); Kiss  Me, Kate (Opera North/UK & European Tour); Calendar Girls(UK Tour); The Band (UK Tour/Berlin). Awards  include: 2022 Olivier Award for Best Sound Design, Cabaret at The Kit Kat Club. Olivier Award Nominations  for Jesus Christ Superstar (OAT RP); Pacific Overtures (Donmar Warehouse); Parade (Donmar Warehouse);  Mother Courage (NT). 

MARK DICKMAN (Orchestrations). As Music Supervisor/Orchestrator: Sylvia (Old Vic). As Co-Orchestrator:  Tammy Faye (Almeida); Man Of La Mancha (Coliseum/ENO); Carousel (Regents Park Open Air Theatre).  As Music Director/Arranger: Blues in The Night (Kiln), Pantomimes (Hackney Empire 2010-2021). As  Associate MD: Jesus Christ Superstar (Regents Park Open Air Theatre). As Associate Conductor: Motown (Shaftesbury); Funny Girl (Savoy); Strictly Ballroom (Piccadilly); The Color Purple (Menier Chocolate  Factory). Recordings/Concerts: LSO Discovery (Barbican); It Takes A City (Armonico Consort, Royal Albert  Hall); London Community Gospel Choir. Television (as Pianist): A Celebration of Ivor Novello (Hallé  Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder/BBC Proms); The Choir: Gareth Goes to Glyndebourne (BBC). Music Preparation:  Kiss Me Kate (Barbican); The Devil Wears Prada (Plymouth/Dominion); Cabaret (Gothenburg Opera); Jesus  Christ Superstar (Chicago/US Tour). Mark is Musical Director/Arranger & Pianist for Sharon D Clarke.  

Tom Deering (Musical Supervisor, Arrangements, Additional Music and Orchestrations). Tom studied at  the Royal Academy of Music where he was made an Associate in 2016. He is the recipient of the 2023  Olivier award for Best Score & Orchestration for Standing at the Sky’s Edge, also winning the Olivier for  Best New Musical. Tom has worked extensively with artists from the music industry to co-create new  music theatre including Elton John (Tammy Faye/Almeida Theatre), Richard Hawley (Standing at the Sky’s  Edge/National Theatre), Damon Albarn (Wonder.Land/ National Theatre), David Arnold (Made in  Dagenham/West End), Guy Chambers & Robbie Williams (The Boy in the Dress/Royal Shakespeare  Company), FKA Twigs (Tiny Desk Concert/NPR Music). As a composer: Committee/Donmar Warehouse,  Pity/Royal Court, Little Red/National Youth Ballet of Great Britain. 

ABOUT THE PALACE THEATRE 

As one of Broadway’s most preeminent theatres, "Playing The Palace" has been synonymous with the  pinnacle of success since the theatre opened in 1913. The venue closed in 2018 for a significant renovation  and restoration, including raising the historically landmarked venue 30 feet in the air, and is reopening in  2024.