"Smash" on Broadway: Reimagining a backstage tale for the stage
The new musical "Smash" is everything you'd expect, and maybe more. But like most big Broadway musicals, what you're seeing up on stage is only half the story. The show is based on the 2012 NBC TV series of the same name. It was a cult hit, and a show people loved to hate – a drama within a drama about the making of a Broadway show about Marilyn Monroe, called "Bombshell," with Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee vying for the role of a lifetime.
And now, after more than a decade of fits and starts, here it is: a Broadway show based on a TV show about the making of a Broadway show.
The words and music are from legendary composing team Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman. They've been working together since 1976, said Wittman: "It was the tall ships, legionnaire's disease, and Son of Sam, and that's when I met Marc."
In their long partnership, Shaiman and Wittman have created music for Broadway, Hollywood, and sometimes both, like the musical "Hairspray." That show earned the pair a Tony Award, but even after all their success, taking on "Smash" gave them that feeling they get before they start anything new: the fear of failure.
Before every project, they said, they sing a song, the lyrics of which are: "Paralyzed with fear. Paralyzed with fear."
"That's how we start writing any song, and we sing that for days," Shaiman said.
" 'Cause you're just looking at a white, blank page," said Wittman. "And it's just the most frightening thing on Earth!"
To create a show within a show, it helps to have an experienced team, including renowned director Susan Stroman ("The Producers"). She's won five Tony Awards, and during her career has seen
a lot
. "Everything that is in 'Smash,' I've actually lived through," she laughed.
The idea was to keep what was good from the TV show, and re-imagine the rest. The music stayed, but the TV show was kind of melodramatic. So, with the blessing of producer Steven Spielberg (yes, he does Broadway, too), they made it funny.
There were also a few funny things they didn't plan. In the show, a main character was out and is replaced by an understudy at the last minute – and on the night of the very first preview, it happened for real.
Not for nothing, one of the taglines for "Smash" is, "Behind every hit musical ... is a hot mess." "Yes, and that is absolutely true," said Stroman. "You go in with the best intentions, and something invariably goes wrong. And everybody's on top of it, to see how to fix it, which department can fix it."
Robyn Hurder plays Ivy Lynn, an actress who plays Marilyn Monroe, and winds up assuming her character. "It's like a sandbox," she said, "and I just get to play around in it and get to do all the things: I get to be crazy, I get to be mean, I get to be sweet, I get to be funny, I get to cry, you know? And I get to sing and dance. It's everything."
Hurder's personal story adds yet another layer to the oh-so-meta show. She's a Broadway veteran who made her mark not as a singer, but as a dancer. And beneath that effortless glamour is someone who's fought 20 years for this moment, even past her own personal breaking point.
She said there were times when she'd wanted to give up on the stage: "Yep, the whole business, this musical theater business, was really, really getting to me," she said. "I realized that was my clock ticking. And I was like,
I think I need to be a mom, and I don't know if I want to do this anymore
. I said to my husband, 'I think I want to have a baby.'"
She did have a baby – a son, Hudson – and then, everything changed. "Having Hudson was the best thing that ever could have happened to me," Hurder said, "because that's when everything switched and everything clicked. I'm back and I'm achieving my dreams."
To watch an excerpt of Robyn Hurder performing "Let Me Be Your Star," from "Smash," click on the video player below:
So, will it be a … smash? One of the ads says, "If you loved the TV series, it's exactly what you want. And if you didn't, we've changed everything."
But at its heart, "Smash" is really about collaboration, warts and all – and to lifelong collaborators Shaiman and Wittman, that might be a story that works for everyone.
Asked what might appeal to those who never saw the original show, Shaiman replied, "I believe it's a universal feeling of watching a group of people trying to go to work. What do we accomplish today? I think everyone can relate to that."
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Story produced by John D'Amelio. Editor: Steven Tyler.
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