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SMASH is going to be a Broadway musical! | Theatre news recap including full cast, dates and more
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Mickey Jo
Listen, while we've all been obsessing about the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard and the Broadway revival of Gypsy, in comes Smash to remind us. Don't forget me, because Smash, the stage musical, is in fact coming to Broadway this season. Oh, my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo and I am obsessed with all things theatre. I am a theatre pundit for Broadway and the West End, as well as a content creator and a professional theatre critic. And today I bring you the breaking news that Smash, the stage musical, will in fact be opening on Broadway this season at Broadway's Imperial Theatre, currently home to the musical Water for Elephants. There's an elephant there somewhere. Yes, I thought I was pointing at cushions. Water for Elephants, currently playing at the Imperial, its previous tenant before that was Andrew Lloyd Webber's Bad Cinderella. Water for Elephants will be closing later this year to make way for Smash's arrival in the spring, making it part of this Broadway season, putting it in contention for various categories at this year's Tony Awards. In particular, Best New Music. Now, there is so much that we can say about this. I actually have a lot of thoughts about the timing of Smash's arrival on Broadway, but some of you don't necessarily know what Smash is, which has me aghast. So we're going to have a little bit of a history lesson. We're also going to talk about the details of the show's Broadway arrival, when it is opening and the cast, because many of the cast have been released. And can I say this is very refreshing because we have had many specifically Broadway announcements recently that have confirmed a show is coming to Broadway and haven't confirmed a theater, and haven't confirmed a cast or have confirmed a theater in a subsequent release, but still haven't confirmed a cast. And they're just drip feeding to try and get as many news announcements as possible so that Broadway.com and Playbill and every other outlet, TheatreMania, are all going to run like the show. This show is confirmed and that's a news story. This show has a theater and that's another news story. This show has a lead and that's a news story. Supporting cast and that they just want to be talked about as many times as possible because it's good for marketing, it's good for clicks, but I like just finding out about things and that's what we've had with Smash today. We have had almost all of the casting, we've had details, we have a theater, we know it's going to the Imperial and I'm going to share all of that information with you today. Now, I'm sure people have their own thoughts and feelings about this. Let me know in the comment section down below. Let me know if you watched Smash as well. Like, I cannot have been the only person, but every time I talk to someone about it, they don't know what Smash was. So who watched Smash? Let's talk about it in the comments section down below. Who got my Smash reference at the beginning of this video? And how do you feel about it coming to Broadway? Do you think it's going to do well? Did anyone see the workshop? Do you think it's chosen the right time to come to Broadway? All questions we must consider, and we shall, in today's video. Now, if you do enjoy this one, make sure to subscribe to my theatre themed YouTube channel. You can find me here. You can find me on all major streaming platforms in podcast form. You can also find me on Instagram, TikTok and the app formerly known as Twitter all ickyjotheatre. And in, oh my gosh, just over a week's time, you can find me on the streets of New York. Because I'm heading back to Broadway for just over two weeks to see as many Broadway and Off Broadway plays and musicals as I can. I'll be seeing so much theater. I'm very excited to review lots of it and to to share all of my trip here in vlog form as well. So make sure you're following me with the notifications turned on so you don't miss those videos. In the meantime, we have to talk about Smash. Smashing news. So to understand how we got here, let's talk about what Smash originally was. Smash was a 2010s NBC TV series that ran for two seasons and centered around the casting of a fictional musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, the icon Marilyn Monroe. And while our lead characters were the two actresses auditioning to play Marilyn in the show and sort of competing with each other as necessitated by the very competitive theatrical industry, we met basically every other person adjacent to that process of getting a show off the ground, written, rehearsed and on Broadway. We met the neurotic writers. We met the producer going through a divorce. We met the salacious director. We met the stressed stage manager. Many of these are broad stereotypes, but those exist for a reason. We met the gossipy gay ensemble