This week, Julia and family are in Boston! And so is Michael Swift! They have a tense standoff as Michael goes into the theater. Leo says he enjoyed it, slightly scaring his father. They offer to go in with Julia but she says she has to be a big girl and go ream out Tom for not supporting her. Frank and Leo go and explore Boston, I guess.
Everyone else has arrived at the theater, except Ivy. Jessica borrows Karen’s phone to call her. In a hotel room, Dev pops out from under the covers. He picks up the phone and sees Karen’s name sprawled across it. Ivy pulls it from his hand, saying it is hers. A Big Problem is avoided as she picks up and Jessica was on the other end anyway. Jessica tells Ivy to get to the theater and she parts from Dev with some awkward morning after talk.
Ivy gets to the theater where Karen tries to be nice. I say try because Karen is the type of person who tends to stick their foot in their mouth while trying not to do so. Ivy asks her not to be nice to her or else she’ll break down. Karen backs off as Derek begins notes. Michael is welcomed by Derek and they start running through the DiMaggio numbers to get him up to speed.
And now it’s time for the first Boston preview. Frank and Leo go to their seats while Eileen decides to watch from the mezzanine for a full view. Nick surprises her by showing up…in a cast. (Apparently, Thorsten Kaye was injured in real life). The two go to watch the show.
And it’s curtain up. Wasn’t there supposed to be dialogue from the shadow selves before Marilyn starts singing “Let Me Be Your Star”? Next we see Michael and Rebecca sing “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” Michael puts his arm down on the bench and Rebecca scoots over out of the spotlight. Derek groans in his seat. Backstage, Rebecca blames Michael for his misstep. Her assistants calm her down.
On stage, the real actor playing Zanuck sings “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking.” And that actor is played by Marc Kudish.
Cast Members AB Has Seen Live
Christian Borle
The dancer from “Grenade”
Will Chase
Michelle Federer
Ann Harada
Nick Jonas
Norbert Leo Butz
Terrence Mann
Marc Kudish
The scene ends and we see “Zanuck” go from steam room to board room. It transitions into a song called “Smash,” where Ivy and Karen lead the other female ensemble members in pleading with Mr. Zanuck for their break in Hollywood. It’s a nice little number and I guess a cover for Rebecca to get into her next costume.
During intermission, Karen’s still trying to get in touch with Dev. He’s not picking up. Ivy and she talk. Karen assures Ivy that she didn’t know about Rebecca and Derek. Ivy believes her. She compliments Karen’s performance; Karen returns it.
We cut to the end of the play, where Marilyn is lying on her bed boozed up and having swallowed the pills. She sings a bit of “Second Hand White Baby Grand” before pleading with someone to come over and talk. The lights go down and the audience is silent. Shifting in his seat, Frank starts the applause as the curtain call begins.
After, the creatives are upset that there was no applause. Okay, let’s get one thing out of the way: No applause is NOT always a bad thing. Another way to see the ending was that it was so powerful, no one felt applause was appropriate. But that’s clearly not what the show is going for. They want applause. And everyone is pretty much agreed that ending a musical with a suicide is not the best way to go. Except Julia, who insists that’s what happened in real life. Eileen insists on a new ending.
So, what type of ending? They could pull a Les Mis. Rousing encores and no one realizes until later that Jean Valjean DIED during the number. They have a good start with “Second Hand White Baby Grand.” Have Marilyn ask the person to come over and then start singing the song. As she does so, the lights fade out on Marilyn and up on a shadow self who continues “Second Hand.” Another shadow self begins singing “Let’s Be Bad,” a third sings “Never Give All the Heart,” a male shadow sings “History is Made at Night” until another girl sings “Let Me Be Your Star.” Like there’s always another Marilyn. Even gives people a chance to debate if its Anna Nicole Smith or not.
Or Option B: A running comment was how Marilyn didn’t want people to think she was a joke. There’s your song. About her legacy and how people view her.
I’m putting too much thought into this. I need to work on this recap or write my own play. I’d say musical, but I can’t rhyme. And I’m pretty sure that’s a basic requirement for song writing.
