When news of its existence began circulating many moons ago, there seemed something delightfully subversive about the prospect of Elton John and Jake Shears combining their songwriting talents to create a musical based on the tumultuous life of one of the Christian Evangelical movement’s most unforgettable, beloved, pilloried, reviled and eventually rehabilitated television personalities, Finding fame alongside her husband Jim Bakker, the couple’s entertaining brand of commercialised religion (The PTL Television Network — launched in the 1970s) was beamed via satellite into millions of American households for over 14 years, until investigation of the organisation’s grandiose capital projects resulted in a series of scandals involving spectacular financial irregularities and damning instances of sexual misconduct. Whilst her husband was incarcerated Tammy Faye continued to sport her flamboyant hairstyles and gaudy television make-up, drawing the brunt of the public’s derision and disapproval when the couple’s former lifestyle excesses were put under the media spotlight. The Bakkers ultimately lost control of their organisation under the onslaught of competing evangelical vultures and the IRS, but with her unsinkable optimism and unfailing determination to hear, encourage and support underdogs in all walks of life (notably AIDS victims — which lead to direct confrontation with sanctimonious religious hard-liners) in later years society appeared to have forgiven any misdeeds and she had developed a new personal following before her death from cancer in 2007.
Such yo-yoing fortunes make for rich pickings for biographical storytellers and James Graham’s well-researched book has given the songwriting team and director Rupert Goold a sold framework on which to develop the piece. The pop-meets-country musical style is deceptively energised and the cast are kept very busy throughout with Katie Brayben in the title role barely off-stage during the show’s entire running time. The sheer life force with which she delivers her performance is sure to garner plaudits and awards in the near future and is reflective of her years of West End experience in equally demanding roles. Andrew Rannells as Jim and Zubin Varla as Jerry Falwell (the brooding evangelical equivalent of Lord Voldemort) add another noticeable layer of experience to the production, but in truth none of the cast put a foot wrong on Press Night and all are clearly delighted to be part of such a terrific show which has national tour and West End transfer written all over it.
