God is good, God is great, God loves EVERYONE. These are things I believe in every single day of my life even when I’m at my lowest. When it comes to “Tammy Faye” at the Palace, it isn’t really good, it isn’t really great, but its message of love EVERYONE is thriving.
At this point in my life, I’ve come to asking the question of “why does this specific story need to be put onstage?” Tammy Faye, while an exceptional barrier-breaking woman, isn’t exactly a story that was in need of the musical theatre treatment (I’m amazed it got the movie treatment, although Jessica Chastain deserved that Oscar). Even with a score by Elton John, with lyrics by Jake Shears, that is suitable but in no way memorable and reminiscent to his previous, grander works, and a book by James Graham that keeps the action moving at a perfect pace but consists of characters that are highly 2-dimensional that its way too easy to piece together protagonists, antagonists, and everyone in between, it’s still just a bunch of corny religious kitschiness, and yet it’s still scarily relevant to today’s climate in the conundrum of dividing church and state (it’s even more relevant at this very moment).
Rupert Goold’s staging, however, is quite serviceable, and even creative to a degree. He knows how to shape a character’s arc even with such flatness in a libretto, and his eye for levels and configurations onstage is superb (some of that credit should also go to Lynne Page and her energetic, gospel-choir-esque choreography). Even the acting in this one is fantastic, but that’s because you’ve got three seasoned pros front and center. Katie Brayben as Tammy Faye hits you in all the feelers from start to finish, and her vocal prowess literally reaches the heavens; Christian Borle hasn’t let me down yet, and his rise and fall from grace is a rollercoaster of a character journey; Michael Cerveris, oh how I’ve missed seeing this talented man onstage, delivers the perfect complex villainy that only a former Sweeney Todd can deliver, he’ll make nervous about the idea of ever setting foot in a church again (hopefully that doesn’t actually happen). Everything else about this show, particularly design elements, kinda falls away into the ether, not to be fully remembered. It's hard for me to say anything about a stage who's main eye draw is a wall television screens that also become windows (even the videography is lackluster in its use).
Sorry to my fellow believers if I didn't walk out rejoicing, "Praise the lord," with this one. I want to have hope that things will be readjusted and improve as the show inches closer towards officially opening, but even the slightest little tweaks can't make this homage to the days of televangelism the hit one would hope a production at the gorgeously restored Palace could be. Like I said, there are many stories that are told onstage and there comes a point to wonder what stories are truly worth telling, and to me this is one of those stories to call into question. I will never understand the reason for bringing Tammy Faye's story to the stage, and having Elton John's name on the poster certainly isn't doing any good for it after looking at the whole section I was sitting in.
After seeing "Tammy Faye" in all its glitz and kitsch, I can understand why.