members. Really, everyone was represented in this show and despite this, it did become this guilty pleasure thing for musical theater people to enjoy. Listen. The songs were great. The Performances were fantastic. People were kind of baffled as to why the character of Ivy, played by Megan Hilty, even had to compete with Karen, played by Catherine McPhee, who is now Catherine Foster. She is married to David Foster and who now also supports the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. Because Ivy was clearly so much better suited to the role of Marilyn. And if I remember rightly, there was also a lot of discussion around, like, it not being particularly truthful to reality. Like, a lot of people in the entertainment industry were like, that never really happens. This has been super dramatized. Kind of ignorant of the fact that, you know, ER and Grey's Anatomy, also not documentaries and, you know, TV dramas do tend to be a little bit dramatized. But I digress. Smash featured on screen a bunch of screen stars such as Anjelica Huston and Debra Messing and Jack Davenport alongside talented stage stars and helped to kind of boost their careers to the next level, like Christian Borrell and Megan Hilty and Anne Harada. Not to be forgotten. Wesley Taylor, Krystal Rodriguez, so many people. Brian D'Arcy James was in there as well. Leslie Odom Jr. But I tell you all of this with the knowledge that the Broadway bound version of Smash is actually very different. So this obviously has taken more than a decade to reach the actual stage and it's, you know, it's already a tricky situation because what fans really wanted was to Bombshell. This is the musical within the TV show that was being written about Marilyn Monroe. When we get to the second season, we actually feature a couple of other musicals, the largest being a show called Hit List, which was a thinly veiled parody of Rent, with music by multiple different composers, including Joe Iconis and Pasek and Paul. The musical Bombshell, meanwhile, was, I believe, entirely composed by the team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, whose work you will know from Hairspray, Catch Me if youf can, and more recently, Some Like It Hot. In fact, fun footnote, one of the songs originally written for Smash, Let's Be Bad, made it into the score of Some Like It Hot with some rewritten lyrics. And if Some Like It Hot had run long enough on Broadway to, you know, exist alongside Smash, it would be the first time that the same show appeared in multiple different musicals. But usually we only see that when it comes to, like, reviews or jukebox musicals that feature pop songs. For example, the Power of Love being in both the Heart of Rock and Roll and Back to the Future. But I have digressed again. What I was building towards saying is that Smash has Been doing a few workshops recently, some of them more private, some of them public. I didn't get to go to the most recent one, which was very sad because I was just coming back from New York at the wrong time, but many of my close friends did. And what they confirmed, which, you know, everyone else was saying who went to go see this workshop, was that the plot is substantially different. And I didn't really ask for specific details about this. They told me some facets of that, that we have entirely different characters. There are many characters from the TV version that have not made it to the stage. There are wholly new characters and there are Ivy and Karen characters who were Megan hilty and Catherine McPhee, but not necessarily as we know them. We may now meet them in a slightly different guise. In other words, this is not simply Smash directly translated from the screen to the stage. They have adapted it heavily and hopefully this allows them to give people more of what they want. Because like I said, people wanted Bombshell rather than like the story of Smash on stage. So I'm really very intrigued about what exactly this is going to look like. But we now know where it's going to be and when it's going to be. It's going to open on Broadway, Thursday, April 10, 2025, and that is its official opening night when it will end. Previews and the reviews will be published from the recent press performances, but performances will officially begin on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at the Imperial Theatre, making it among the last shows to open in this Broadway season. It will have good company. There will be many shows opening in April. There always are. And to tell you the rest of the creative team, we know that music is going to be by Marc Shaiman with lyrics by Scott Whitman and Marc Shaiman. The book is by Rick Ellis and Bob Martin, who have a great history for comedic musical theatre choreography by Joshua Bergasse, who I am convinced worked on the TV production. Actually, I'm pretty sure he was. He was part of Smash in its television form. If I keep scrolling somewhere in this press release, it will tell me, oh, Beowulf Borret is doing the set design. That's always good