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Character Breakdown: TAMMY FAYE Cast Unpacks Their Roles
Nov 8, 2024
Tammy Faye has taken the stage at the Palace Theatre! The new musical is now in Broadway previews and is set to open on Thursday, November 14. In this video, watch as the cast unpacks their roles and find out even more about the new musical here!
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0:00
Well, I mean, it was daunting at first because she's such an incredible character
0:14
Like, you know, she's, you know, she's not shy on retiring. She's like, she's there
0:20
And she's, you know, the most wonderfully in the moment person, which is also what acting is
0:27
You know, like, you just have to be in the moment of things. And it forces you to do that playing her
0:32
Like it really does. I just thought they were such extraordinary characters
0:38
and watching like deep diving on all of their videos online and then reading the biographies and stuff
0:44
I was like, wow, what a ride. You know, who wouldn't want to be involved in that story, telling that story
0:51
I think what I tend to do as an actor because I have played a lot of real people. I don't know why that happens to me, but I have
0:56
And I do love it. I think what I do is I find what I'm that the characteristics of the person that that
1:05
that chime with me that align with me so I find them first and I think also you do all this work
1:13
you do the work on the character and the accent and then you let it go you just let it go
1:18
because also you have to you have to be available to let the audiences into to emotional lives
1:25
and all the rest of it. And I think sometimes if it's an impersonation
1:31
you can kind of lock people out. So it is a balance and it's not easy
1:37
but it's also I love a challenge and I love the challenge of that
1:41
And as I say yeah the way in really is to just go okay because she very different from me But what are the things that I can go yeah actually we similar in that and similar in that yeah
1:54
It's a complicated thing playing Jim Baker, because he did some bad things, and he's still around
2:04
And he's at this particular moment, I don't know if he's going to be watching Broadway
2:08
World, but he's hocking some stuff online, which is kind of against
2:14
some of my personal beliefs and maybe still taking advantage of people who are in need
2:19
And so kind of trying to tap into the psyche and the humanity of someone who
2:24
to be fair to him, probably just doing his best to get through life
2:29
But I started watching some videos of him, obviously, but then I realized that I didn't want to do an impersonation
2:37
I don't think I even necessarily look like him. So it was just about what James Graham wrote
2:42
and the broader story that they wanted to tell. And that's kind of how I tapped into it
2:49
It's my own creation in a way. I'm playing Jerry Falwell. Somebody that I grew up knowing who he was
2:56
I grew up in West Virginia. I was raised Catholic, but PTO was on television
3:03
because there weren't all that many options. And I grew up knowing who Jim and Tammy were
3:09
and who Jimmy Swaggart and all of these characters were. And Jerry Falwell was not someone I ever cared much for
3:17
I found that I disagreed with almost everything I ever heard him say
3:22
And as time went on, I blamed him more and more for the things that I have found most problematic in our country
3:32
So I really took some time to decide whether I was up for stepping into this character And it was conversations with Rupert that made me feel confident that the show itself
3:49
the messages of the show itself, were things that I entirely could get behind
3:55
And also my own conviction that I, you know, I always like to tell people, you know
3:59
you should take the opportunity that it's the most scary or most troubling
4:06
And I figured, well, if I'm going to tell high school and college kids that, I should, you know, live up to it
4:12
So it's, but it has been and continues to be, and I think will be until closing night, a challenge
4:18
Because I, I so profoundly disagree with a lot of what he stood for
4:24
The interesting thing, though, is that not dissimilarly to, John Wilkes Booth, if you take things that they say at face value and kind of forget what all the
4:35
ramifications were and the justifications and all of the rest of it, you can get behind some of
4:41
these sentiments. It's just that you felt like, well, if you were living that way, I would, that would be
4:46
one thing. But you're telling me one thing and then you're doing something else. So, and I think
4:51
that's one of the things that's most interesting and surprising about this show is that it looks at
4:57
questions of faith and belief and makes you remember religion is one thing and it's an organized
5:04
human construct and faith and belief is something different and we I do it all the time I kind of
5:10
conflate those two things but but this show really is questioning that and asking us to sort of
5:17
look at those things and and so that so far been my way into jerry is just he did say things that you could get behind and then you look at where his ambition got the better of him I play Tammy Fay Baker on Sundays
5:35
Come get blessed Sunday nights. What's it like for you watching and all come to life
5:39
and do you get a chance to run the show too? I will, I will. I've gotten chances to step in
5:44
and it's really interesting sort of learning from the sidelines and being able to absorb the show as a whole
5:50
You know, it's a unique, I think it's a very unique experience, and it's such a beautiful company
5:56
Katie and I are very, very different, and they have really celebrated that
6:00
The creative team is really encouraging of that. So I'm so lucky
6:05
I'm so lucky. I'm so excited. It's my Broadway debut, so that's exciting for me
6:11
Jessica's story really called to me as well, and kind of her relationship with Tammy
6:16
The way that we, James wrote it in the script, is just fabulous
6:20
and I couldn't have asked for a better show to be a part of. I play the Reverend Billy Graham in a huge number that opens the show
6:28
and sort of introduces the tone of the show. It's flashy, it's exciting
6:33
and it's sort of introducing the medium of like doing a theatrical production
6:38
crossed with like the television, right? So the digital design that is incorporated in Bunny Christie's set design
6:44
is really exciting. It's a supercharged, electrified moment. You play the crouches
6:50
They are televangelists, and until, I think, the last 10 years, they were still going
6:58
Yeah. Yeah, they ran the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and so they patterned a lot of what they did after Jim and Tammy Faye
7:06
They are the understudies to their style, as it were. The Salieri's to their Mozart
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