The Broadway Theatre Review: Smash
By Ross
As the sparkly Smash sign rotates like a Hollywood Bombshell set-up, the new shining, sparkling musical, with a delectable score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray; Some Like It Hot) and a less tasty book by the wonderfully talented Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone; Elf – The Musical), dives in with a flourish, showcasing it’s gorgeous Gentleman Prefer Blonde star Robyn Hurder (Broadway’s Moulin Rouge!). She’s giving it all, exactly what we want and expect from her, while nodding most diligently to all those great Marilyn Monroe moments that made the woman an iconic legend. “Let Me Be Your Star,” she sings, most convincingly and powerfully, giving us all the whispery edges of Monroe, while also singing strong, kicking high, and dancing up a storm, thanks to the ferociously invigorating classic work by choreographer Joshua Bergasse (off-Broadway’s Sweet Charity). It’s a defining moment, raising our hopes and dreams that this show was going to transfer strong from the small screen to the big Broadway stage.
I had watched all of the two-season run on NBC many years ago, loving it and all those spectacular Broadway moments (and star guests that appeared), but was never really convinced they would find a way to transfer that formula successfully to the stage. It seems like a slam, smash dunk of an idea, in a way, but when you really parcel it out, one has to wonder if it could really work, and from what particular standpoint. That wasn’t clear, and walking into Broadway’s Imperial Theatre, I had definitely heard the gossip that, although all the characters were still a part of Smash The Musical, the storyline was not connected to the TV plot other than the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. It was with a little relief that the rumors also swirling was that it was a bit more like “All About Eve“, rather than trying to connect into the plot of the television series, which, to be honest, made a lot of sense.
Alas, the rumor was only slightly true, as there was an understudy, played solidly well by Caroline Bowman (Elsa in the national tour of Frozen) who looked in every way the McPhee counterpart to Hilty’s Ivy on TV, but the dramatic edge, as directed with confident hand by Susan Stroman (Broadway’s POTUS), that existed in that classic Davis film wasn’t really all that present. But, to be honest, I only wish it had a bit more of that bumpy ride and dirty martini bite. That would have been a straight, sharp edge to stride on, rather than the multi-pronged meandering that Smash has become.
With Robyn Hurder in the role of Ivy Lynn, playing the lead in a musical about the iconic Monroe, we knew the center spot was going to be lit up from within, as Hurder is one of those brilliant actors just waiting for the right part to send her flying up the starry ladder of success. Unfortunately for this powerhouse star, Smash The Musical doesn’t give her the right full-blown formula to make Smash a smash. Hurder, dressed to Monroe perfection by costume designer Alejo Vietti (Broadway’s Allegiance) and lit sparkly by Ken Billington (Broadway’s New York, New York), has so many moments of pure electric fabulousness, playing a star actress playing an icon. She has it all, really she does, singing the Bombshell songs with a vigor and power that is intoxicating, and definitely nailing the depth-building “Second Hand White Baby Grand” song, dug up by one half of the Bombshell writing team, Tracy, played and sung beautifully by Krysta Rodriguez (MCC’s Seared). This add-on comes as a surprise to all, much to the annoyance of her writing partner/husband, the annoying Jerry, played solidly by John Behlmann (Broadway’s Tootsie), a man who everyone seems to end up not liking, including me. Not Behlmann’s fault, in the slightest. He, like so many of the characters created for this musical, has personality traits that aren’t believable, likable, or plausible, and they all seem to be over-drawn, like Jessica Rabbit. Just drawn that bad kinda way, and how could they do much about altering that?
