Andrew Rannells on his new musical Tammy Faye and gay representation in TV – msnNOW
© Provided by Metro The star was never going to turn down a musical with music by Elton John (Picture: Marc Brenner)
There are many reasons why actors may be attracted to a particular project, but sometimes you barely need to ask, so obvious is the draw.
Such is the case with Tammy Faye, the new musical about notorious US evangelists Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker at the Almeida Theatre; directed by the venue’s artistic director Rupert Goold, it boasts a book by Britain’s most in-demand playwright/screenwriter James Graham, lyrics by Scissor Sisters frontman Jake Shears and music by Elton John, no less.
So when Andrew Rannells – the American star of hit TV series Girls, among other things – was offered the part of Jim, he was only ever going to answer one way.
‘I had wanted to work with Rupert for a very long time and almost had the chance a couple of years ago, but the timing didn’t work out,’ Andrew explains. ‘So it seemed really extraordinary for him to then come to me with a script that had music by Elton and a book by James – it was too good to pass up.’
Creative team aside, though, there was also the obvious dramatic pull of the story of the Bakkers, which was recently the subject of an Oscar-winning biopic as well.
Back in the 1970s and 1980s, Tammy Faye and Jim were pioneering in bringing Christianity to a mass television audience, through their PTL (Praise The Lord) network, becoming huge celebrities in the process – only to experience a precipitous fall from grace, when Jim was exposed for paying off a church secretary who accused him of rape, and subsequently jailed for defrauding his and his wife’s followers to fund their lavish lifestyle.
Andrew is also notable for being one of America’s most prominent gay actors, and has played a rich range of gay characters, from Elijah to Larry in Ryan Murphy’s all-star revival of 1960s play The Boys In The Band, which was first seen on Broadway before being turned into a Netflix film.
Despite the prejudice that gay actors have historically faced, Andrew never questioned being open about his sexuality, he says. ‘The first time that anyone asked [about it] was when I was in The Book Of Mormon. At that point, I was already a 32-year-old man with several ex-boyfriends and there was kind of no going back.’
When it comes to gay and queer representation on screen, Andrew is hopeful about the improvements he has seen over his career: He says: ‘There’s always a distance to travel… but I think that certainly in the past ten years, there’s been great strides.’
One question I have to ask is: can he imagine there being a Girls reunion at some point? ‘I personally could totally imagine it,’ he says. ‘I think it’s probably too soon at this point to tackle that, but I would love to see where all of those folks are in ten years.’ You read it here first…
Tammy Faye is at London’s Almeida Theatre until December 3.
Are you a Soaps fan? For exclusive spoilers and interviews, sign up to Metro’s Soaps newsletter