Everything’s Coming Up…

Last week, Ivy’s voice gave out. She went on prednisone and went a little crazy. Tom and Sam took care of her before she dumped Derek at rehearsal. Karen took a bar mitzvah for Jessica, who took it for Ivy, and gets a call from a top music producer. Julia and Michael crossed the point of no return and had sex. And Eileen got closer with that rat Ellis and met Thorsten Kaye.

This week, it’s time for the workshop performance of “Marilyn the Musical”! And the boiler is broken so the performance space is sweltering. Eileen yells at Brad Oscar, who is playing the building manager. But he can’t get a plumber in just yet to look at it. Eileen is frustrated and goes to the bar. Nick (Thorsten Kaye) says there is a guy in the building who can fix the boiler, except he’d have to do it on the down low. Eileen stops drooling long enough to agree to it.

As Eileen worries about the heat, Karen goes to a recording studio. She wakes up the tech and records a demo with him. He has to give her a few instructions as she’s not used to being in a studio. She then sings a song and when she’s done, the tech says he loves her.

In rehearsal, Julia and Michael are all grabs-handsy. Tom discovers them making out like teenagers in
an empty rehearsal space and tells them that they are needed. They follow him into the room and continue rehearsal. It is interrupted as Michelle Federer returns as Michael’s wife, bringing along his child. Michael has no problem acting all happy that they are there. Julia’s conscious flairs up and she runs out, feeling sick. Tom follows her, where she confesses to sleeping with Michael. She says she has to go home and Tom promises to cover for her.

Julia comes home and realizes she isn’t the only person in the house. She goes upstairs and discovers her son smoking pot with a friend. After kicking out the pothead friend, Julia tries to find out what’s wrong with her son. It finally comes out that Leo saw her kissing Michael. The guilt attacks Julia and she’s even more lost.

Back at the studio, Ivy comes in with BERNADETTE PETERS! Ms. Peters is playing Leigh Conroy, Tony Award-winning actress and Ivy’s mother. Everyone is star struck. They plead with her to sing a song. She refuses modestly but eventually gives in. Tom says that their pianist isn’t there yet but Tom’s like “Uh, I can actually play it, you know.” Accompaniment set, Peters prepares to dazzle. For those of us unable to see her turn as Mama Rose in Gypsy, we get to see her sing “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” (According to Katharine McPhee’s Twitter, the original song choice was “Rose’s Turn” but there were technical issues and they had to switch to this song).

And Peters is wonderful. She sings it to Ivy, saying much about their relationship. At the end, Ivy looks a bit lost. Derek calls them to continue rehearsal.

After, Bernadette goes home with Ivy. The two watch one of Marilyn’s movies. Well, Bernadette does. Ivy is busy looking through her growing collection of pills. Apparently she now has sleeping pills on top of the prednisone. Bernadette goes on about how special Marilyn Monroe was and pretty much says that her daughter doesn’t have what it takes to play her. And that she (Bernadette) won a Tony without any pills. Ivy downs a sleeping pill.

The next morning, we get a pan of the major players before the workshop. Most are lying awake in bed. With someone else—Tom has John, Ivy has Bernadette and Julia has Frank. Derek is alone, with just his research and pages for his prompt book. So that answers my question: Derek does his own research. Karen, though, is asleep with Dev but she gets a call. It’s from Bobby Raskin!

As they warm up, Karen tells her chorus friends about how Bobby Raskin wants to see her but can only do so during the workshop. Karen wonders if she should go. Her chorus friends encourage her to do so. In the Playbill recap I linked, the writer questions the chorus buddies’ loyalties—are they to Ivy or Karen? The recap also mentions that most cast mates would not encourage one to skip the workshop. So I think that answers his question. They are still loyal to Ivy—why would they convince Karen do something that could damage her career otherwise?

