SMASH!
It’s Bombshell’s opening night! Well, the night before opening night. Ivy is nervous as she takes her final bow. She’s been refusing to read anything about her performance and everyone seems to be onboard with this.
But then she stands outside the theater and overhears some people talking. About her. And it’s not good. Doubt begins to creep into Ivy’s mind. Uh oh. But never fear, Derek’s around! They continue their revived relationship and Derek assures Ivy she’s a great Marilyn. Just not his. But Ivy’s reading the message boards! And they don’t like her as much as Karen! Really? I know I was Team Karen last season, but even I admitted that Ivy was always the better choice for Marilyn. Derek gives her a pep talk and Ivy prepares for her opening night.
He, meanwhile, heads downtown to the
Karen, of course, doesn’t want to go. She left Bombshell! (Of her own volition, I might add). Jimmy tries to convince her to go but she just walks away. And returns home, Ana entering shortly after. She’s been hanging out with Some Drug Dealer Guy. And guess what, he has a name! But I don’t care about that. Guess what—he’s Jimmy’s brother! And he’s very talkative. Especially about Jimmy. And Ana believes Karen should listen to what he has been saying.
While Ana blabs, Julia and Tom try to find their next project. And they are scraping the barrel here. I mean, I still love “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”—it was the best Christmas gift ever and my parents gave it to me as a gag present when I was 22—but as a musical? No way. Hey, guys, remember how Smash started with you two going to take a break? Why don’t you revisit that idea?
Namely because Tom is none-too-happy with Julia right now. I forgot about the other fallout from Jamey Sheridan’s article last recap. Jamey revealed Julia’s involvement with “Hit List.” And no one was happy—especially Tom. And so Tom is once again in a pissy mood.
Time for appearances from Season 1 characters you didn’t really want to see again, Round 2! This time, please welcome Leo Huston! He’s here to not emote again while watching his mother pack. Julia is moving out of Tom’s apartment. Leo unconvincingly asks about “The Great Gatsby,” which is by Julia’s bag. Julia looks at it fondly as apparently, it is the book that brought her and Tom together. They thought it would make a great musical. Umm…okay? Leo asks why they didn’t and Julia reveals they could never get the rights. But the she gets a Look.
Meanwhile, Tom meets with a producer. They discuss a revival of “City of Angels” which has lost its director. Tom goes on about what the new director should do and producer guy is like “Why don’t you be the new director?” As Tom tries not to choke on his dinner, the producer tells him he would be great—if the reviews for Bombshell don’t, well, bomb. Tom gets so excited.
Everyone converges on the
Julia and Tom are on their way to the show. She gives him a present—a copy of “The Great Gatsby.” But wait, there’s more! She reveals that Ahern and Flaherty (the people who gave us “Ragtime”) have lost the rights to “The Great Gatsby.” No doubt they were sitting at home going, “Wouldn’t it be cool to have the rights to a Great Gatsby musical?” Five seconds later: “Nah, maybe not.” (Yes, I like to imagine what Broadway people do in their free time. I imagine it involves a lot of singing because, hey, it’s my imagination not reality). Tom is not so enthusiastic. He doesn’t mention City of Angels at all, opting to just tell Julia that they should wait to announce their next project. Especially since the last time they did that, that project fell apart. Julia agrees.
Meanwhile, Eileen is still mad at Jamey Sheridan for his article in the Arts section. But Daphne tells her she has to play nice so that Bombshell gets a good review. This show is at once flattering and insulting the New York Times. It assumes that if a show gets a review in the Times, it is an honor and not something that any show that opens on Broadway gets. So, the flattery comes by giving the Times more power than it probably has. But it is insult to think the New York Times has to be kissed up to for good reviews or that someone in such a position would create such a conflict of interest. But whatever, Daphne convinces Eileen to bring Jamey as her date to Bombshell’s opening. However, she is still upset with him and drops him like a hot potato ten minutes later. Daphne wants to strangle her but Eileen remembers she’s Anjelica Huston and can do better.
Show time! We don’t see much of Ivy’s performances. We see the audience’s reaction instead. Including Karen, who is breathing heavily. But we do get to see Ivy’s version of “Don’t Forget Me.” Where Derek’s version had Karen!Marilyn singing while surrounded by clips of her life, Tom’s version has Ivy!Marilyn surrounded by the men in her life. Watch:
As Ivy reaches the bridge, the camera pans around to reveal Derek, Tom, Karen and Bernadette Peters standing there before she belts out the big note. These ghosts—and Marilyn’s men—all disappear and it’s just Ivy in her glory. Watch:
She belts the last part and everyone rises to their feet in ovation.