news. Where is Joshua Bagasse? Here he is. Yes, he is the Emmy award winning choreographer for NBC's musical drama Smash. There you go. And it will be directed by Susan Stroman, which is also very exciting news. But as the TV show Smash has taught us, casting is incredibly important. So let's talk about who is going to be among the cast for Smash on Broadway. Way well in this order we are going to have Robin Herder as Ivy, the role played on screen by Megan Hilty, who is also returning to Broadway this month in Death Becomes Her. Robin has recently been seen in the original Broadway companies of Moulin Rouge and A Beautiful Noise, the Neil diamond musical, and also in Chicago in the long running production of Chicago. It next lists Brooks Ashmanskas as Nigel, a character who doesn't feature in the stage version but may be new version of the writer on the show. I gather Brooks has been in several Broadway shows as a two time Tony Award nominee and is perhaps most recently remembered for having starred in the Prom. Now it's this next performer I'm particularly interested in because Krista Rodriguez is going to be coming to Broadway with Smash playing a character called Tracy. Again, not a character who we are familiar with from the TV version, but Krista Rodriguez. We are because she was in the TV show. She played a ensemble performer who was cast in a breakthrough role in the musical Hit List in the show's second season, but then a whole bunch of drama happened afterwards and she ended up booking the national tour of Once It All Went Down Anyway. Krista Rodriguez has been seen on Broadway in the Addams Family, originating the role of Wednesday in multiple productions of Spring Awakening, in the revival of A Chorus Line, recently in a regional production of Bye Bye Birdie and the recent into the woods revival. And I'm very thrilled for Christa to be back on Broadway. Hopefully I'll get the chance to see her perform for the first time. I have never seen her on stage before and considering that the TV show did have such a Broadway filled cast, it's nice to have some continuity even if she's playing a completely different character. John Bellman is going to be playing a character called Geri. I have seen John before in Shucked. Christine Nielsen is going to be playing a character called Susan. Christine Nielsen, who we tend to associate more with the comedic and dramatic plays rather than the musical theatre realm. But she has appeared before in some musicals including Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and Spring Awakening. And while I was researching for that fact, I discovered that Christine Nielsen actually played multiple roles, including Marilyn Monroe in a Broadway play about Jackie Kennedy. Fun fact. I became aware of Christine Nielsen because of her celebrated performance in Vanya and Sonja and Masha and Spike, and I got to see her on stage for the first time in the play Infinite Life, both of which very different to Smash. Considerably different to Smash. And it's worth saying as well, many of these performers who I'm listing don't even bear much of a resemblance to the types of characters that we saw in the TV show. Like, it's not easy to link them up and go like, oh, like she's the Angelica Huston, Because I don't think that's what's happening here. I don't see much parity between those characters that we came to know in the TV version and the characters and the performers being listed here. That is until we get to the next one, because we do have a Karen Caroline Bowman is going to be playing Karen Caroline Bowman, who is a former Elphaba in Wicked, who also led the Frozen US Tour as Elsa and is currently appearing in Sunset boulevard at the St. James, the recently transferred West End revival that is now headed to Broadway that just opened at the St James Theatre, where she is the standby for Norma Desmond. However, she was the second to be announced after Nicole Scherzinger was announced to be leading the show on Broadway, and everyone assumed that that meant that she would be the Rachel Tucker. Now, what happened in the West End is Nicole Scherzinger played the role, but once a week Rachel Tucker appeared as a guest artist playing the role of Norma Desmond and also had first right of refusal if Nicole missed a performance. Now, this never happened without multiple days notice. There were a few where scheduling things came up and Nicole was announced in advance to be out of a few performances, but she never called out on the day of or at the last minute. There were, however, two other performers in the cast who also were prepared to play Norma Desmond. There was a standby named Lara Denning whose job was to just wait backstage and possibly need to play Norma Desmond. If Nicole was indisposed and Rachel was also indisposed, she was not part of the ensemble. So all she was doing was waiting, like on standby, which is what a standby is to play Norma. There was also Laura Harrison, who I believe covered Norma from within the show's ensemble. So when this was initially