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. 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.
Wrapped in a joyful and deliriously fun score that could only come from Elton John, with lyrics by Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, a book by Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham, and directed by Olivier Award winner Rupert Goold, 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 is led by two-time Olivier Award winner Katie Brayben as Tammy Faye and Olivier and Tony Award® nominee Andrew Rannells as Jim Bakker.
There is something to be said, musical comedy-wise, in leaving the answer ambiguous so that viewers can puzzle it out for themselves. The overriding flaw in Tammy Faye is that the creators seem content to jump from satire to morality tale, from Tammy-the-charlatan with her friendly proctologist to Tammy the AIDS crusader, with no clear aim other than to maximize audience response moment by moment.
The trouble with this conception is that Tammy Faye herself is almost the least garish thing about it. Brayben won an Olivier Award for this role, but there’s a fundamental Englishness about her that she can’t quite shake; she’s solid and sympathetic, and sings extremely well, but she doesn’t access Tammy’s rawness and almost childlike ebullience—the personal charisma at the center of her brand of Charismatic Christianity. And the musical doesn’t help her get there. The qualities that made Tammy Faye a gay icon—the cosmetics, the pills, the excess, the tears—are addressed only glancingly; we don’t get inside her head about them. Instead, Tammy Faye serves us a likable, sincere gal doing the best she can in a world whose machinations she doesn’t understand. But does Tammy Faye understand them any better? Its point of view is hard to discern. The eyes may be a window to the soul, as Tammy was wont to say, but it’s hard to see the soul through eyes that can’t decide if they’re glaring, winking or crying.
2024 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
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