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!

No Applause

Last week, it was tech week and all hell broke loose, per usual. Ted, the new DiMaggio, got a pilot and quit. It was decided to bring back Michael Swift despite Julia and Frank’s protests. Rebecca was a nervous wreck. Derek humored her all the way to sex in the dressing room. Ivy found out and sang about it before going to a bar. Dev and RJ shared a kiss, but he breaks it. He goes up to Boston to propose to Karen. She neither accepts nor rejects him, mind too fried to do anything. Dev storms off, confessing that he kissed RJ. Karen storms off saying she can’t decide to marry a cheater during tech. He goes to a bar and picks up Ivy.


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.

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.

Where’s Uma?

Last week, Ivy returned to Heaven on Earth. And did not hide her disappointment. Or her pills. After taking a drunk dive on the stage, Norbert Leo Butz threw her off. She wandered through Times Square with Karen before returning home. Sam and Tom decided to get to know each other instead of looking for their pill-popping, drunk friend. Frank found out about Michael, punched him and left Julia. And Ellis slept with Rebecca Duvall’s assistant to get her to join Marilyn.


This week, everyone is gathered back for another…read-through? I guess? Except that Rebecca’s not there. Karen and the Chorus Buddies whisper while they wait. Eileen receives a phone call and asks everyone to take a break. She gathers Derek, Julia and Tom to tell them that Rebecca Duvall isn’t in New York. She isn’t even in the US. “CUBA?” Julia shouts into the rehearsal space. Eileen tries to shush her, but it’s too late. The investors have heard, including Manny Azenberg and Robyn Goodman. (By the way, they are real Broadway investors. The day after this show aired, it was announced Azenberg is to receive a special award at the Tonys). They demand that Eileen get Rebecca there pronto and want to talk with her.

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.

Hallucinating Marilyn

Let me start by saying that I was thrilled to see Thorsten Kaye’s name pop up in the credits. The soap lover in me yelled “ZACH!”

Last week: Karen was a sexy Marilyn to get information for her boyfriend. Ivy confronted Derek and we found out Sam is gay. Michael decides he wants Julia, pursues her and then kisses her in front of her son. Who Tom had to have his date bail out of prison.