Tammy Faye: A New Musical - Almeida

It’s country-influenced Southern Christian Rock n Gospel. Sung by a woman with big hair and big eyelashes.

I think it’s fair to say that the Dolly resemblance is not accidental.

Made my second visit yesterday and very much enjoyed this again. The second half came across as tighter (although it probably hasn't changed much). No claps at all during the individual bows and I'm not the person to start these, but they did get lots of applause at the very end.

Lucky enough to have caught Danny Collins debut as Steve as well, who did succeed in making me cry (and I could see several others reaching for the tissues). Danny is always excellent and no change here. He was on the whole track, so lots of other roles too.

It was also Michael Kent's debut (presumably in Danny's usual track) and it looked like he was loving every moment. A permanent smile too.

No more tickets booked for this one, so I feel I'll have to watch for a return to go back again. I know this will transfer, but there's something about seeing it in its original home that just can't be replaced.

I watched this last night and thought it was really good for anyone who wants to look a bit deeper into what happened AFTER the Bakers reign ended.

I think we have all expressed the same opinion about the last number/bows.
As we are the experts on all things musical theatre can't someone tell Mr Gould or the producers to read our forum so that they can make the necessary changes?
We know what we are talking about 😀

The whole industry reads this forum - from producers casting directors to agents.

It’s free feedback that would cost thousands normally

Do they?

Well of course, the cast have surely noticed that the bows don’t quite work as intended on some nights…they don’t need forum comments to spot that!
😁

TAMMY FAYE was good but not (yet) great. There are definitely catchy tunes -- Elton John can write gospel! -- and some compelling performances (though with some pretty spotty Southern accents). The problem, alas, is that the musical is focused on the wrong character. Tammy Faye was theatrical as a person, but not as a plot-generator: she doesn't actually *do* much except entertain. She's mostly just the casualty of Jim's vices, which are far more interesting to ponder, especially given the cult of TV-personalities in the United States. (As an American, I thought the strength of the evening was its focus on the very idea of an Electric Church, and Americans’ peculiar attraction to popularizing mass media, including talk radio and televangelism. Ultimately, that even goes back to grifters like John R. Brinkley and his Texas radio station in the 1930s, and forward to Trump, which the musical makes abundantly clear.)

So the second act is especially challenging: as problems mount in the church, Tammy Faye is a sadder and sadder person, which is pathetic, but not gripping. I wanted to know more about Jim and his infidelities and thefts. As intoanewlife noted, TF is largely confined to watching everybody *else* behaving badly: she’s like a Greek chorus in her own show.

I’m not quite sure what the solution is. The promise of Tammy Faye (live!) is a stronger hook for drawing in audiences than Jim; but Jim makes for more involving theater, and I wanted to see more of him and less of Tammy.

Tammy is the musical’s antagonist if you view it not through the lens of plot but of theme. The theme is what does it mean to be Christian? And how can Christianity best connect to a modern audience and spread its message?

Should you judge others by a moral code (that you yourself don’t have to live up to)? Is ‘salvation’ an exclusive state that only a few will ever achieve? Is it really Christian to grab political power to impose that moral code on others?

Or is being Christian about being kind and loving to people, even when they are flawed? Is it about practising forgiveness?

Jim for all intent and purposes isn't really that interesting compared to Tammy and TBH I think the audiences would be a bit bored if they focus on the male players like him and Falwell. 

What I find interesting about the real Tammy Faye is that she still wanted to preach Christianity even though her own mother wasn't allowed to even sing or play the piano because she was a divorced woman. The men in the show and indeed in real life were hypocrites, preaching and swindling money while having affairs.

The whole thing wouldn't have taken off the way it did without Tammy's presence.

She was clearly the driving force behind the movements initial and sustained success as none of the others were breaking through to the general public in the way she did.

So there is no story without her and it is obvious she should be the figurehead for the show.

The problem is it's a much bigger story than just Tammy's and unfortunately that leaves her as a side character once things start to go wrong as she really didn't do anything wrong as such.

I think cutting their 'replacements' should be the first thing to go, as they really just add to Tammy being missing for a large portion of Act 2 and it would simplify and shorten the 2nd Act.

They are not that important to the overall story other than to show how vile they are and I think everyone else covers vile pretty well as it is.