Hollywood Aimee in Seattle

I’m going to skip the introductory formalities and get straight to it: Carolee Carmello as Aimee Semple McPherson is the best leading performance I’ve seen in a musical in ages.

Now that I’ve spoiled the surprise, let’s back up.

Saving Aimee, a musical by Kathie Lee Gifford, David Pomeranz, and David Friedman, is the 5th Avenue Theatre’s current run. I spent the day peering out of my apartment window, hermit-like, at the mass of people and media lining up on 1st Avenue early Thursday morning to catch a peek at The Today Show, which was filming live at Pike Place Market to celebrate and promote opening night.

I knew very little about Aimee Semple McPherson prior to the musical. She was an evangelist in the 1920s, founded a mega-church in Los Angeles, and was involved in some sort of scandal that involved a supposedly false kidnapping used to mask an affair.

The musical presents her story with, obviously, a bit of creative license, but is at the same time quite balanced. Do you believe in evangelist “healers?” Do you think Aimee was a true believer? Or just an incredible actress? Saving Aimee lets you take away what you want to take away.

The set design by Walt Spangler is glorious – two levels framed by wide, white staircases with the orchestra on top, just behind a podium. On the first level, the back of the set opens to provide different backdrops. The opening scene is captivating; bathed in a white light behind the podium, Aimee is literally in the center of the stage space. It’s impossible to tear your eyes away – which is perfect, because you’re in her crowd of devoted followers.

Also notable is the pacing: the entire performance, particularly the first act, flies by. This is largely due to how the story moves seamlessly from Aimee’s present to her past, with dramatic CLICKS and spotlights illuminating lawyers and witnesses on the sides of the stage to recount one of Aimee’s transgressions, then resuming to the scene in which said transgression may or may not be taking place.

And the cast. Judy Kaye is overbearingly wonderful as Aimee’s Bible-thumping mother; their chemistry is perfect as they go from being completely at odds to working toward the same goal and finding a sort of mutual understanding and support. Roz Ryan gives one of the funniest performances in the show as Emma Jo, a former-brothel-owner-turned-convert who becomes Aimee’s right hand woman (and steps in at the last minute to play Moses in one of her over-the-top sermons, to hilarious effect).

Then there’s the men in Aimee’s life – four in particular, which are played by only two. Ed Watts gives such a commanding performance as her first husband, Robert Semple, that like Aimee, you just feel his presence till the very end, despite him vanishing halfway through the first act. Watts also plays David Hutton, a later love interest and actor in Aimee’s sermons. David’s character could not be more different from Robert’s, but Watts makes them equally memorable.

Brandon O’Neill starts out as Mac McPherson, Aimee’s second husband and truly her most sympathetic victim; your heart will break for him. O’Neill also gives an excellent performance as Kenneth Ormiston, Aimee’s radio engineer and a married man with whom she was rumored to have an affair with during the time of her alleged kidnapping.

Two other men bear mentioning, and not just because they’re the only ones Aimee apparently wasn’t involved with romantically: Ed Dixon was dead-on (and hysterical) as Brother Bob, a pastor who loathed what he thought Aimee was doing to Christianity, and Charles Leggett’s performance as Asa Keyes, Aimee’s prosecutor, truly made the audience emphasize with his frustrations during the trial.

And then, like I said at the start, there’s Carolee Carmello. Here’s how she won me over from the very beginning: The play opens close to her trial as she warns her followers that they will be hearing things about her that are not true. In Stand Up!, the opening number, Carmello’s husky, powerful voice is every bit as mesmerizing as the most practiced evangelist.

Then, in a matter of seconds, she tugs off her cape, lets down her hair and becomes a 17 year old girl.

The change in her voice was so startling and so effortless that I actually wondered if somehow I’d missed an actress switch. But no, it’s Carmello – gone from passionate preaching about God to girlish giggling over Shakespeare in a matter of seconds. And her voice…I don’t know how, but young Aimee’s voice in Why Can’t I? and He Will Be My Home was high and clear as a bell, a completely different timbre than adult Aimee, but every bit as powerful.

Liar or healer? Sinner or saint? Regardless of what you decide, Saving Aimee is a story worth listening to.

Buy tickets at the 5th Avenue Theatre’s website.