Short of a week after it’s official premier, Elton John‘s Broadway musical has been shut down.
Based on the life story of televangelist Tammy Faye Messner, the White Way show launched on November 14 but struggled to sell tickets following negative reviews.
Now 77-years old, Elton wrote the music for the show while 46-year old Scissor Sisters’ lead singer/songwriter Jake Shears penned the lyrics.
Despite its highly anticipated move from London’s West End, Tammy Faye: A New Musical did not fare as well in New York with the show’s producers confirming its final curtain call will be December 8.
A source close to the show reportedly told England’s Mail Online that the show had failed to connect with New York show-goers, saying:
“It was always going to be difficult, even the writers feared the storyline didn’t translate for the audience.” “The 1700-capacity venue was only selling 300 tickets a night. This is not exactly great for Elton,” adding that unsupportive early reviews of the show had “killed it” leaving those in the industry anticipating it was always “at risk of not working.” “The first-night reviews were not exactly positive.” “They thought they’d be cancelled before the year is out.”
The New York Times called the production “strangely bland”, while Variety declared it a “misguided West End import”.
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: Library Of Congress – Public Domain