The cast take their bow. After Ivy takes hers, she calls Tom up to take his own bow. He does while Julia applauds like the proud friend she is. Rosie O’Donnell leans forward and compliments Julia on the show. She then says she can’t wait to see what Tom does with “City of Angels.” Julia is like “Wha’chu talking about, Rosie O’Donnell?” She glances up at Tom and starts putting two and two together.
After the show, there’s the party! Though Ivy’s hiding in the bathroom. Karen finds her and congratulates her on a job well done. She’s pretty gracious. Maybe she got knocked down a few pegs with Ana taking on a bigger role in Hit List. After their moment in the bathroom, they leave and go party!
Meanwhile, Eileen and Daphne Ruben-Vega await the reviews. She has staff on computers just for this purpose. Wouldn’t this be an awesome show? The ins and outs of promoting a Broadway show? The staff members pick out good quotes and put them on an ad mock up. Eileen, though, wants to know what the New York Times said because, you know, she dumped Jamey Sheridan. Just because he had the nerve to say “Hit List” was better than “Bombshell.” Wait, based off what I’ve seen, maybe that was a good call, Eileen.
Tom’s directing is getting “meh” reviews. So he is now gung-ho about announcing doing “The Great Gatsby.” But Julia now knows about City of Angels. She talks about it with Scott, who convinces her to write “The Great Gatsby” as a play. When Tom approaches her, she turns him down. And Tom gets pissy. Anyone else miss professional Tom from last season? I do.
Ana brought Some Drug Dealer Guy as her date. Ana has questionable judgment. Kyle gets upset and tells Some Drug Dealer Guy to leave. Some Drug Dealer Guy is pretty sure he can take Kyle in a fight and refuses. So Kyle starts a fight. Kyle has questionable judgment. Jimmy steps in and continues the fight. Jimmy…well, we already knew he had questionable judgment, didn’t we? Eileen dumps ice water on them and just says, “Of course, Hit List.” Like one would say, “Riff raff.”
Karen drags Jimmy out of the party. And she pretty much dumps him. Jimmy takes off for parts unknown while Karen heads back to the bar. Ivy has a run in with her mother on the stairs. Bernadette is holding a book and Ivy wonders if she’s starting a new scrapbook—apparently something she does whenever she starts a new show. Bernadette is, but this time the scrapbook is for Ivy’s accomplishments. Mama is proud!
The Times review is in! And while it isn’t exactly a rave, it’s still mostly positive. Daphne is happy but Eileen is like “We’re going to have to rely on the Tonys. AD BLITZ TIME!”
Downstairs at the party, Ivy is called up to perform a song. For some reason, she thanks Karen and invites her to sing with her. They perform “That’s Life” with Scott Wittman on the piano. You know, he writes the songs for Bombshell with partner Marc Shaiman. Derek and Scott decide to bring “Hit List” to Broadway.
After they perform, the girls have a chat. Karen reveals she turned down Derek the same day as Ivy’s birthday. Things start to click and Ivy realizes she was Derek’s second choice. Again. So when she leaves, she shuts down Derek’s advances.
Dejected, Derek wanders the streets of New York. And he comes across Daisy, one of the dancers who sued him for sexual harassment way back in the premiere. I didn’t realize Daisy was played by Mara Davi then but now I do. And I saw her in “White Christmas” over two years ago. You know what that means!
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
Annaleigh Ashford
Krysta Rodriguez
Mara Davi
Anyway, Daisy says she realizes Derek was right and she’s dropping the suit. So he invites her over for some sexytimes. Derek has questionable judgment.
Back at the Bombshell party, it’s winding down. Tom and Kyle are by themselves. They flirt and leave together. And I suddenly forgot about Sam and Tom being broken up and wanted Tom and Kyle together!
So this episode ends. And I loved it. It was the culmination of nearly two seasons of the show: Bombshell opened! And it’s time to see what happens with “Hit List.” But for now, let’s relish in Eileen, Tom, Julia and Ivy’s victory.
Read Playbill's "Smash" report here
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