Karen and Dev reconcile. She asks him to propose again and this time she accepts. But he can’t give her the ring because he left it in
Ivy, meanwhile, still has issues with Derek. Namely the fact that the start of last week’s episode, he told her he loved her and by the end, he was “reassuring” Rebecca. When she confronts him, he tells her that it’s just part of his job and he knows Ivy understands because she is a professional like him. Sorry, Derek, there was nothing in my directing class that suggested sleeping with your cast members was a good directing strategy.
Speaking of Rebecca, she’s a nervous wreck. Karen finds her on the phone with her therapist as she talks about dying on stage. The call ends and Rebecca talks to Karen. She takes a sip of her smoothie and immediately, you can see something’s wrong. She touches her lips and pauses as she speaks. Rebecca takes another sip and then starts gasping for air. Karen tries to help her but is generally useless. She calls for help as the show goes to commercial.
Derek and Eileen assure the cast that Rebecca is fine and being kept in the hospital for observation. He says that they’ve decided to cancel the weekend’s shows to wait for Rebecca and give Julia and Tom time to rewrite the ending. And so everyone goes into panic mode.
Eileen is summoned by Rebecca’s assistant, who tells her he suspects sabotage. She tries to wave it off but he is adamant. At the hotel, Derek jokes that maybe Ivy and Karen did it together. Tom doesn’t appreciate the joke. He and Julia leave to finish their ending while Ellis talks to Eileen about the show. This ends when Nick tosses him out, much to the audience’s pleasure.
Julia is cornered by Michael Swift, who says he came back for her. That he knew she had to want him back. Julia tells Michael that she didn’t want him back and almost walked away. She says she wants to make it work with Frank and that he needs to leave her alone. Michael tries to kiss her but Julia stops him, walking away.
Any points Julia earned by resisting Michael are lost when she confronts Tom. Yes, Julia feels betrayed by Tom. Yes, if he had stood with her, they could’ve overruled Eileen and Derek. But Tom had to think of the production and the other people whose livelihood relied on Bombshell. He reminds her that he’s supported her through everything and told her it was a bad idea. She says that he was right. And that he’s never wrong and she just goes on and on. This would be more dramatic if it weren’t for the fact that Tom is right and Julia is wrong. If both had valid points, this would be more intense. Julia storms off.
Karen is freaking out. She realizes that she’s the understudy and might go on. But the understudies aren’t read in until after opening. Dev talks her through it and helps her study. But then everyone gets the news that Rebecca is being released from the hospital. Well, except Jessica, who still hasn’t found her phone. Ivy and Karen are disappointed, though Karen might be a little relieved.
Ultimately, everyone winds up at Sam’s church on Sunday morning, Jessica with a hangover. Sam assures her she wouldn’t be the first hungover person in a church as she enters. Karen and Dev show up and she says she loves church. Frank, Julia and Leo show up as well. Sam sings “Stand,” eventually overshadowed by Karen. I doubt any congregation is going to be happy to see their native son overshadowed by anyone else. But they are…Go figure.
After the service, Tom and Julia make up. Outside, Karen gets a call from Rebecca and rushes to her hospital room. Rebecca has been released and she packs, revealing she’s leaving Bombshell. She knows the smoothie was laced with peanuts and believes her assistant’s claims that it was deliberate. It’s a sign, she decides, and leaves the show. Karen is in shock and Rebecca wonders why she isn’t jumping up and down. Rather than saying that she realizes she has to learn an entire musical ASAP and she needs some time to panic, Karen blathers about not being as competitive as the others. Rebecca tells her she is in the wrong business. But Karen’s fearful look is what we end on.
Well, I figured something would happen with how often they stressed Rebecca was allergic to peanuts. It was an anvil waiting to fall. I’m impressed they had Uma for so long, but she was very good. Just not right for Bombshell. So the question is: Who is Marilyn? Well, we know, but pretend you don’t!
Quote of the Episode
"She died!"--Julia, defending the ending
Playbill Recap
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