Kathy Lee Gifford’s ‘Scandalous’ Closes December 9
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Kathie Lee Gifford’s Broadway debut, “Scandalous,” will close this Sunday, December 9 after 31 preview performances and 29 regular performances.
Officially titled “Scandalous: The Life and Times of Aimee Semple McPherson” opened November 15 to generally negative reviews. Many critics, however, praised the work of actress Carolee Carmello, who stars as the title character, an early 20th-century evangelist. Here’s how producers describe the show:
Set in 1920’s Los Angeles, holiness collides with Hollywood in the extraordinary tale of one woman’s charismatic rise to fame amidst scandalous love affairs and growing controversy, inevitably ending in her much-publicized fall from grace.
Gifford wrote the book and the lyrics for the musical, while David Pomeranz and David Friedman co-wrote the music.
Gifford has spoken of the show often on her own show, NBC’s “Today” show, which she co-hosts, and she recently spoke of the devastating effects of Hurricane Sandy on Broadway shows.
“We did have some sad news to announce, that we did post our closing date. Yesterday, we had to. I’m prejudiced of course,” she told her co-host Hoda Kotb. “I’m the mother of this show. Hurricane Sandy was just devastating to everyone in the tri-state area. But Broadway was badly hit… nobody has really recovered. The new shows haven’t… It’s taken awhile to find our audience because no one knows what our show was.”
She went on to encourage those in New York to continue to support productions that are currently playing.
“I just want to encourage everybody. If you’re in town, if you’re in New York, go see some of these shows that are here for a short time,” she continued. “It just means the world for our performers to have people in the audience. There’s lots of great shows out there. Give it a chance. And to everybody who has come to see it, and loved it, and stood and cheered, God bless you. Thank you for coming.”
Contributor: David Rogers