Broadway Shockers 2024: The Fall of Elton John's Tammy Faye

As 2024 draws to a close, TheaterMania looks back on some of the most jaw-dropping stories of the year.

Name a Broadway flop, and you’re bound to stir up strong opinions. Lempicka came and went, but it left behind a loyal fan base charmed by its quirky score and stellar performances. I couldn’t stand The Heart of Rock and Roll, but others thought it was an underrated, high-energy romp. And while I found Days of Wine and Roses and Swept Away too bleak, some would call them “deeply felt.”

But nearly everyone agrees: Elton John’s Tammy Faye, which fizzled out at the Palace Theatre this fall, is the new poster child for Broadway flops. Struggling at the box office from day one, it earned poor reviews and closed after just 24 previews and 29 performances. Even the Playbills were misprinted.

So how did Tammy Faye bomb when it was supposedly a West End hit?

Well, it wasn’t. The show ran at the Almeida Theatre in Islington, a 325-seat venue comparable in capacity to the Public’s Newman Theater. Yes, it sold out, but lots of shows do in spaces that intimate.

In New York, early signs of trouble were apparent. Original London co-star Andrew Rannells revealed on the Tonys red carpet that he wouldn’t be joining the Broadway production after having been announced. Turns out his contract negotiations weren’t finished—a major red flag.

As for the show itself, as we noted in our review, it often felt like three different productions awkwardly stitched together. Playwright James Graham wrote a drama more about the rise of the Evangelical movement than Tammy Faye Bakker herself. Elton John’s score lacked his signature touch, and lyricist Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters delivered lyrics that swung from painfully earnest (“If You Came to See Me Cry”) to thoroughly campy (“He’s Inside Me”).

At no point could Rupert Goold’s production settle on a single tone. Not in the opening scene, where Tammy Faye (Katie Brayben) is talking to her proctologist before her colonoscopy. Not during the thorny solo where Jerry Falwell (Michael Cerveris) prays to the great TV satellite in the sky. And certainly not during the dimly lit scene where Jim Bakker (Christian Borle) has an affair. Sometimes it felt like satire, sometimes it felt sincere. Mostly, it felt like whiplash.

Timing really didn’t help. Opening a week after the election, Tammy Faye landed in a city that was already grappling with the real-life impact of religious fundamentalism. MAGA jokes might have hit differently a year ago, but by November 14, they weren’t jokes anymore. Word of mouth and reviews were bad, and it was reflected in ticket sales, which, even in its best-grossing week, didn’t crack $550,000.

Ultimately, dissecting why a show flopped is easy in hindsight. For Tammy Faye, there was no huge fall from grace like the show’s protagonist experiences, and there probably will never be the opportunity for a redemption arc like Lempicka might eventually receive. For Tammy Faye, it all boils down to one simple truth. People just didn’t want to see it. So it never had a prayer.