While Karen is debating what to do, Eileen has snuck Nick and his not-quite-legal plumber into the building. They break into the boiler and get to work. Upstairs, Derek has an issue with the Marilyn-Joe DiMaggio break up scene. He asks Julia to take a listen to it, but they can’t find Ivy. Despite being shown warming up a few scenes earlier, she’s apparently stuck in the elevator. So Julia has to stand in and read Marilyn’s lines. It’s tense as she and Michael argue disguised as Marilyn and Joe. The changes work and Julia goes to write them up.

Brad Oscar as discovered the not-quite-legal plumber working in his boiler room. He confronts Eileen, who name drops a bunch of theater people who rent rehearsal space in the building. He realizes how much business he could lose and backs off. The heat, though, continues as the potential investors start to show up. One of the chorus buddies, Bobby (? If not, he’s now Bobby), notes a famous agent is in the audience. Karen takes a peek as well. Sam comments that Ivy can hear them and they apologize. Why? There’s an agent in the audience; he may be representing stars who might be interested in playing Marilyn or he may be interested in scouting new talent. Anyway, Sam asks Tom to give Ivy a pep talk as John shows up.

Frank shows up with the other investors. Eileen also asks Nick to stay to see the workshop. He agrees, saying he just wants to put on a jacket to look a bit more presentable. As he walks away, Eileen admires the view. Do not blame you at all, Eileen.

It’s time for Marilyn to begin! We start with Ivy singing “Let Me Be Your Star” as Karen imagines herself singing it. We next see “The 20th Century Fox Mambo,” once again with Karen remembering her time performing the number. It’s a quick show through the numbers: “History is Made at Night” and “The National Pastime.” Both Ivy and Karen have little flubs during the number: Karen falls off the bleachers while Ivy falls doing a move. During intermission, Derek scolds Ivy before going off to scold others. Tom thought that was unprofessional but nothing in my directing course said you had to coddle the actors.

The next is Act II and we get a new number. “On Lexington and 52nd Street” is Joe and Marilyn’s break up. It’s about the filming of Marilyn’s most famous scene and Joe’s disapproval. Chase kills the song though at one point everything fades away and all Michael sees is Julia. The number and the workshop finish and now it’s up to the investors.

Ivy has it out with her mother. She asks why her mother can never praise her. Bernadette is taken aback. Ivy continues her tirade saying that Marilyn had a mother who never seemed happy with her daughter. Bernadette says that Marilyn was a star, a legend. Ivy counters that Marilyn was also a tormented soul who was an addict and miserable. She then storms out, leaving her speechless mother behind.

At the apartment, Bernadette packs to go home. She tries to make small talk with her daughter, mentioning Ivy’s father and brother. Ivy is having none of it. So Bernadette decides to level with her daughter. She says that she thinks Ivy is very talented but the truth is she didn’t want her daughter to follow in her steps. She didn’t want her to deal with the rejection, the disappointment, the criticism of the theater. Ivy thinks her mother just doesn’t want her to steal the spotlight. They end with tension.

In Eileen’s office, Derek reads one of the workshop reviews and it is painful. Eileen stops him and asks her creatives what they do now. Tom suggests firing Michael, saying he was a horrible miscast. Derek protests that Michael was the best part of the show and I have to agree that Michael was very good. This is clearly a ploy to get Michael out of Julia’s life because she can’t be a Big Girl and stop the affair. And the fact that the show fell into the media trap of All Men Are Too Horny For Their Good And Can’t Keep It In Their Pants For More Than Five Minutes. Anyway, Eileen leaves it up to Julia, who agrees with Tom.

So Michael’s fired.

A lot of Thorsten Kaye this time around, which is always good in my book. That bit of shallowness out of the way, I also thought the workshop looked decent. The songs are some of the best parts of the episodes and I hope we eventually see them all realized properly. As for Bernadette Peters, she was very good! I hope she comes back because I would love to see her again.

Quote of the Episode

"That's the least offensive thing I've said in days."--Derek