The television show Smash ran for two seasons from 2013 until 2014. It told the story of aspiring writers, singers and producers trying to create a Broadway hit.
Now the story itself has become a Broadway show in its own right. The show has its first performances in New York on Tuesday night, and officially opens on 10th April.
The show features many of the memorable songs from the television series and a new story that works for the medium of theatre instead of television.
The television show told of Broadway writing team Julia Houston (Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) who have created a new musical called Bombshell that tells the life story of Marilyn Monroe in musical form. They work with top director Derek Wills (Jack Davenport) and producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Houston) to bring their vision to life.
Actors Karen Cartwright (Karen McPhee) and Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) who are both vying for the lead role. The cast also included Raza Jaffrey, Jaime Cepero, Jeremy Jordan, Lesie Odom Jr, Andy Mientus and Uma Thurman and Jennifer Hudson also both appeared in a few episodes.
The show built up a cult following and when it aired there was speculation that Bombshell, the fictional musical within the story might actually become an actual Broadway musical.
Now 10 years down the track, Smash has been adapted for the stage.
In the new story simplified for the stage Karen and Ivy are not rivals as much, but lead and understudy for the part of Marilyn.
Robyn Hurder takes on the role of Ivy, while Caroline Bowman will play Karen. The rest of the characters in the show appear to have been renamed and changed. The cast includes Brooks Ashmanskas as Nigel, John Behlmann as Jerry, Kristine Nielsen as Susan, Bella Coppola and Chloe, Jaqueline B Arnold as Anita, Casey Garvin as Charlie and Nicholas Matmos as Scott.
Krysta Rodriguez who played Ana Vargas on the show’s second season is also a cast member playing a new character called Tracey.
The new story was written by Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and the score is by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who wrote the tunes for the TV series.
Interestingly the pair have also written the musical version of Some Like It Hot which is currently playing on Broadway and for that show they borrowed on of the songs from Smash. So musical theatre fans are waiting to see if the tune Let’s Be Bad, will be in two musicals at the same time.
The show is playing at The Imperial Theatre on West 45th Street. Over the decades it’s been a home to Oliver, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret, Dreamgirls, Chess, Les Misérables, The Boys from Oz, Billy Elliot, Carousel, Gypsy, Annie Get Your Gun and many other successful musicals.
