Tammy Faye: A New Musical - Almeida

i think the reviews for this (4 stars from the vast majority of nationals) are better than patriots? and a glowing New York Times write-up. yes no out-and-out raves but more than enough to get it over the line. 

Les Mis still transferred from the Barbican to the West End despite awful reviews so Tammy Faye will be fine even without raves.

I see we have our first 1 star vote. Shame whoever gave it that rating hasn't backed it up with a review.
Seems to happen quite a bit with the 1 star votes that we never get a chance to find out why people think a show only deserves that rating.
Call my an old cynic but.....

I appreciate this will be an outlier view, and I haven’t seen the show yet myself. But are some people taking these critics reviews a bit too personally?

It is the critic’s opinion; people are hinting at bias, well, how Cinderella got 5* stars I’ll never know but it did. 4’s and 5’s across the board. Maybe it’s their earnest opinion and they genuinely didn’t like it very much, or in that case they loved it, but audiences love what they love.

It happens all the time in the box office for theatre, music, film and all the arts. There really is little point in getting upset and trying to explain why the reviews are wrong.

As with Les Mis, if a show doesn’t land with critics it’s not the end of the world. It’s not some conspiracy to keep your favourite show down, it’s just how they felt and they are paid to be honest (hopefully) and credible (oftentimes not), but that’s what they do.

Honestly not being funny, but calm down. I’ve seen loads of shows the critics haven’t liked and loads they’ve raved about, and come away feeling the exact opposite.

But it’s no good hoping for amazing reviews to validate one’s opinion, then turning against critics if they don’t agree. It goes against the entire point of critical thought.

Reading reviews is an enjoyable part of my critical engagement with Art of all types.

Sometimes reading reviewers who disagree with you helps you work out what makes a work resonate with you or not. Certainly reviews are as revealing of the reviewer, and where they are coming from, as of the work itself. Everyone comes to art with a set of assumptions about what it should be. Relatively few people get to see something before critics have set the tone of the conversation about it based upon those assumptions.

Of course everyone has their own biases and preferences, and reviewers frequently work for outlets that reflect their own values and beliefs. There need not be any kind of conspiracy involved in critics from similar outlets responding in similar ways.

And of course reviews will impact on things like whether a show will have a further life (or will even make it through it’s original run).

I’m just saying, if all the media reviews were perfect raves, fans would use that as validation their view of the show was right.

I’ll see this at some point when it transfers, with the best will to adore it as I always do. Right now I have others ahead in the queue!

Really enjoyed the show. I didn’t know much beforehand and it seems her legacy has escaped the UK majority, which perhaps made people on tenterhooks for it to be more satirical than biographical.

Unsure if it’s because my knowledge beforehand was limited or it was the material, but I struggled to connect with Tammy sometimes.

For example when

Not to steal Kathryn's thunder, but if anyone's looking for tomorrow's matinee I've returned one for stalls F.

I doubt a transfer will be soon. I’ve heard from being at the theatre the other day that someone in the leading cast is pregnant. Elton isn’t too happy but they are “willing to wait”. It gives the creative team time to look at the book and songs and make any cuts or additions following the reviews. Mickey Jo Theatre on You Tube makes some very good comments.

Does he though? He said he was expecting to see a big dramatic reveal or sudden change when their downfall came about, he wanted to see something theatrical, but it didn't happen, so thats the writer or directors fault. Why are you placing blame because something didn't happening the way you wanted it to? And a big 'theatrical reveal' makes no sense because it wasn't a sudden thing and it didn't happen overnight, it was something that happened over time and we saw it happening with the IRS, bills etc piling up. It feels like he's reviewing the show he wanted, rather than the show he saw.

He did the same with Into The Woods. His judgement was completely blinded by what he liked from past productions and expectations instead of seeing it for what it was.

It will be disappointing if there is a big delay with the transfer. Hope they keep Andrew Rannells.