SCANDALOUS is based on the life of Aimee Semple McPherson (1890-1944), the world's first media superstar evangelist -- a woman whose passion for saving souls equaled her passion for making sensational headlines and attracting overflow crowds of thousands throughout the world. Time Magazine named Aimee Semple McPherson one the most influential people of the twentieth century.
Set in 1920's Los Angeles, holiness collides with Hollywood in this extraordinary tale of one remarkable woman's charismatic rise to fame amidst scandalous love affairs and growing controversy, inevitably ending in her much-publicized fall from grace.
“The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson,” as the show is subtitled, are actually much more fascinating than you would gather from this formulaic Broadway musical...“Scandalous'...condenses and rearranges McPherson’s story to fit smoothly into the familiar grooves of celebrity biography. In the process the show reduces McPherson’s remarkable life to a cliché-bestrewn fable about the wages of fame…“Scandalous” isn’t so much scandalously bad as it is generic and dull…Ms. Carmello, a gloriously gifted singing actress, has never managed to snag a star-making breakout role on Broadway — not all that surprising in these difficult days for musical theater. Sister Aimee certainly provides plenty of opportunities for Ms. Carmello to thrill us with the purity and power of her voice. She leads a few rousing come-to-Jesus gospel-tinged numbers with bright-beaming intensity. She delivers the climactic soul-baring ballad with plenty of emotional heat. What she cannot do — no singer without the power of miracle could — is bring distinction to songs that never rise above the serviceable.
The Tony Award for fearless determination - if such a thing actually existed, ought to go to Kathie Lee Gifford. She has been developing and promoting her musical 'Scandalous: The Life and Trials of Aimee Semple McPherson' - for which she wrote the lyrics, book and even some of the music - for more than a decade…'Scandalous' is like a combination of 'Leap of Faith,' another musical about an evangelist, which flopped last spring, and 'Chaplin,' also a bland bio musical...The score - the work of no less than three composers - mainly consists of generic samplings from various genres: Irish jig, beer hall anthem, tambourine-shaking prayer and so on…Carolee Carmello, who has spent the past few years alternating between the tryouts of 'Scandalous' and stints in 'Mamma Mia!,' throws all of her dramatic and vocal intensity into the role, but it is an off-putting, aggressive performance.
2012 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2013 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Carolee Carmello |
2013 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Carolee Carmello |
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