Sir Elton John’s Broadway musical has been axed lower than one week after its launch.
The present, primarily based on televangelist Tammy Faye Messner’s life story, launched on 14 November however struggled to promote tickets after poor early evaluations.
Sir Elton, 77, wrote the music for the present – and attended the opening evening in New York – whereas Scissor Sisters’ Jake Shears, 46, penned the lyrics.
Regardless of a hotly anticipated transfer from London’s West Finish, the place it had carried out solidly, Tammy Faye: A New Musical didn’t fare as effectively throughout the pond, and producers introduced it should have its ultimate curtain name on 8 December.
The Hollywood Reporter experiences the present was capitalised for as much as $25,000,000.
A supply reportedly instructed the Mail the present had failed to attach with New York audiences.
‘It was at all times going to be troublesome, even the writers feared the storyline didn’t translate for the viewers,’ the supply stated.
‘The 1700-capacity venue was solely promoting 300 tickets an evening. This isn’t precisely nice for Elton.’
The supply defined unsupportive early evaluations of the present had ‘killed it’ leaving these within the business anticipating it was at all times ‘prone to not working’.
‘The primary-night evaluations weren’t precisely optimistic,’ the insider reportedly added. ‘They thought they’d be cancelled earlier than the yr is out.’
The New York Instances known as the manufacturing ‘unusually bland’, whereas Selection declared it a ‘misguided West Finish import’.
Sir Elton beforehand discovered nice success on stage by way of his composing for The Lion King and Billy Elliot the musical.
He labored with Scissor Sisters star Jake and playwright James Graham on the present, which premiered at London’s Almeida Theatre in 2022.
Graham’s final present for the Almeida, Ink in 2017 – which lined his tackle Rupert Murdoch’s buying of The Solar newspaper in 1969 – transferred to the West Finish after which on to Broadway.
It was nominated for and received a number of Olivier and Tony Awards, with Graham additionally the brains behind standard BBC crime thriller Sherwood.
On its London premiere, the present was obtained effectively with largely four-star evaluations.
The Guardian described the present as ‘infectious in its music, exuberant in its performances and gloriously kitsch in its aesthetic’ and gave it 4 stars.
TimeOut rated it the identical, describing it as a ‘terrific piece of leisure’, whereas The Impartial dubbed it ‘gloriously OTT’.
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