Elton John, James Graham and Jake Shears writing Tammy Faye musical slated for Almeida

A super-line up of creatives, including Elton John and James Graham are slated to be working on a new musical about the life of American televangelist Tammy Faye, according to Daily Mail entertainment reporter Baz Bamigboye.

According to reports, Elton John is working on songs with Scissor Sisters singer Jake Shears, while playwright James Graham will work on a book, and the piece will be directed by the artistic director of the Almeida Theatre Rupert Goold.

Workshops are set to take place in April, with "hopes" for a run at the Almeida in 2021.

Tammy Faye was an evangelist Christian singer known for her TV work, which saw her found one of the leading American televangelist programs, The PTL Club, with her husband Jim Bakker.

It had been previously touted that Kristin Chenoweth was planning to appear in a musical based on Faye's life. Appearing on the American talk-show 20/20 last year, Chenoweth cited a reading what happened in 2011 for a musical with a sore by Dreamgirls' composer Henry Krieger and a book by Anthony Crowley, however, it is likely the two works are not connected.

Elton John's last musical was Billy Elliot, which ran at the Victoria Palace Theatre for over 11 years. Prior to that, he composed the score for The Lion King, which continues to run at the Lyceum Theatre. He is also working on the score for a musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada, which gets a pre-Broadway run in Chicago this July.  

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