Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Thursday, November 8, 2012
A Scandal Comes to Broadway
By Jonathan Jones
Thursday, November 8, 2012
I like this musical play - kudos to the creative team as they have taken on a tremendously difficult task - for this work will undoubtedly be compared to a slew of recent Broadway offerings, some good, and some awful.
On the surface, this musical is Leap of Faith with a woman evangelical preacher, rather than a man. Leap of Faith, however, was monumentally flawed. The music was unmemorable. The characters were all despicable. And the performances were unfortunate. In Scandalous, the music is also unmemorable - but it doesn't grate on the sense in the way that Leap of Faith's music did. Kathie Lee Gifford's strength here is the book she has carfted, for the character of Aimee Semple McPherson could easily be as despicable as those we saw in Leap, but she is shown to be flawed, but tremendously likeable. She is entirely sympathetic and we want to root for her (more on that later). And Carolee Carmello's performance is undeniably tremendous.
In moments, we see The Book of Mormon for part of Aimee Semple McPherson's oeuvre included extravagant biblical stage spectacles - and we do have a few moments of this in Act 2 - though no-where near the polish and pizzazz that is seen in Mormon.
At times, we have Chaplin, for this is a biographical musical that sings its way into your heart. You want to love Aimee. The problem is, we don't know here. In fact, I would venture to say that the average theatre goer has never heard of her. This might not be a problem (would we know Gypsy Rose Lee anymore without the musical to remind us), but here it is a problem because the work is a tough sell. It's not religious, but it is. It's called scandalous, but there is no scandal until Act 2, and even then - nothing remotely scandalous to 2012 audiences - so how do you sell the show without a name? In light of Ms. Gifford's achievement in book writing, the music is adequate - but we need to LOVE the music so we can LOVE Aimee. We want to see her explode into song that is so strong and memorable that we too will leap to our feet when she triumphs, and sob into Kleenex when she fails. But that never happens because the music isn't strong enough.
But, the music isn't bad. Like I said of Chaplin a few months ago, this work will not last long here on Broadway as there is little appetite for the conventional musical when bloated revivals of the greats are competing, but this little show should have a life in regional and community theatre where the audience may well know the actress is they don't know the character and they can laud her (whomever she might be) out of their deep love for her, if the music leaves them failing to love the character. And this is not in any way a shortcoming on the part of Ms. Carmello - she's doing the best she can with the material she's been given.
And to Ms. Gifford. She is very capable and I could not be happier. I have been a fan for twenty years, but I had my doubts as to what this would sound like. She must keep writing. Disney would do well to hire her to write music for their animated films - her charms definitely live through the lyrics. Like Queen of the Mist last year, this little show is worth seeing, but not at Broadway prices. And that's not a bad thing. We need new voices and I'm so happy that Kathie Lee Gifford has found a new way to use hers.
Scandalous is playing at The Neil Simon Theatre. Tickets can be purchased here.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
A Dickensian Christmas at Studio54
By Jonathan Jones
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Tickets for The Mystery of Edwin Drood is playing at Studio 54. Tickets can be purchased here.
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