Smash

Robyn Hurder and the company of Smash
Photo by Richard Termine

In the middle of Season Two of Smash, the character of Stefon appeared on Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update. When Seth Meyers greeted Stefon, saying, “Haven’t seen you much lately,” Stefon replied, “I know. This job writing for Smash is killing me!”

As the audience laughed, I thought, “This explains so much.”

NBC’s TV show, which chronicled the creation of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, had started out strong. Its pilot introduced a cast of compelling characters – a longtime songwriting team, a producer determined to prove herself, and two actresses competing for the role of Marilyn, each bringing distinctively different abilities to the role. But Smash quickly descended downhill, burdened by unnecessary subplots, lack of focus and mystifying musical performances that distracted from the plot.

The significant talent of the cast, which included Tony winner Christian Borle, Emmy winner Debra Messing, Oscar winner Angelica Huston and Broadway regulars like Megan Hilty and future Tony winner Leslie Odom Jr., were lost in the muddle. The one reliable aspect of the show was its songs. Composed by the Tony-winning team Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the numbers written for the Marilyn musical Bombshell were excellent.

Changes in Smash’s creative team led fans to hope for a more cohesive second season. That wish was not granted; instead, viewers found themselves introduced to new characters and a new musical, laden with toxic masculinity and manipulative, if not abusive, relationships. (I’m looking at you, Jimmy Collins and Michael Swift.)

Hate-watching became the norm, but devoted viewers and those who had abandoned the show mid-season alike wished for the musical about Marilyn to become an actuality. A 2015 concert fundraiser that sold out within one hour further stoked those fires.

Flash forward a decade and fans got their wish – sort of. The songs are on Broadway, but not in a musical about Marilyn Monroe. Smash in 2025 is a musical about a group of people putting on a musical about Marilyn Monroe. So the songs are there, but they are all sung diegetically – the actors onstage are singing in character of the characters they are playing in the Marilyn musical. Got it?

The team behind Smash seems to have embraced its somewhat confusing, very meta, existence,  given one of its taglines is, “Behind every hit musical…is a hot mess.” The musical itself is not a hot mess, although it might have fared better as one. It’s neither hot nor messy. It’s… fine.

Smash’s book is written by Bob Martin and Rick Elice, both authors of cleverly comic shows like The Drowsy Chaperone and Peter and the Starcatcher. Sadly, that humor is missing here, but the music is as good ever, arranged by Stephen Oremus and Shaiman and orchestrated by Doug Besterman.

We meet the star of the Marilyn musical, Ivy Lynn (the same name as a character on the TV show, but with little else in common), a seemingly cheerful, down-to-earth Broadway veteran eager to embrace the fun, sexy side of Marilyn for this show. The creative team, led by book and songwriting husband-and-wife Tracy (Krysta Rodriguez, excellent and compelling) and Jerry (John Behlmann, frenetically appealing) and director Nigel (Brooks Ashmanskas) and his assistant, Chloe (Bella Coppola), eschew the darker sides of Marilyn’s story, instead focusing on her status as a beloved star.

Understudying Ivy for the fourth time is Karen (Caroline Bowman), who seemingly shares a warm friendship with the star. It’s refreshing to see the professional complications propel the plot, rather than yet another story of women desperately competing for the spotlight.

Backstage at Bombshell is seemingly calm and happy – at least, as much as backstage of a Broadway show can be – so, of course, it can’t last. Chaos enters stage right in the form of Susan Proctor, an acting coach Ivy hires after reading a book about the Method acting technique Marilyn embraced while attending the Actors Studio in New York. Played by Kristine Nielsen clad in black drapery that resembles Igor’s costumes in Young Frankenstein, Susan encourages Ivy to embrace the method techniques, including answering only to “Marilyn” and self-medicating with pills and liquor. Other characteristics Marilyn was known for, including chronic lateness begin occurring, stirring tensions and chaos on set. This culminates with no Marilyn ready to perform in the invited dress rehearsal which includes rows of influencers, much to Nigel’s distress and disgust. (Fortunately, those are two characteristics the talented Ashmanskas excels at performing.) “All of this is because of you!” Nigel shouts at Tracy and Jerry. “You gave her a book!”

Of course, the show must go on, and it does, setting up the second-act conflict between three different possible Marilyns. The reality of social media’s influence on the Broadway industry is front and center, in projections of Tweets, TikToks and more. This glimpse into behind-the-scenes conversations about how casting decisions are made could be interesting for theater fanatics but comes across as cliched rather than insightful. Along with Nigel, Tracy and Jerry, the conversations the conversations include producer, Anita (Jacqueline B. Arnold) and, for some inexplicable reason, her nepo-assistant, Scott (Nicholas Matos).

The plausible part of the story is the struggle to choose between the three women thanks to the thrilling talent each of them possess. As Ivy, Hurder sings with a voice of gold while performing Joshua Bergasse’s choreography sensationally – there are prolonged moments of belting during which her feet don’t touch the ground. Bowman shines in different ways, which makes it difficult to believe she has understudied Ivy four times without earning a leading role of her own. She infuses Marilyn’s bright, bubbly songs with a shade of grit that is sung full-throttle during her second-act solo, “They Just Keep Moving the Line.” An anthem of frustration about the never-ending race for success in show business, the song is the only character-driven performance in the 2 ½ hour show, and Bowman nails it. Her pacing is impeccable as her frustration builds, and it’s impossible to not sympathize with her.

Rounding out the trio of potential Marilyns is Chloe, the assistant director who is a skilled performer but says she doesn’t “have a Broadway body.” Coppola, for whom Smash is just her second Broadway show, gives a compelling performance, and her Act One-closing number, “Let Me Be Your Star” is thrilling. It truly is a star-making performance.

Those moments are few and far between, as the show lags in Act Two before it rushes to a predictable conclusion, neglecting to flesh out vital characterization. Regardless of Hurder’s heartfelt performance, Ivy’s redemption feels both unearned and unrealistic, as does the development of her and Karen’s relationship. After skimming the surface of the darker sides of the theater industry – I, for one, did not find Julie force-feeding Ivy barbiturates or Jerry’s descent into alcoholism at all amusing – the show’s conclusion feels too neat and tidy. It is still a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable love letter to theater, but Shamain and Wittman’s songs still deserve better. Maybe Bombshell will open on Broadway in another ten years.