Elton John’s $25 Million Broadway Musical ‘Tammy Faye’ Flops, Announces Closure 5 Days After Opening

British singer Elton John‘s new Broadway musical Tammy Faye announced that it will close five days after it opened at the Palace Theater.

Tammy Faye, which opened on Broadway on Nov. 14, has music by John, lyrics by Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters and a book by James Graham. It features choreography by Lynne Page and direction by Rupert Goold.

It stars Katie Brayben as Tammy Faye Messner, Christian Borle as her ex-husband Jim Bakker and Michael Cerveris as Jerry Falwell.

The musical is set in the 1970s, the show follows Faye’s rise to fame alongside Bakker and the rivalries behind the scenes that eventually destroyed their empire.

It started in 2022 at London’s smaller Almeida Theatre, which seats only 350 people, some 1,300 less chairs than the Palace Theater. 

The British singer said he spent 12 years getting Tammy Faye to Broadway.

He hoped to build a musical around the American evangelist because of the message of love he thought audiences could all learn from her.

“It’s really important at this time we’re living at the moment, especially in America and the rest of the world where there’s so much hate and violence, and we all seem to be so far apart,” John told People.

“Tammy was an example of inclusivity,” he went on to say. “She forgave people; she embraced people. She had no bias or racism. She welcomed everybody. And the world needs to learn a lesson from that right now.”

This musical had been capitalized at $25 million and will lose money.

When the show closes on Dec. 8, it will have played 24 previews and 29 regular performances. 

The show was nominated for four Olivier Awards, including best musical. Andrew Rannells, the first person to portray Bakker in this show, was nominated for an Olivier Award for best actor in a musical.

Brayben won best actress in a Musical while Zubin Varla, who did not appear in the New York production, received best supporting actor for portraying Falwell.

Although the show was acclaimed when it opened in London’s West End in fall 2022, it received poor reviews on Broadway.

John has been in the news a lot in recent months. In July 2023, John and his husband, David Furnish, testified via video while they were in Monaco to corroborate actor Kevin Spacey’s testimony in the actor’s sexual assault trial in London.

On the night of January 18, the singer became the 19th EGOT winner ever after receiving an Emmy.

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