The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.
Elton John’s Broadway musical about the late Tammy Faye Messner, who was known as “the first lady of televangelism” when she was Tammy Faye Bakker in the 1970s and ’80s, is packing it up less than a week after its Nov. 14 opening. The production will close Dec. 8 after 24 preview and 29 regular performances, Broadway World reported.
“Tammy Faye” had its world premiere at the Almeida Theatre in London in 2022. After receiving rave reviews — and four Olivier Awards, including best musical — it transferred to Broadway for the 2024-25 season, becoming the first big show to reopen in the newly remodeled Palace Theatre.
New York audiences were unimpressed with the Rupert Goold production, with Variety’s review calling it a “misguided West End import.” In the week ending Nov. 17, “Tammy Faye” made less than $400,000 (it was capitalized for up to $25 million), playing to 63% capacity audiences, the Guardian reported.
The day before the closing news dropped, Jake Shears, who composed the musical’s lyrics, celebrated how far “Tammy Faye” has come.
“Getting Tammy Faye up on Broadway has been one of the most thrilling experiences of my life,” Shears wrote on Instagram. “What a joy working with this entire cast, their stamina and talent staggering…and beautiful to watch.
“I believe that musical theatre is one of the most archaic forms of art: complicated and managerially elaborate. It’s the same process as it was 800 years ago,” he continued. “There are no shortcuts. And that’s what I love about it the most.”
Shears went on to thank his family, friends, collaborators — and the show’s eponymous evangelist, whose life rights John and his husband, David Furnish, acquired 12 years ago.
Messner first drew John’s attention in 1985, when she was the wife of TV pastor Jim Bakker and interviewed pastor Steve Pieters, a gay man living with AIDS, he told the Hollywood Reporter last month. The interview received widespread backlash from religious conservatives.
“I toured America for so long and so often that she became someone I was very, very interested in,” the EGOT winner said, “and that pivotal moment when she did have the pastor on was equivalent to Princess Diana holding the man’s hand in the Lighthouse [AIDS clinic] in London.
“I thought, ‘This woman is incredible,’ just the way she looked, the way she talked, the way she acted, she was so vibrant,” he continued. “So when we got the chance to write the musical, I jumped at it, because I love interesting people like that who have had great success and then been banished and lost everything, and then come back because of their faith and because of their belief, and turn the tables.”
Meanwhile, John’s musical version of “The Devil Wears Prada” continues shows at the Dominion Theatre in London.