THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
THE TRANSATLANTIC MAGAZINE
“You opened up your heart and people wanted to come in… the opposite of church” quips one of Tammy Faye’s devotees unwittingly and that gets to the nub of it. She was too human for the cynical Ponzi scheme she was fronting with her shifty husband Jim, and while a host of televangelists of that era were brought down by scandal she survived “thanks to the gays” as she put it. She reinvented herself in ‘liberal’ media before succumbing to cancer.
It’s perfect material for a musical. The gold lamé world that the Bakkers fashioned, and the lurid emotionalism of their trade, would make Susan Sontag blush and re-think her seminal essay Notes on Camp. Elton John and Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters, masters of the form, have joined with James Graham, that most polished of playwrights, to create a new musical which delivers in all departments. This is no mean feat today when most new musicals are either juke box or dull.
The songs are infused with Elton’s trademark soul inspired style and range from catchy Country two-steps to Scissor Sisters-like funk. There is light and shade and Elton’s music is better here in than in any of his earlier theatrical outings. In Shears he’s found a lyricist who can blend the skills of advancing a plot, delineating character and coming up with a catchy hook.
Director Rupert Goold gives it his own trademark polish and crisp pacing and Bunny Christie’s ‘celebrity squares’ set, a wall of televisions, is perfect for this apotheosis of religion and hucksterism.
Goold has assembled a top class cast of 17 who play multiple roles, led by the great Katie Brayben (Olivier winner for the Carole King musical Beautiful) and he’s imported the talented Broadway star Andrew Rannells as Jim. In support, Zubin Varla reveals a powerful singing voice (news to me) as the darkly malignant figure of Jerry Falwell. Originally horrified at the Bakkers, who had got the backing of Ted Turner to set up Praise the Lord (PTL) as the first ‘God’ channel on satellite TV, Falwell was only too delighted to pounce when the Bakkers ran out of road and credit. Tammy Faye’s ability to connect at a human level was something he and his ilk would never master.
Jessica Chastain of course won the Oscar for the film version and is hard act to follow. Brayben pulls it off magnificently but the piece, unlike the movie, takes far too long to get the audience on her side. Graham’s book is wayward at times with ridiculous diversions involving the Pope and Archbishop of Canterbury and it can’t make up its mind how to end. The emotional power of a fantastic 11 o’clock number for Brayben, ‘If You Came to See Me Cry,’ is then wasted by a series of false endings culminating in a totally unnecessary feelgood ‘send em home singing’ finale.
Overall this is a wonderfully polished and expertly executed piece and deserves to have a life on bigger stages in the West End and Broadway.
