And It Explodes

Last week, Derek and Eileen decided to test out another direction for Marilyn the Musical. It bombed. They decided to go with a star, sending Ivy back to the chorus and Michael to the curb.


This week, Eileen wants a star! And Ellis is determined to get her one. So he networks and works hard to get “Rebecca Duvall” onboard. He even flirts with a male assistant to do so! Apparently, Ellis is bi, I guess.


Derek is also getting restless. He starts looking at other scripts. So Eileen asks to see director Doug Hughes. She takes him to dinner and guess who they run into? Michael Riedel, well known theater columnist. Eileen passes off the dinner as one between two friends but Riedel doesn’t believe her. He writes up about it and a friend calls Derek to give him the heads up. Livid, he goes to see Eileen and promises he is not going anywhere. Riedel realizes he was part of scare tactic and is slightly amused.


Meanwhile, Tom is horrified to learn that he is dating—gasp!—a Republican! John invites him to a fundraiser for his former roommate and Tom’s unsure. He goes and is okay, especially as former roommate is running as a gay Republican (was Rod from “Avenue Q” present?). But then Tom gets a message and has to leave…More on that later.


Our three smaller stories out of the way, let’s go to the big ones: Ivy’s and Julia’s.


Ivy is depressed that she’s not Marilyn. And the boatload of pills she’s taking can’t be helping. Also, how much prednisone has she been prescribed? Sam is also concerned, but Ivy brushes it off. She has an audition she has to go to and ends up being late. The woman outside tries to tell her she blew it, but Ivy tries to go in anyway. In her rush, she collides with Karen, who also had an audition. They drop their sunglasses and of course, pick up the wrong one. Ivy tries to get inside but the door is slammed on her face as a disembodied voice declares “She was perfect!” (clearly in regards to Karen).


Karen goes to discuss picking up more shifts at the coffeehouse and her boss/only friend talks with her. As they discuss the failed workshop, Karen’s phone rings. She got the commercial—which is for orange juice. The two celebrate before Karen runs off. We next see her at the commercial which will be done mostly through CGI effects as the entire set is green screen and Karen is wearing a motion capture suit. The director walks her through the blocking. The basic gist is that we have a lot of choices each day, but choosing which orange juice is easy—pick (name not really given) brand! Tired from just the run through, Karen tries to take a sip of orange juice…and is promptly told not to.


Ivy, meanwhile, has returned to Heaven on Earth along with Dennis and Jessica. And she is not too happy about it. We see a bit of the show, with Ivy back in her angel costume looking absolutely bored. I can see the internet boards dedicated to Broadway blowing up over the “pouting actress who should pick another career.” Anyway, they introduce St. Peter who looks like Colonel Sanders. And he’s played by two time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz!


Cast Members AB Has Seen Live


Will Chase
The dancer from “Grenade”
Michelle Federer
Ann Harada
Nick Jonas
Norbert Leo Butz


Woot! The list is growing longer! Anyway, Ivy goes out with the Chorus Buddies and Sam, who invites Tom. He’s a bit nervous as he doesn’t know how Ivy will handle being around him after sending her back to the chorus. Sam and Tom first get a drink while Bobby reveals that Karen got the orange juice commercial. Ivy pulls a bitchface as Jessica chides Bobby. Bobby seems to genuinely like Karen. Ivy decides she can’t handle this and goes home.


Karen, meanwhile, discovers she has the wrong pair of sunglasses—they are too expensive. At the same time, Ivy discovers she has Karen’s cheaper no-name glasses. Ivy tosses them; Karen decides to return them. She goes to the Shubert Theater, where “Heaven on Earth” plays. Dennis is outside texting and tells Karen to leave the sunglasses with the assistant stage manager.


Inside, an assistant stage manager has to rouse Ivy from her drunken stupor. She goes on stage and is just awful. She misses cues, makes faces, is laughing, etc. And her grand finale is that she falls. As she struggles to her feet, Col. Sanders yells at her to get off the stage. Ivy does so and finds Karen in the wings. She and Karen end up outside, Ivy yelling about how she got the role and was better than Karen. So Karen snaps back that she could’ve slept with Derek first but she didn’t. That doesn’t phase Ivy.


So remember that message Tom got? It was to come save Ivy. John accuses Tom of infantilizing Ivy—which is true—but Tom leaves anyway while loudly declaring his hatred for Republicans. He rushes to Ivy’s apartment, meeting Sam. And what do they do? Sit on her front stoop. Yes, they got a message saying she was with Karen. But really, you’ve been told she was acting weird, ran out of the theater in her costume and now is with a woman she can’t stand—don’t you try to contact Karen, tell her to keep Ivy in one spot and then go get her? Especially as Sam knows the insane amount of pills she’s on? And that if she’s still taking the prednisone, SHE SHOULDN’T BE DRINKING? There’s infantilizing and then there’s stupidity.


Meanwhile, Ivy gets $20 off Karen for more booze, which they share. And then they sing some Rihanna song in Duffy Square. I don’t know. Karen eventually gets her to her apartment, where Ivy collapses on her bed—still dressed as an angel. She mumbles that she and Karen aren’t friends. Karen didn’t think so and sees Ivy’s mirror of Marilyn before beating a hasty retreat.


Across the street, Dumb and Dumber (Sam and Tom) are eating in a diner. I’m not sure if Sam said it was 5 o’clock or five hours, but either way, neither went looking for Ivy. This was just a way to get these two to bond. It’s cute enough to almost get me to forgive them. Almost.


Moving on to Julia’s storyline…Frank goes to look for something regarding the adoption and finds a song instead. When Julia comes home from a brainstorming session, she finds her husband at the piano playing the song. He encourages her to sing it and starts the song. He gets to a line about kissing on the Brooklyn Bridge. And Julia knows he knows. They fight and Julia tells Frank it’s over and it was a long time ago. He explodes when she tries to say it didn’t mean anything. They argue and Frank realizes it was Michael.


So he goes to confront Michael. And finds out that there was a second round of infidelity. Angry, he socks Michael and then walks away. Frank goes home and packs, leaving Julia and Leo behind. And the line reading from the guy playing Leo. It made me miss the kid who played Jack on “One Life to Live.” Sure he wasn’t often out-acted by the plotted plants in the La Boulie set, but at least the kid could do ANGRY! And ANGRY! would’ve been better than this kid’s line reading.


Once Frank left, Julia asks to meet Michael. He tries to take the blame especially after the whole stalking thing. But Julia is adult and accepts her share of the blame. As she blathers on about it, she stumbles upon the name for their musical—Bombshell.


And I’m still waiting for Brian d’Arcy James’ big musical number. I spent the week hoping there was fallout from Ivy’s escapade. It seems sometimes that while she complains about things just happening for Karen, things get ignored for her. Especially by Tom, who tends to coddle her. But I’ll address that later.


Quote of the Episode


"Tom and I got stuck on this title ideas. Either they just come or you get stuck for months..." –Julia regarding the elusive title. It’s something I understand as a writer.

Playbill's recap