Don’t worry, Smash Fans – There are scarves. And a very boring personal assistant. A head woman is actually poisoned. And yes, a variety of Marilyn Monroes stop the power ballad of the series of the series, “let me be your star.”
SmashThe Broadway musical based on the short -term drama of NBC, presents many Easter eggs for those of us who loved (or looked by hatred) the 32 episodes of this sadly famous program. But theatrical production – written by Bob Martin and Rick Elice and featuring Marc Shaiman’s music and Scott Wittman from the television series – goes beyond the Winky homage. With its transition to the stage, Smash Finally achieves its full potential as a hilarious and sharp satire that skewers and celebrate the great white way.
Although it is easy to enjoy Smash Without having seen the television show, the public preview of the Imperial Theater in New York was filled with fans of the NBC series. A joy broke out when the pink curtain and the sparkling sign – featuring the familiar title BOMBSHELL: The story of Marilyn Monroe – appeared on the stage. Smash Open on a complete production number of this Broadway-show with-Broadway-show, like Ivy Lynn (Robyn Hardder, taking over from Megan Hilty in the television series), resplendent like Marilyn in her familiar white silk dress, Croons the lyrics Les Fans know it so well: “Fade in A Girl / With a hunt for pregnancy …”
Matthew Murphy
As soon as Ivy finished dropping the house with “Let me be your star”, the decor goes to a rehearsal studio, where it and the Bomb The team – Director / Choreographer Nigel (Brooks Ashmanskas), Associate Director Chloé (Bella Coppola), Parolier Tracy (Krysta Rodriguez) and the composer husband of Tracy, Jerry (John Behlmann) – put the final touch at the opening. Although their first glimpses are only a month old, creatives cannot stop refining.
Nigel and its main hard producer, Anita Kuperman (Jacqueline B. Arnold) want Bomb To avoid “Marilyn Monroe’s bio thing that is crying”, while Tracy fears that the comic tone of the show of the show is off. “Is the” feeling of well-being “right for Marilyn Monroe?” ” She worries. When the writers present Ivy at the work of the acting coach Susan Proctor (Kristine Nielsen) – a barely veiled version of the mentor of the real method of Monroe, Paula Strasberg – he triggers a chain reaction which threatens to destroy Bomb Before he reaches the opening evening.
SmashThe first act is on front with musical numbers, like Ivy and his sub-study, Karen (Caroline Bowman, now playing the television part of Katharine McPhee), crosses a series of songs that fans will recognize from the television series, including “National Pastime”, “Second hand White Baby Grand” and “The 20th Century Fox Mambo”. Unlike the NBC, Ivy and Karen series are not in competition for the role of Marilyn; Here, Ivy Lynn is already a Broadway established star, and Karen is his good friend and a frequent sub-study. The question of who will win the main role later surfaces in an unexpected way, but that does not stimulate history.
Matthew Murphy
In the absence of this conflict, Smash Play more like a review to two -thirds of the path through the first act, when the transformation of Ivy into the famous Marilyn is a little too successful. From that moment, Smash wins his slogan – “A comedy on a musical” – like Nigel and The Panick Bomb The team rushes to keep the drama behind the scenes behind the curtain and far from the influencers of Broadway, including a Swedish youtuber named Kewpiedoll (Jeff Hiller), who followed the development of the show. “You invited a hundred and twelve vindictive to my general rehearsal? Nigel Bellows in Scott (Nicholas Matos), a comic assistant without any idea of Anita.
Ashmanskas is rotary as Nigel, and twice nominated in Tony adds wonderful physicity to his representation of the frantic director. Rodriguez, the only member of the whole who appeared on NBC Smash (She played Karen Ana’s roommate in season 2), brings a dry spirit – and a series of declaration scarves – in Tracy.
Bowman’s powerful voice and the endearing sweetness reinforce Karen’s somewhat subscribed role, while Huster and his breathtaking pipes make Ivy a divalic delight. The design of the elegant scene of Beowolf Boritt and S. Katy Tucker mixes practical sets with large -scale projections, allowing the action to move transparently between BombLarge production numbers and the rehearsal studio.
If the second act – a collection of other notable numbers of the work of the series, including the visceral interpretation of Bowman from “They continue to move the line” – feels precipitated and a little disjointed, it does not uptime the dynamic energy of the show. Smash There is to sing the praise of the many talented people on and out of the stage that it takes to give life to a successful musical. As much as I liked this mess on NBC, it’s clear Smash Hold on Broadway from the start. Grade: a-
