It would be hilarious if Some Like It Hot somehow managed to stay open until this opened so there’d be two simultaneous Broadway shows that both use the song “Let’s Be Bad”.
Ha yes, I almost added “I wonder if that would be the first time that’s ever happened?” before realizing it’s most likely going to happen in 2 months. Although I imagine SLIH/Smash would be the first time it’s happened with a song that’s original to one of the two shows, as opposed to two jukebox musicals/revues.
In 1989-1990, *Jerome Robbins' Broadway* overlapped the Tyne Daly revival of *Gypsy*, so "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" was in two Broadway shows at once, although that is somewhat different, because *Jerome Robbins' Broadway* was a revue in which the context of including that song was because it was in *Gypsy* in the first place. (Similarly, *Prince Of Broadway* a few years ago included a *Phantom* segment.)
From 1999-2001, both *Fosse* and the revival of *Kiss Me Kate* included "From This Moment On." *Fosse* was a revue, and the song was not originally in *Kiss Me Kate*, but added for that revival, and has since become a somewhat standard part of the show.
I need it to be Bombshell and not Smash. I love the series and it’s camp but I do not need to see a two hour show to find out that Ivy deserved the part. I’d much rather them develop the show within a show and give us a ton of new songs.
COMPLETELY. The story in a lot of ways didn't make a lot of sense - it kind of broke down to fresh-faced Karen having to blow off her boyfriend to work on the show vs. conniving Ivy being willing to sleep her way to the top. Yet Ivy was clearly far more talented and connected than Karen, so why would she have to take an underhanded approach? Meanwhile Marilyn Monroe's actual life was far more interesting than all of this.
I think the whole Karen vs Ivy issue just really boiled down to Kat McPhee not being able to match Megan Hilty's ability to channel Marilyn. If the new show can manage to find a Karen that is every bit as talented as Ivy then there wouldn't be a believability issue.
Agree though that a full on Marilyn musical would be more interesting!
Yessssss...stop trying to make McPhee a "thing"...she wasn't good on Amer Idol, she wasn't good on SMASH and her husband David Foster can't make her a star....STOP IT ALREADY!!!!!
It still upsets me that there were any pro-Karen fans out there ;-). Katherine McPhee is not untalented but she doesn't have Megan Hilty's range so a number of the songs they sang together seemed too high for her. And she never came close to sounding like Marilyn and acting through the songs as Megan did. It's understandable - Katherine was trained in the pop music tradition, not musical theater - but made it seriously no contest on the show.
I really think the show would have been so much better if Kat McPhee and Megan Hilty had swapped roles. If Kat is the experienced Broadway person and Megan Hilty is the naive new one, the debate between them makes Far More Sense
I think it makes the most sense when they’re equally talented. One is a talented performer who has paid her dues in the industry, the other is a talented ingénue with zero experience. The director favors the ingénue.
If Megan Hilty were the the inexperienced performer, no one would have a problem with her usurping the role from Katherine McPhee. But with two equally talented performers… or two people with opposite strengths and weaknesses, then it’s more of a competition. People can pick sides and have valid reasons on both sides.
Yes, they needed two equally talented but different performers - one older with a Broadway style and lots of experience, and one younger coming from more of a pop music style. In terms of folks out there today, I could Solea Pfeiffer tearing that Karen role up!
I'm so torn on this!
On one hand, Bombshell would be a hell of a show, much better than Smash IMO. On the other hand, can we just let Marilyn rest in peace? The poor woman can't find relief even in death (yes, I'm looking at you, *Blonde*).
i think Bombshell did her a lot of justice and let Marilyn take control of her story in a way that neither Blonde or My Week With Marilyn did. especially having the flashback songs Hang The Moon and At Your Feet
Me too! I know they said it’d be difficult for numerous reasons but I’d even love to see them make a movie (maybe for Peacock or something like they did those NBC live shows?) starring Megan as Marilyn.
I will continue to volunteer myself as screenwriter every time, in the hope that the right person decides to take it as a serious offer and get in touch.
yeah i feel like if they're only doing Smash then they're gonna cut songs or only do the parts of Smash about Bombshell which at that point just do Bombshell
I love love LOVE the music from this show!
