Liars and Saints

  "Tammy Faye" is an overstuffed show with strong performances; beneath the miscalculations, there is a simple story trying to be heard. This is the story of Tammy Faye herself. She comes from nothing--almost literally nothing, because she eventually confesses that it's a source of wonder for her just to have access to a warm bath. She meets a puppeteer, Jim, who wants to help to bring "Church" into American living rooms (through the television). But Jim's gifts are limited--and Tammy Faye's are not. It is soon clear that TF has a "Princess Di" aura; she can empathize, and she quickly becomes something like the voice of her generation. When Jim turns out to be a cad (and worse), Tammy Faye enters her "solo" phase. (She is 39.) She is crafty about her decisions; no one will call her Mrs. Bakker, and no one will dissuade her from wearing excessive mascara. Like Di, Tammy Faye makes waves with her outreach to "the gays" (specif...

*Oscar winner Octavia Spencer--tonight!--in an apparently crazy thriller, "MA." I think one reviewer called this the most bizarre movie he'd ever seen. I'm sold. *Paper Mill Playhouse is now launching a new "Beauty and the Beast," if you can't wait for the Broadway revival. As much as I regret Howard Ashman's early death, I still think the Beast's non-Ashman "filler" number, "If I Can't Love Her," is sort of fun. *If I didn't sell you on "Rocketman" yesterday, know that Gemma Jones and Jamie Bell are brilliant, Taron Egerton is apparently doing awards-caliber work (who knew this was possible?), and the story begins in a surprising spot. (Despite what you may imagine, Elton was not "to the manor born.") I'm so excited for this movie!!

A good song is the thought you have while looking in the rearview mirror. It's the thing you forgot to tell your lover, or your friend, while you were in that person's company. A good song is a work of reflection. Elton John's "Your Song"--which I'd thought was Elton's work but was apparently Bernie Taupin's work--counts as a "rearview mirror" moment. The speaker has just been in his lover's company. Now he's thinking back on that time. The awkwardness of the song--which seems sincere and spur-of-the-moment--is likely the product of some real thought. It's a bizarre song. The stammering young man is infatuated, and he doesn't have any money, so he can't buy something to demonstrate the level of his infatuation. All he can do is write a song. "This is your song." There's a hint of gay pride or gay defiance when the speaker emphasizes: "You can tell *everybody* that this is your song." What I pa...