“Tammy Faye,” a new musical about the scandal-wracked singing televangelist, will close on Broadway after an unexpectedly short run, a major disappointment for a costly and ambitious show that picked up some good reviews in London but was poorly received in New York and failed to find an audience.
The musical, which opened on Nov. 14, will close on Dec. 8, at which point it will have had 24 preview and 29 regular performances.
The show was capitalized for up to $25 million, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission; that budget is at the high end for today’s Broadway musicals. The box office performance has been disastrous: last week, it was the lowest-grossing show on Broadway, and played to houses that were 37 percent empty in one of Broadway’s largest theaters.
The show has an accomplished creative team. The music is by Elton John and the lyrics are by Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters; the book is by James Graham, a well-regarded British playwright; and the director is Rupert Goold, who is the artistic director of the Almeida Theater in London. The show had an initial run at the Almeida starting in the fall of 2022.
“Tammy Faye” began previews on Oct. 19 and opened on Nov. 14 at the Palace Theater, which recently resumed operations after a lengthy renovation. Reviews were mostly negative; in The New York Times, the critic Elisabeth Vincentelli called it a “disjointed, strangely bland musical.”
The cast is led by Katie Brayben, making her Broadway debut as the title character, Tammy Faye Bakker; she won an Olivier Award for her performance in London. She is joined by Christian Borle as the protagonist’s husband, Jim Bakker; Borle, a two-time Tony winner, was a late-in-the-game replacement for Andrew Rannells, who played the role in London and was announced for New York but left the project after failing to reach an agreement on employment terms with the producers.
“Tammy Faye” is produced by Rocket Stage, which is John’s production company, along with Greene Light Stage, which is led by Sally Greene, and James L. Nederlander. Nederlander, is the president and chief executive of the Nederlander Organization, which operates nine Broadway houses including the Palace.
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