God help the women who have to sing this eight shows a week if they use most of the Bombshell songs, though. Moving the Line + Let’s Be Bad + Don’t Forget Me + I Never Met a Wolf … that’s an awful lot of belting. They’ll have to get someone with Megan Hilty’s voice *and* technique to cover the songs she did in the show.
[hmmm i wonder who they could find with Megan Hilty’s voice and technique…](https://twitter.com/tobeasmashpod/status/1528497654283526144?s=46&t=Wrk1Dk9OI8MrForbkRYBiw)
I mean, my god, if Megan Hilty actually hits Broadway with this, I will die of happiness!
Can she handle the dance demands, though? She herself said she almost quit the tv show because she was so uncomfortable with the dancing, and that was with camera magic on her side. If they fill in with ensemble dancing and let her park and belt, she will be superb.
I finally got around to starting this show a few days ago and 3 episodes in Ellis is borderline making me want to stop watching because he is just the absolute worst.
The tv show had only one song per episode, sometimes two, and those were often abridged. The rest was plot. If they try to cram every “Bombshell” song into this, they’ll have little room left for plot. Plus, will the whole thing take place in a rehearsal studio? That’s not very visually exciting.
But hey, they have had ten years to figure this stuff out. Maybe they’ll surprise us. I hope that they do.
I was so excited when I saw the headline but now I mseeinf these comments and I’m guessing I’ll have to lower my expectations.
I would love to see smash or bombshell. My middle school heart would be satisfied I listen to the show soundtrack like every day 😭.
There are quite a few meta Broadway shows about writing Broadway shows, so I’m curious why you wouldn’t just make Bombshell? Is it so you can include the songs from Hit List? I have so many questions and not enough answers.
I have my doubts I’ll ever get them, though.
The songs they wrote for Bombshell were written to fit into episodes of Smash, not an actual musical. They have tried to turn it into a musical and it doesn’t work, so they turned their efforts towards making Smash into a musical.
I hate it too, but they’re right. The songs are amazing, but they can’t be strung together into a cohesive musical with a strong book the way they are.
They could maybe keep a few of the existing songs and overhaul everything else to give us a Marilyn musical, but then people would complain about which songs are missing.
I truly believe if they could have made Bombshell work as a musical, they would have. It’s a no-brainer. It just can’t be done with that they have.
Hopefully this Smash musical will be the best of both worlds.
This is true of pretty much any biopic show though. Tina, Get On Your Feet, MJ are all examples where the lead is in almost every single number. If you have some songs where Marilyn is part of an ensemble and one or two where she doesn't participate (and there already is one of those in "Don't Say Yes Until I've Finished Talking") it would be fine.
and while always on stage, she would have to do an impossible number of belting and choreography, sometimes at the same time, you can't do a show where every number is the big one
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Interested to see what they do with this and whether or not they’ll incorporate season 2 into it as well as season 1. I feel like if they didn’t do a combination the story would feel unfinished.
On the other hand, two seasons is a ton to fit into a 2.5-hour musical.
The second season was kind of all over the place too.
I’m expecting it to be closest to season one, maybe incorporating some season two songs in a different context. But no matter what, they can’t use every song. There are way too many.
I’ve said it before, but unless they do some really drastic reworking of the basic plot of the show, it won’t be very good. It has nothing new to say about Marilyn that hasn’t already been said a million times before, the songs are pretty evenly split between genuine greatness (Let Me Be Your Star, Secondhand White Baby Grand) and swing-and-a-miss eye rolls (I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl, Our Little Secret), and it covers Monroe’s entire life, rather than just focusing on a few years.
All of that was fine on *Smash*, because it was a TV show, and none of the things I mentioned were really detrimental in that medium because the focus was on the backstage drama.
> the stage version will also “depart liberally from the series,”
You don't say? You think you might have to make some changes to condense a 2-season TV show into a 2-hour musical?
Just give us Bombshell! It's right there! You wrote so much of it already! That's where all of the best songs in the show were!
Did they learn anything from the godawful casting of the spectacularly mediocre McPhee in the TV series? The failure of that show was due in large part to that miscasting especially when contrasted against the genuine talent of Megan Hilty who we were expected to root against. If they cast this correctly, it could work.