Just ask Brooks Ashmanskas (Broadway’s The Prom), who plays Bombshell’s overdone director, who never misses the opportunity to throw a lame, poorly written joke out, about himself and the show around him. He becomes as tiring as many of the cartoon characters created to drive this wildly complicated, over-crafted story to its meta-ending; an ending that is almost more satisfying than most of the actual unbelievable show. Don’t get me wrong. The cast are all pros, working as hard as can be to sell this Bombshell, but when one has to work that hard to make a sale, the product must be examined more thoroughly. Some of the musical numbers, delivered strong by music supervisor Stephen Oremus (Broadway’s Wicked) and carried forth by sound designer Brian Ronan (Broadway’s The Great Gatsby), have so much fire and power inside them, delivered and danced by the talented crew of performers amassed on that wide stage, that its hard to fathom that the structure that is deposited into our laps is so flawed and overly complicated.
For one, the show starts out strong, flying forward like an overly produced Marilyn dream. And then the set pieces, designed carefully by Beowulf Boritt (Broadway’s Come From Away), roll on and off in quick succession like we are watching the rapid-fire editing of a television show. It’s all too much, sometimes even cutting off a song and dance number that we were enjoying to go to a talkative scene, which, although the scene feels somewhat required (and sometimes not), the overwhelming speed of transitions starts to diminish and distract from the momentum that was being built. There’s little payoff in this backstage rolling forward. We are really there to watch a musical being built before our eyes, and it has so many opportunities in that first half of the first act, with a star that radiates energy and love. And then, a book is passed from a writer’s hand to an actor’s, and although we love the idea, much more than Brooks’ Nigel does, the way it is dealt with and played out destroys all the positivity it worked so hard to build.
Then the crypt-keeper coach, played by one of my favorite actors, Kristine Nielsen (Broadway’s Gary), enters the space, and Smash The Musical starts to hit itself over the head with a cartoon rubber bat, over and over again, as the parallels between Lynn and Monroe becomes heavy-handed and completely unbelievable. They are trying to play with a Monroe framing that is fascinating, albeit somewhat diminishing and dulling down the real woman into something of a farcical pill-popping cutout, but Nielsen’s Susan Proctor should have remained an idea, something inside Ivy’s mind, rather than an interrupting force that constantly upends everything. Nielsen has always brought such a unique perspective to her line readings and characterisations, and this quality is part of her power, but this use of her within this musical is harmful, both to her and the show. It clobbers the musical momentum over its comical head, and sadly, it was never really needed in the first place.
The writers also overcomplicated that framing, and the understudy idea by giving us yet another star to engage with, stealing away the Act One final song from Smash‘s impressive leading lady. Bella Coppola (Broadway’s Six) as Nigel’s energetic assistant director, Chloe, is utterly and profoundly impressive with her rendition of “Let Me Be Your Star,” but with the cupcake fiasco unfolding backstage, a messy, unneeded alteration is added in that makes this martini both dirty and twisted, when it should have remained just one or the other. Now we have a third, and that triangle just saps all the emotional energy out of the room, along with the unbelievable twist in Ivy’s whole personality shift. Those pills must have been ultra powerful to cause a character to become such a different person than the one we enjoyed during the first few moments of this new musical. And I never was able to get on board with it.
Hurder is truly underserved in this production. This should have been her star-making moment. Television’s “Smash” star, Megan Hilty, is getting hers just up the street in Death Becomes Her, But Hurder, who was also underserved in the Neil Diamond musical, A Beautiful Noise, is working overtime, struggling hard to portray a character whose emotional shifts and personality alterations must be performed method-perfect for us to even hold onto any aspect of this teetering musical. The producer, played solidly by Jacqueline B. Arnold (Broadway’s Moulin Rouge!), her chatty, know-nothing assistant Scott, portrayed adorably by Nicholas Matos (Radio City Christmas Spectacular), the writing team (Rodriguez and Behlmann), and the harried director all keep trying to make this attempt for a musical comedy not a tragedy with “Marilyn lying in her bed naked and dead wrapped in a white satin sheet!” but Bombshell was never going to be the feel-good version they keep going on about, nor is Smash. It falters more than it shines, singing “Let’s Be Bad” while trying so hard to be good. I feel for these souls, as no one on that stage is to blame, and like in the making of Bombshell, the one who needs to be fired should never have even entered the pages of Smash The Musical. Awkward.