announced, we all thought Caroline Bowman was potentially going to be the Rachel Tucker. In fact, she is the Lara Denning because Mandy Gonzalez is the guest artist who will be appearing once a week as Norma Desmond. And in the event of the indisposition of Nicole Scherzinger and Mandy Gonzalez, then Caroline Bowman would go on. And it's possibly due to this that Caroline Bowman is not staying with Sunset Boulevard for very long because she is going to be starring, potentially featured in I don't know how big this role is in Smash. I say I don't know how big this role is because I don't know how else this cast list is sorted. It's not alphabetically and Ivy is the top name and Karen is the sixth name. I will say as well, Robin Herder and Caroline Bowman both read the tiniest bit older than Catherine McPhee and Megan Hilty did in the TV show. Katherine McPhee playing this completely green, bright eyed ingenue newcomer to the industry, and Megan Hilty playing the slightly more jaded chorus girl. But both of them still very early in their careers. And Robin Herder and Caroline Bowman both feel like, you know, more sophisticated performers. So I'm intrigued if this is going to be meeting those characters, those same characters a little later on. What if it's like set after the events of Smash? Could you imagine? Anyway, Caroline Bowman will be leaving Sunset Boulevard, presumably, and will be going into Smash next year at the Imperial. We don't yet know when. I actually think Caroline Bowman stands a better chance of getting to go on on Broadway than Lara Denning did in the West End because the run for Sunset on Broadway is going to be substantially longer. It was very brief here, but I need to keep going because we have three more names. We have Jacqueline B. Arnold as Anita, like in west side Story, Anita, another character name that did not feature in the TV version, and a performer that I don't know. So we're going to scroll down a little here and I'm going to tell you a little bit more about Jacqueline B. Arnold, recently seen as La Chocolat in Moulin Rouge. The musical, in fact, was part of the original Broadway company, was also part of the original Broadway company of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. Oh, she was one of the divas. She was also part of the national tours of Hairspray, We Will Rock youk and Rent. I am hearing vocalist, which is also something I'm hearing about. The next performer listed below, Bella Coppola is going to be playing Chloe. I think maybe a deceptively important role to the show. But I don't want to issue any spoilers on here based on rumors I may have heard, but she has previously been seen as Jane Seymour in Six, as well as in the Off Broadway production of Kinky Boots. The final principal listed is Casey Garvin, who will be playing Charlie. Casey was seen in Bullets Over Broadway and seen by me in Some Like It Hot. Other Broadway credits include King Kong disaster, Mrs. Doubtfire and the revival of Miss Saigon. But fear not, those are not the only performers we have been told about because, and this is Also very exciting, they've listed more members of the company, presumably in the ensemble. Wendy Bergamini, Sarah Bowden, Jacob Burns, Deanna Kudjo, Shell Denton, Daniel Gaiman Merritt, David James, Meghan Cain, who has recently been seen in and Juliet David, Paul Kidder, Ian Liberto, Libby, Lloyd McGee Maddox, Conor McRoary, Jay Savage, Jake Trammell and Katie Weber, with additional casting to be announced shortly. Now, I have half a mind to go back to the photos people took of the workshop casting information and see if there are any principal roles that haven't been claimed in this press release. Alex Brightman was a part of the workshops and isn't doing this show on Broadway potentially. He just doesn't want to. Potentially. The creative team ended up going in a different direction, but I think the more likely scenario is it's because he's doing something else. What are you doing, Alex Brightman, that you don't have time to do Smash? Colour me intrigued. And before British people get excited thinking maybe that means he's doing Beetlejuice in the uk, I am inclined to doubt that for different reasons. Let's do exactly what I just said and see if we can find out what other roles there may have been in the Smash Workshop. If you don't know what a workshop is, then you definitely didn't see Smash on tv because they covered it extensively. There was an episode called the Workshop. I know this because it's all I can find when I Google Smash Workshop. Basically, it's a developmental, rehearsal and preview version of a show where they can change things, where they can experience it with an audience and they can also showcase it to potentially interested parties like producers, investors and the like. Alex Brightman was Jerry, which is the role now being played by John Bellman. Jonolyn Saxer was Karen. Casey Garvin was Charlie again. Christine Nielsen was Susan again. But there is a character called Scott. This, presumably is the additional casting