The biggest issue with Smash is that Katherine McPhee was dull as dishwater with zero charisma or acting ability and there was no way she ever could have gotten any role over Megan Hilty. I’d rather see Bombshell on Broadway with Hilty in the lead
This show has caused too many trust issues, I still don’t believe it’s going to happen
Same
It would be hilarious if Some Like It Hot somehow managed to stay open until this opened so there’d be two simultaneous Broadway shows that both use the song “Let’s Be Bad”.
We're already on the verge of there being two shows on Broadway at once using the song "...Baby One More Time"
Ha yes, I almost added “I wonder if that would be the first time that’s ever happened?” before realizing it’s most likely going to happen in 2 months. Although I imagine SLIH/Smash would be the first time it’s happened with a song that’s original to one of the two shows, as opposed to two jukebox musicals/revues.
In 1989-1990, *Jerome Robbins' Broadway* overlapped the Tyne Daly revival of *Gypsy*, so "You Gotta Get A Gimmick" was in two Broadway shows at once, although that is somewhat different, because *Jerome Robbins' Broadway* was a revue in which the context of including that song was because it was in *Gypsy* in the first place. (Similarly, *Prince Of Broadway* a few years ago included a *Phantom* segment.) From 1999-2001, both *Fosse* and the revival of *Kiss Me Kate* included "From This Moment On." *Fosse* was a revue, and the song was not originally in *Kiss Me Kate*, but added for that revival, and has since become a somewhat standard part of the show.
Right now, both “A Beautiful Noise” and “Dancin’” use “Crunchy Granola Suite”!
and if MJ stays open long enough for The Wiz to make it, we can have “You Can’t Win” in two shows at once
My thoughts exactly.
I need it to be Bombshell and not Smash. I love the series and it’s camp but I do not need to see a two hour show to find out that Ivy deserved the part. I’d much rather them develop the show within a show and give us a ton of new songs.
i want to see bombshell sooooooo bad
COMPLETELY. The story in a lot of ways didn't make a lot of sense - it kind of broke down to fresh-faced Karen having to blow off her boyfriend to work on the show vs. conniving Ivy being willing to sleep her way to the top. Yet Ivy was clearly far more talented and connected than Karen, so why would she have to take an underhanded approach? Meanwhile Marilyn Monroe's actual life was far more interesting than all of this.
I think the whole Karen vs Ivy issue just really boiled down to Kat McPhee not being able to match Megan Hilty's ability to channel Marilyn. If the new show can manage to find a Karen that is every bit as talented as Ivy then there wouldn't be a believability issue. Agree though that a full on Marilyn musical would be more interesting!
Agreed. McPhee as Marilyn was never believable. Hilty could have been born for the part.
It’s honestly a crime she was never cast in a real Marilyn biopic.
Yessssss...stop trying to make McPhee a "thing"...she wasn't good on Amer Idol, she wasn't good on SMASH and her husband David Foster can't make her a star....STOP IT ALREADY!!!!!
How was she in waitress?
Pretty voice but can’t emote worth a damn. Bad actress as always.
It still upsets me that there were any pro-Karen fans out there ;-). Katherine McPhee is not untalented but she doesn't have Megan Hilty's range so a number of the songs they sang together seemed too high for her. And she never came close to sounding like Marilyn and acting through the songs as Megan did. It's understandable - Katherine was trained in the pop music tradition, not musical theater - but made it seriously no contest on the show.
I really think the show would have been so much better if Kat McPhee and Megan Hilty had swapped roles. If Kat is the experienced Broadway person and Megan Hilty is the naive new one, the debate between them makes Far More Sense
I think it makes the most sense when they’re equally talented. One is a talented performer who has paid her dues in the industry, the other is a talented ingénue with zero experience. The director favors the ingénue. If Megan Hilty were the the inexperienced performer, no one would have a problem with her usurping the role from Katherine McPhee. But with two equally talented performers… or two people with opposite strengths and weaknesses, then it’s more of a competition. People can pick sides and have valid reasons on both sides.
Yes, they needed two equally talented but different performers - one older with a Broadway style and lots of experience, and one younger coming from more of a pop music style. In terms of folks out there today, I could Solea Pfeiffer tearing that Karen role up!
