LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - So much for Kathie Lee Gifford's career as a playwright. The former "Live!" co-host's Broadway musical "Scandalous: The Life and Times of Aimee Semple McPherson," is shuttering a little after three weeks after it opened.
The musical, which opened November 15, will have its final performance December 9 at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York.
Gifford wrote the book and lyrics for "Scandalous," which chronicled the life of evangelist and proto-celebrity Aimee Semple McPherson, who rose to prominence in the 1920s, only to fall from public grace amid scandalous love affairs and other controversies.
In all, "Scandalous" will have played 29 regular performances before it goes dark and 31 previews. The musical stars Carolee Carmello (left) and George Hearn, among others, and is directed by David Armstrong ("A Christmas Story the Musical," "Catch Me if You Can").
Though Gifford had ample opportunity to plug the production via her "Today" co-hosting duties - and she certainly took advantage of the opportunity - critics were generally unkind in their appraisal of the show.
"'Scandalous' isn't so much scandalously bad as it is generic and dull," wrote the New York Times' Charles Isherwood.
Newsday's Linda Winer took specific aim at Gifford's "bombardment of nursery-rhyme lyrics."
Talkin' Broadway's Matthew Murray, meanwhile, scoffed that the play "is not distinctive in one positive way."
Kathie Lee Gifford's "Scandalous" musical to close after three weeks
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Kathie Lee Gifford's "Scandalous" musical to close after three weeks
