Fresh from the stream of the Bombshell concert in the early hours of the morning (Look out for my review this afternoon), a new musical based on the cult TV classic 'Smash' is heading to Broadway, it has been announced.
'Smash' premiered on NBC in 2012. Its premise was the creation of a fictional new musical, Bombshell, about the life of Marilyn Monroe, and its two competing lead actresses (Later three but the less said about Uma Thurman, the better). The original plan was to make the fictional musical a reality and create the show on Broadway. Due to disappointing ratings (FOOLS) that never happened, and the closest we came to seeing it was the one off benefit concert in New York five years ago.
Musical theatre Twitter went crazy for the stream of the concert last night, and the concert ended with teasing tweets from Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty that this wasn't the last we've seen of 'Smash'. The show coming back for a third season was the joyous news we all need in this crapfest of a year that is 2020.
However, the actual news was far more surprising. Producer Steven Spielberg has announced that 'Smash: A New Musical' is heading to Broadway. Rather than recreating Bombshell, the plan is to recreate 'Smash' itself and tell the story of the creators of Bombshell trying to get it to Broadway. Basically the musical theatre version of Inception. It will be produced by Spielberg himself as well as Neil Meron who was another executive producer on the show.
Spielberg said "I am personally thrilled to be a part of this musical and its road to Broadway. Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it seems fitting that a new musical inspired by what we did on the show would eventually come to the stage. I'm beyond thrilled to be working with this incredible creative team and my producing partners who began the Smash journey with me over 10 years ago".
Meron added "Speaking for myself and Bob Greenblatt, our partner when he was running NBC, we're thrilled Steven wanted to embark on this musical with us. We've all felt that Shaiman and Wittman's incredible score for Smash belonged on Broadway. Collaborating with first class bookwriters Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and the world's best choreographer Josh Bergasses will be the icing on the cake"
The music in the show will be written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and will largely feature songs from the show including the classic 'Let me be your star'. If this means we can also get a few of the standout numbers from the season 2 musical Hit List, I'm all for it. It will also feature the characters - competing actresses Ivy and Karen, and creators Julia and Tom.
It is early days yet and no other details have been announced but this is definitely a reason to be excited for the future.
Last night showed there was still a huge fanbase for Smash which has only grown and intensified in time (as so many cult classics do) so here's hoping for a successful run on Broadway in the not too distant future.
Look out for my Bombshell review later today.