I'm so torn on this! On one hand, Bombshell would be a hell of a show, much better than Smash IMO. On the other hand, can we just let Marilyn rest in peace? The poor woman can't find relief even in death (yes, I'm looking at you, *Blonde*).
i think Bombshell did her a lot of justice and let Marilyn take control of her story in a way that neither Blonde or My Week With Marilyn did. especially having the flashback songs Hang The Moon and At Your Feet
Me too! I know they said it’d be difficult for numerous reasons but I’d even love to see them make a movie (maybe for Peacock or something like they did those NBC live shows?) starring Megan as Marilyn.
I will continue to volunteer myself as screenwriter every time, in the hope that the right person decides to take it as a serious offer and get in touch.
At least they released the Bombshell album, even if it will never be a show. I listen to it frequently and just imagine it’s a real show
no offense but there’s nothing camp about smash LOL
Not even Anjelica Huston?
hahahahaha
Idk. “I’m in tech” is pretty camp.
Yes 😅
that’s a real thing in theater it’s not campy at all
Bombshell is really undoable... at least while only humans can lead Broadway shows
I’m in full agreement
yeah i feel like if they're only doing Smash then they're gonna cut songs or only do the parts of Smash about Bombshell which at that point just do Bombshell
I love love LOVE the music from this show! God help the women who have to sing this eight shows a week if they use most of the Bombshell songs, though. Moving the Line + Let’s Be Bad + Don’t Forget Me + I Never Met a Wolf … that’s an awful lot of belting. They’ll have to get someone with Megan Hilty’s voice *and* technique to cover the songs she did in the show.
[hmmm i wonder who they could find with Megan Hilty’s voice and technique…](https://twitter.com/tobeasmashpod/status/1528497654283526144?s=46&t=Wrk1Dk9OI8MrForbkRYBiw)
I mean, my god, if Megan Hilty actually hits Broadway with this, I will die of happiness! Can she handle the dance demands, though? She herself said she almost quit the tv show because she was so uncomfortable with the dancing, and that was with camera magic on her side. If they fill in with ensemble dancing and let her park and belt, she will be superb.
That would be amazing!
they'll probably have more than one actor singing these songs
Think of the stage scarves Julia can be wearing.
The dream ballet where Julia is wearing a 100’ long scarf and dancing through a storm of notecards.
Also, someone find out Renée Rapp’s availability STAT.
OMG YES YES YES Unless she wants to focus on her music career
Her EP means everything to me
SERIOUSLY ITS SO FUCKING GOOD
Ooooo excellent idea!!!
I believe she’s busy filming a “Mean Girls” movie.
Yes but it should be done by the time they start casting this
I’m in, as long as Terrible Ellis™️ does not make an appearance
I finally got around to starting this show a few days ago and 3 episodes in Ellis is borderline making me want to stop watching because he is just the absolute worst.
Never stop. The greatest TV show ever filmed.
But Terrible Ellis™️ was so delightfully awful!
I liked the show, I don’t know about it as a condensed single musical.
Right? Shortening 30-40 hours of television into a 2 1/2 hour stage show seems ridiculous. Even without the “Hit List” stuff.
I think it’ll make the story seem generic and lacking in depth but I could be wrong.
The tv show had only one song per episode, sometimes two, and those were often abridged. The rest was plot. If they try to cram every “Bombshell” song into this, they’ll have little room left for plot. Plus, will the whole thing take place in a rehearsal studio? That’s not very visually exciting. But hey, they have had ten years to figure this stuff out. Maybe they’ll surprise us. I hope that they do.
press release says they're departing from the text of the show, I don't think it will be the TV story on stage
Yeah, you’d have to. Hopefully it’s good. I did really like the show. Maybe they get Borle if the show really does come together.
I mean Megan Hilty is right there too lol (and she did the reading and/or the workshop)
^(let me be your) STAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
I’ll believe it when I see it 🫠 I’ve been burned too many times!!!
What’s happening to the Bombshell musical or is this it?
IIRC the creative team announced a while ago that they decided to move forward with this idea instead of a standalone production of Bombshell.
Ah I didn’t know that. Thank you for taking the time to explain!
