‘Tammy Faye’ Broadway Review: Unanswered Prayers
deadline.comIf you remember Tammy Faye Bakker at all from the peak of her ’80s televangelical fame, you’ll most likely remember the scandals, the mascara, the tarantula-leg eyelashes, the big, big hair, the prescription drugs and maybe the groundbreaking on-air interview she did with AIDS patient Steven Pieters, all at a time when Evangelical Christians weren’t well known for any of the above.
Even if you don’t remember any of those details, you still might just have a vague feeling of over-the-top fun associated with her, a self-knowing clownishness when the Jimmy Swaggarts and Jerry Falwells of her world leaned decidedly toward the self-important variety.
By all rights, Tammy Faye – she dropped the Bakker after divorcing her cheating, possibly gay husband and partner in the God business Jim Bakker – should make for a delicious stage musical, maybe something along the lines of Titanique or some of the sillier moments of the otherwise tedious Diana: The Musical.
Tammy Faye, that musical is not. Opening tonight at Broadway‘s Palace Theater, with a book by James Graham, lyrics by Jake Shears and music by Elton John, Tammy Faye is only slightly more fun than church on a hot July day.
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