It could take greater than divine spirituality and revivalist fervor to make “Tammy Faye” an ideal musical match.
Artistic groups have to know what their present desires to be: campy shouting, biting indictment, painful melodrama, witty satire, revealing biography? The brand new Broadway musical “Tammy Faye” touches on all of those factors, however none of them with any confidence, consistency or sense of function. It is as messy as Tammy’s mascara.
Directed by Rupert Gould and that includes songs by Elton John, this misguided West Finish import begins the story of the tearful televangelist with a sinister sense of brutality. Carrying a white gown, Tammy (Katie Brabourne) ascends into the heavenly gentle to the sounds of a heavenly refrain. However as an alternative of assembly her creator, she went to see her proctologist, the place a medical scan revealed colon most cancers. The prognosis introduced again reminiscences of a life crammed with religion, love and guilt for Tammy.
At a big church gathering hosted by Billy Graham (Mark Evans), Tammy met her future husband Jim Barker (Christian Boll), an itinerant Christian Puppeteer. His preaching strategies attracted the eye of Jerry Falwell (Michael Cerveris), Pat Robertson (Andy Taylor), Jimmy Swaggart (Ian Lester), (performed by Max Gordon Moore) and Marvin Gorman (performed by Max Gordon Moore).
However Tammy inspired Jim to suppose positively, and the 2 grew to become replacements for these “doom and gloom guys,” and the 2 formed a ministry that was loving, enjoyable, and great. Ultimately they satisfied Ted Turner (Taylor once more) to launch the PTL (Reward the Lord) satellite tv for pc community, the place they grew to become biblical stars.
Thousands and thousands of followers had been rapidly drawn to Tammy’s emotional character and unconventional and upbeat segments on cooking, trend and erectile dysfunction options. When spiritual rivals had been threatened by the Bucks’ massive satellite tv for pc congregations, Falwell acknowledged a possibility to increase his energy past his ministry.
On the floor, Tammy Faye Bakker looks like a pure match to be introduced into the world of musical theater, a world the place strong-willed, larger-than-life girls are glorified.
However in case you look intently, one can find that this religious determine has a problematic character, a flamboyant life-style, drug habit, and intentionally ignores her husband’s rip-off of exploiting the poor.
Tammy’s flaws are softened, glossed over, or aired out with ease in author James Graham’s sweeping however skinny storytelling. With out a important character to steadiness the ache, discover psychology, or present perspective, it is laborious to think about the present. A minimum of it is there in “Evita.”
The second act brings an inevitable fall from grace that’s far much less enjoyable than the climb. Tammy begins the downfall of their empire by sympathetically embracing an AIDS-stricken homosexual pastor on her speak present, alongside along with her husband’s affair with church secretary Jessica Hahn (Alanna Pollard) Sexual encounters are additionally revealed, as are Jim’s shady plans to create a Christian housing improvement.
Like this documentary and Michael Showalter’s movie “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” Graham (“Ink,” “This Home”) makes an attempt to situate the present inside the context of bigger nationwide conservatism. within the context of the motion—which Falwell used to “place God on the earth.” However the musical by no means transcends the overt tone of spiritual hypocrisy, greed, egotism and pandering to politicians.
The few brilliant spots the present will get come from light-hearted cameos from different highly effective figures in politics, media, and faith: Ronald Reagan (Lassiter), the Archbishop of Canterbury (Lassiter once more, wow), Mormon Church chief Thomas Thomas S. Manson (Moore), Ted Turner (Taylor) and Pope John Paul II (Taylor). Unusually, their personalities and views had been by no means musicalized.
Brabourne, who created the character in London, does her greatest to navigate the extensive swings of tone, all the time giving Tammy coronary heart, soul and a ringing voice. However John’s rating (with lyrics by Scissor Sisters frontman Jack Hills) does not assist her. The songs are bland in character, crammed with generic and forgettable energy ballads, Christian pop tunes and revivalist floor-stompers.
Tony Award-winner Bol struggles to deliver some life to Tammy’s troubled husband, however Graham offers him little to work with past humorous puppet voices and dramatic breakdowns. Serveris’s wealthy baritone despatched Falwell right into a deep chill, however he had no function aside from to seem immediately, sneer, and look ominous.
Katrina Lindsay’s outfit set the tone for the ’80s period with delicate pastels and many pink. Bonnie Christie’s set was centered round a towering wall of tv screens and little else.
In one other episode this season that ends within the afterlife, Tammy lastly involves phrases along with her mortal sin and sees the sunshine of a presumably forgiving God. Audiences is probably not so charitable.
