When ‘Scandalous,’ a musical about Canadian-born evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, opened on Broadway this week, it became the latest entry into the risky category of religious musicals.
With the exception of “The Book of Mormon,” which swept the Tonys in 2011 and continues to play to packed houses, many Broadway musicals with evangelical themes have had dubious track records in recent years.
Perhaps hoping to tap into audiences that loved “Godspell” or “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Leap of Faith,” based on the 1992 Steve Martin movie, ran only 19 performances at Broadway’s St. James Theatre. “Sister Act,” based on the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg movie, was more successful but didn’t break any records.
I bought the soundtrack to “The Book of Mormon” and found some of its numbers to be funny and apt. But it also contained one of the most sacrilegious and vulgar songs I’d ever heard. I got rid of my CD. I wonder that any Christian group, let alone the LDS’s, hasn’t vehemently protested this show.