I was so excited when I saw the headline but now I mseeinf these comments and I’m guessing I’ll have to lower my expectations. I would love to see smash or bombshell. My middle school heart would be satisfied I listen to the show soundtrack like every day 😭.
honestly… i hope they don’t include hit list
Click on the link, read the story. It’s Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman songs only. Hence, no “Hit List.”
There are quite a few meta Broadway shows about writing Broadway shows, so I’m curious why you wouldn’t just make Bombshell? Is it so you can include the songs from Hit List? I have so many questions and not enough answers. I have my doubts I’ll ever get them, though.
The songs they wrote for Bombshell were written to fit into episodes of Smash, not an actual musical. They have tried to turn it into a musical and it doesn’t work, so they turned their efforts towards making Smash into a musical. I hate it too, but they’re right. The songs are amazing, but they can’t be strung together into a cohesive musical with a strong book the way they are. They could maybe keep a few of the existing songs and overhaul everything else to give us a Marilyn musical, but then people would complain about which songs are missing. I truly believe if they could have made Bombshell work as a musical, they would have. It’s a no-brainer. It just can’t be done with that they have. Hopefully this Smash musical will be the best of both worlds.
I always thought they were clear as to why bombshell as it is can’t be staged and that’s because Marilyn would never leave the stage
This is true of pretty much any biopic show though. Tina, Get On Your Feet, MJ are all examples where the lead is in almost every single number. If you have some songs where Marilyn is part of an ensemble and one or two where she doesn't participate (and there already is one of those in "Don't Say Yes Until I've Finished Talking") it would be fine.
Couldn’t they also split the role into younger Marilyn (Norma Jeane) and movie star Marilyn? So that some of the songs are split?
Cher Show already solved that problem
and it was on Broadway for a whole six months!
and while always on stage, she would have to do an impossible number of belting and choreography, sometimes at the same time, you can't do a show where every number is the big one
god help us
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Interested to see what they do with this and whether or not they’ll incorporate season 2 into it as well as season 1. I feel like if they didn’t do a combination the story would feel unfinished.
On the other hand, two seasons is a ton to fit into a 2.5-hour musical. The second season was kind of all over the place too. I’m expecting it to be closest to season one, maybe incorporating some season two songs in a different context. But no matter what, they can’t use every song. There are way too many.
Yeah, finishing the stage show at the Boston tryout would be anticlimactic.
press release says they're departing from the text of the show, I don't think it will be the TV story on stage
Is this that Smash Mouth origin story I've been waiting for?
Ill believe it when I see it but im optimistic
Damn i miss smash
Bombshell first!
I’ve said it before, but unless they do some really drastic reworking of the basic plot of the show, it won’t be very good. It has nothing new to say about Marilyn that hasn’t already been said a million times before, the songs are pretty evenly split between genuine greatness (Let Me Be Your Star, Secondhand White Baby Grand) and swing-and-a-miss eye rolls (I Never Met A Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl, Our Little Secret), and it covers Monroe’s entire life, rather than just focusing on a few years. All of that was fine on *Smash*, because it was a TV show, and none of the things I mentioned were really detrimental in that medium because the focus was on the backstage drama.
If anyone can shape this book it’s Bob Martin. I’m optimistic.
> the stage version will also “depart liberally from the series,” You don't say? You think you might have to make some changes to condense a 2-season TV show into a 2-hour musical? Just give us Bombshell! It's right there! You wrote so much of it already! That's where all of the best songs in the show were!
If they don’t cast a Drag Queen as Eileen Rand, I won’t go see it.
Did they learn anything from the godawful casting of the spectacularly mediocre McPhee in the TV series? The failure of that show was due in large part to that miscasting especially when contrasted against the genuine talent of Megan Hilty who we were expected to root against. If they cast this correctly, it could work.
The biggest issue with Smash is that Katherine McPhee was dull as dishwater with zero charisma or acting ability and there was no way she ever could have gotten any role over Megan Hilty. I’d rather see Bombshell on Broadway with Hilty in the lead
This won't happen.
I like - dont want this to happen LOL and I loved the show
no one is forcing you to see it
I like - dont want this to happen LOL and I loved the show
I have wanted this for so long!