Susan Granger’s review of “Scandalous” (Neil Simon Theater, 2012-2013 season)
Howard Dietz once wrote, “Sing a lament for the plays that fail – a dirge for the shows that fold – a tear on the bier of the flops of the year and the tickets that couldn’t be sold.”
Nobody sets out to write a flop. Perennially perky Kathie Lee Gifford from NBC’s “Today” show spent 12 years working on the book and lyrics, calling it “a labor of love.” But what emerges is disappointing.
Aimee Semple McPherson was a fascinating character. Born and raised on a farm in Ontario, Canada, and seduced into faith healing by an Irish-born Pentacostal preacher, she traveled to China, where he died and she gave birth to her first child. Another failed marriage to an accountant named McPherson followed, along with another child, as ambitious Aimee took her traveling tent-pulpit to Hollywood, where she got herself into all sorts of scrapes with the law. That was back in the 1930s, when she launched a media-savvy generation of impassioned faith healers. Aimee Semple McPherson was the second woman ever to be granted a broadcast license, broadcasting her weekly sermons at Angelus Temple, where she staffed a soup kitchen and medical clinic during the Great Depression.
What frames the story is a controversial incident when Sister Aimee vanished for six weeks. Was she kidnapped? Or did she simply escape with one of her lovers? Gifford offers no explanation, although she’s a member of the Foursquare Church which Aimee founded.
Indeed, there’s little that’s either fun or compelling in Gifford’s formulaic, musical comedy rendition of Sister Aimee’s travails. Which is a shame since Aimee is played terrific actress/singer Carolee Carmello, who deserves a far better showcase than this. She gamely belts functional inspirational songs by David Pomeranz and David Friedman but – as directed by David Armstrong – it all amounts to a great deal less than a sum of its parts, never utilizing the talents of George Hearn and resorting to sheer camp with its splashy, silly, second-act Biblical pageants.
Audiences that pay Broadway prices deserve better than this