Smash: Returning to New York (And Your TV Sets)

Last season on “Smash:” Julia and Tom get the idea to make a musical about Marilyn Monroe despite the fact an earlier attempt had flopped. Eileen decides to produce it to show the theater world—and her soon-to-be-ex husband—she could do it by herself. She finances the show with Nick Jonas playing an expy of himself, Thorsten Kaye’s ill-gotten money and Terrence Mann as a crazy rocker. Eileen hires bad boy director-choreographer Derek to helm the show. And it comes down to who will play Marilyn: Ivy Lynn or Karen Cartwright. Ivy wins it first, then loses it to Uma Thurman, who then quits and Karen goes on in the role. Meanwhile, her relationship with her fiancé explodes and Julia has an affair with the Joe DiMaggio which puts her marriage on the rocks. As Karen’s star rises, Ivy hits rock bottom. Oh, and nobody liked Ellis.

Light the lights, SMASH IS BACK!

It’s Tech Week!

Last week, Rebecca and Karen became BFFs! Nights on the town, free swag, dinner with Dev, the works! And that dinner comes with an awesome if yet odd Bollywood number. Meanwhile, Ivy works with Ellis and manages to sing the new song “Second Hand White Baby Grand.” Which Rebecca promptly decides should be hers and not some ensemble member’s. Anjelica Huston gets sexy time with Thorsten Kaye. And Julia and Frank reunited when Leo ran away.


This week, it’s tech week. Say those words to anyone who is involved or was ever involved with theater and you’re bound to get a treasure trove of horror stories. I was running the sound board for a production when I was in college and we lost an actor during tech week (not sure what happened, the best I could gather was that she just stopped showing up). The assistant stage manager stepped in, learned the role in under a week and killed it. And to top it off, the communication system that allowed the stage manager to talk to the booth failed. And that’s just one production I did in college.


So before we continue with this episode, there is one thing to understand: This is a very stressful time for everyone involved in the show.

Fame—I Wanna Live Forever

Last week, Rebecca Duvall annoyed everyone except Karen.


This week, she continues to annoy everyone except Karen. She’s late to rehearsal due to working out at the gym. Karen doesn’t mind because Derek talks to her. I wouldn’t mind if Jack Davenport started talking to me. He asks Karen if she is getting the material as the understudy as he can’t work with her. She says she doesn’t mind as the Chorus Buddies filled her in. Understudies work with the stage manager, not the director. Derek is slightly impressed. Ivy, watching them, is slightly jealous. Ellis takes Rebecca’s assistant aside though he (rightly) doesn’t want anything to do with the rat. But the rat says it’s important.

See, I Could Never Really Sing…

Last week, Rebecca Duvall was stuck in Cuba. So Karen was promoted to understudy. Ivy finds out and takes it pretty well. But it’s because she has an ulterior motive—she thinks if she’s nice enough, she’ll get back into the chorus. And she encourages to Karen rebel a bit, hoping to get her kicked out. Karen and Dev have a fight, Tom and John break up and Julia finally tells Tom Frank left her. And Eileen gets Terrence Mann to bankroll Bombshell before kissing Thorsten Kaye.


This week, Eileen is avoiding Thorsten Kaye. He’s baffled and keeps calling. She decides to look at the information Ellis dug up about Nick. And it’s not good, so she continues ignoring him.

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.

Who Will Be Marilyn?

Last week, Ivy Lynn and Karen were waiting to hear who would get to play Marilyn in a new musical being created by Tom and Julia, produced by Anjelica Huston and directed by Derek.


This week…Ivy Lynn and Karen are waiting to hear who will get to play Marilyn in a new musical being created by Tom and Julia, produced by Anjelica Huston and directed by Derek.

Smash!

I’m sure since I’ve made no secret of being a big fan of Broadway musical, it is no surprise I watched the premiere episode of “Smash,” NBC’s new drama. What did I think?

I loved it! Surprise, surprise, right? The story is about the making of a Broadway musical, from inspiration—an assistant suggests Marilyn Monroe to composer-lyricist team Tom and Julia (Christian Borle and Debra Messing). And they start the ball rolling, despite Julia’s promise to her husband (Brian d’Arcy-James) that she would take the year off so they could adopt a baby. Meanwhile, Tom asks one of the chorus girls in his and Julia’s latest show, Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty), to sing a demo song. Which the assistant inadvertently ends up leaking to the internet.