Elton John attributes Trump’s election victory to his Broadway flop, ‘Tammy Faye’.

For Elton John, Donald Trump’s presidential election victory didn’t make Broadway great again.

in one Interview with Time magazineJohn, who named the singer-songwriter his Icon of the Year, appeared to blame Trump for the epic failure of his new musical “Tammy Faye.”

The musician, whose expensive show flopped on Sunday after only 29 regular performances, called “Tammy Faye” a “political piece” that pushed the wrong “buttons” in the days following November 5.

“It’s a shame for everyone who put so much work into it,” John, 77, told TIME. “But that’s what happens when you take a chance.”

“It’s very much a political work,” said John of the show, which opened on November 14 and closed on December 8. “And with that you have to push somebody’s buttons. The buttons we pushed last night with the critics weren’t the right ones.”

“Tammy Faye” tells the story of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker, popular television stars of the 1970s and ’80s who shook up religious TV with upbeat prayers, inspirational interviews and variety acts. A plot concern of the musical is how the rise of televangelists helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency.

For example, Reverend Jerry Falwell tells then-Governor Reagan, “Together, we…can return this country to a time of greatness.”

But theater critics had a deeper hold on the show than politics.

In a one-star review, The Post said that John’s score was “composed of salty-cracker songs that the audience forgets as soon as they appreciate them.” And many times The music has been called “strangely bland”.

Even the audience did not accept it.

“Tammy Faye”, which was capitalized at $22 million but could have cost as much as $25 million, never enjoyed a sell-out week on Broadway. Six of its eight weeks were played at the Palace Theater at less than 65% capacity.

John’s hits on Broadway include the Tony Award-winning “The Lion King” and “Billy Elliot: The Musical.”

On December 1, John’s “The Devil Wears Prada”, based on the 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, was released in London, receiving a more tepid response.

In one star reviewPrada, which was also awarded one star by The Post when it first launched in Chicago in 2022, “still looks like a cheap knock-off,” the Daily Mail said.

Giving two stars to the music, Wire John’s score sounds as if he “sent some generic stuff and everyone followed suit.”

On the opening night of “Prada”, John said that damage to his vision caused by a severe eye infection made it almost impossible for him to watch his show.

“I couldn’t come to many of the previews because, as you know, I lost my eyesight,” John said on stage. “So it’s hard for me to see it. But I love hearing it and boy, it felt good tonight.