we may be waiting for. Is is for the role of Scott. I guess that wasn't really as exciting a scoob as I thought it was going to be. But anyway, let's talk a little bit more about Smash's Broadway viability this season, because I feel like while I really appreciate Broadway musicals taking the time and doing the work, I. I do fear slightly that Smash is arriving at the wrong time. And listen, I want this to be a huge success. I love Smash. If you haven't already, go back and watch the TV show, especially because it doesn't seem like that's going to spoil you for the stage version that has quite a sizably different plot. Go check out the TV show. It was basically catnip for musical theater people with great songs and terrific musical sequences and choreography, and it was just a very fun time. I don't know enduringly how desperate people are to see Smash on stage because it's been a little while. Some people will remember it with fond nostalgia, but there are a lot of shows trying to trade on nostalgia right now. And the other thing about this season versus last season is we have a lot of heavyweight divas coming in. And that's kind of Smash's marketing and brand, because in the TV show version at least, it was this Marilyn Monroe centric diva off with these two leading ladies going after this role and kind of hungry for this and desperate for this stardom, which is a very similar concept to what we're already seeing in Sunset Boulevard with this big diva performance everyone's talking about from Nicole Scherzinger, who is desperately trying to return to the screen. We have Gypsy coming up with Audra McDonald. We all know what that's about, but again, it has to do with this big leading lady performance and clutching at stardom on the stage. We also have Megan Hilty, who was one of those characters in Smash, and Jennifer Simard giving you campy diva off in Death Becomes her, which is just as nostalgic, probably even more nostalgic. And that's before we consider other shows like Boop, which is not a million miles away. Idina Menzel. The Idina Menzel coming back to Broadway in a musical about trees. Also, Tammy Faye with Katie Brabin, who is not to be written off in this year's Tony Award race for best leading actress in a musical? I just think it's a very busy year for slightly campy leading lady diva shows. And that's a slightly reductive way of looking at things. Oh, my gosh. Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga also returning to Broadway in Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends Hell, Jessica Vosk is going into Hell's Kitchen. And so with Broadway tickets being as expensive as they are and people having to realistically choose between shows other than the people in the community who are just going to go and see everything anyway. It's like, do you go see a musical version of that TV show you loved starring Megan Hilty, or do you go and see Megan Hilty? Do you go see a show about these fictional leading lady stars? Or do you go see the giant starry leading ladies on Broadway this season with Nicole Scherzinger, Idina Menzel, Audra McDonald, Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga and more. It just seems like a challenging climate for Smash to be opening in trying to sell the story of these fictional diva characters based on a TV show many of us loved a decade ago versus if Smash had come in last season when I think the Tony race for something like Best New Musical leading action to Musical was that little bit quieter than it might be this time around. That being said, I of course hope that this is a smashing success. I will be doing my best to try and see it when it opens on Broadway next year. I will do my best to go over and review. I am so intrigued about what this version of the show is and also how many of those fantastic songs from the TV show have made it to the stage. But even the suggestion that Let Me Be youe Star is going to feature in the stage version puts a ticket in my hand and has me seated waiting excitedly for the Broadway version. And I would love to know if you feel similarly. Let me know in the comment section down below. Are you excited about this? Are you optimistic about Smasher's success in what we have to admit is a very challenging Broadway climate? Still, are you excited about this casting? I think there are some really exciting names in there who are going to give fantastic performances. Hopefully that can be enough. Are you someone who got to see the workshop version of the show? Don't spoil it in the comments, but let us know maybe what to expect in terms of how much of a departure it was from the TV version. And if you saw the TV version, then tell me about your favourite part of the TV show. In the meantime, I hope that you have enjoyed watching this video. Make sure to subscribe and turn on notifications for lots more Broadway musical theatre content coming very, very soon. I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds, I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a Stagey Day. Subscribe.