Wait, What Is the Broadway Smash Adaptation Even About?
Smash is heading to Broadway, but it is looking less and less Smash-like — more like another story that’s been mashed into the shape of a Smash. What do we mean? Well, if Smash silliness be the food of love, read on, and see the latest updates on this woebegone property.
Smash smashes in
March 22, 2023: It’s been over a decade since Smash first made its way onto a post-Glee television landscape, which means the time is nigh to bring out your ugliest scarves and hide your peanuts from any enterprising assistants. Smash is back, baby! As a musical! That’s right, Bombshell, the musical that Smash is about making, is not being adapted; Smash, the show with one of the best pilots ever (followed by one of the worst “everything else” ever), itself is being turned into a musical intended for the 2024–25 Broadway season. “Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage,” said Ellis fan Steven Spielberg, who produced the original NBC show and is also a producer on the upcoming adaptation.
The show will be directed by Susan Stroman, with a book by Rick Elice and Bob Martin and a score by the original Smash-ites Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. Shaiman and Wittman also notably wrote the score for the Some Like It Hot adaptation currently playing on the Great White Way, which includes the number “Let’s Be Bad,” which originated on Smash. So, given that the press release says that “many of [the original Smash songs] will be used in the musical,” there’s a pretty high chance that there will be two “Let’s Be Bad”s on Broadway at the same time. What other shows could we slot it into? Could Scar sing it in The Lion King? How about Bonnie Milligan in Kimberly Akimbo? Maybe let Jessica Chastain sing it as she spins around in her chair in A Doll’s House.
Smash … changes
October 22, 2024: Over a year and a half (and several buzzy industry readings that caused much confused whispering) after the Smash Broadway musical was originally trumpeted, we have received news. And it’s confusing. The casting for the show was sent out on October 22, and most of the character names are not names that existed in the show they are purportedly adapting this musical from. While Robyn Hurder will play “Ivy,” a recognizable name, the other characters are almost all new. Brooks Ashmanskas (The Prom) is playing “Nigel,” John Behlmann (Shucked) is “Jerry,” Kristine Nielsen (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) is “Susan,” and Krysta Rodriguez, who played a character named Ana in the second season of the original Smash and sang “Reach for Me” (a banger) while high in the sky, is now “Tracy.” There is a “Karen,” played by Caroline Bowman (Sunset Boulevard), but she’s listed far down the cast list (which is not alphabetical), which makes it seem like she’s altogether not that important. Other cast members include Jacqueline B. Arnold as “Anita,” Bella Coppola as “Chloe,” and Casey Garvin as “Charlie.”
Okay, so the casting is confusing. What about the rest of this? Well, the creative team is staying the same, which is more than you can say for the first-to-second-season changes of the original Smash. The show will begin previews at the Imperial Theatre on March 11 and officially open April 10. What the show will be like? Your guess is as good as ours.
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