Musicals & Television – I think I can only name two musical TV series: Fame and Glee; and I’ve not seen even one minute of Glee. I can think of another one which was about New York cops and it was a musical, but I can’t remember its title, probably because it crashed and burned and was taken off the air after just a few episodes. So the new NBC Series Smash, which premiered on Monday, February 6th, is a bit away from my normal tastes in TV fare. It is a series about the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. We go, right from the jump, into a fast paced, high energy production.
Though there’s got to be some exposition to establish some characters, there was only a single dramatic thread in the opening show that seemed slow, in the sense that you could say – during this section the show dragged it heels. That was the adoption thread. But maybe the producer made a change on the fly because later on the husband offers up an opinion that the long wait for a Chinese adopted child is too long.
I loved that assorted story lines that all meet and merge in and around the play in question: Marilyn The Musical. To give you an idea of the components, we have:
A) Two gals competing for the Marilyn role:
Katherine McPhee as Karen Cartwright. Cartwright is a tall and slender brunette. Though she looks nothing like Marilyn or a Marilyn wanna-be, she can belt out a tune with the best of them. But she lacks experience.
Karen (Katherine McPhee) and Dev (Raza Jaffrey)
Meanwhile the long rehearsal sessions as well as the pressure of getting the part have put a strain on her relationship with her boyfriend, Dev Sundaram played by Raza Jaffrey, who works for the Mayor in City Hall.
Ivy (Megan Hilty) soars through the air in rehearsals
Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn. She not only has the look of a Marilyn, she’s also got the curves. She’s currently working in the chorus of an existing show on Broadway, so she has the experience and polish of a veteran performer. She’s caught the eye of two men. First is the director, and the other one is the co-author of the play’s book and songs.
Ivy once more - same scene: this time for real on the stage
B) The authors of the show’s book and music
Debra Messing plays Julia Houston. She’s married with a teenage son. She and her husband have wanted to adopt another child but there’s a lengthy amount of time in the process. She and her husband had promised each other that they would put their careers on hold while the adoption process was in progress. But minutes into Episode One she had jumped right back into work writing songs.
Christian Borle plays Tom Levitt. He is Julia’s partner in creating the show. The character is gay, and super talented. He likes Megan Hilty’s character Ivy for the role. With Julia they are a very successful creative team.
C) Jack Davenport as Director Derek Wills. He’s mercurial, talented, and is an ego-maniac. He’s also a sexual predator in the same way as Vincent Cassell’s character was in Black Swan. In the first show he puts his moves on McPhee’s Carpenter, and the in the second episode he goes after Hilty’s Ivy Lynn. One of these two girls does sleep with him. And gets the call back for the Marilyn role. He and Borle’s Tom Levitt do not get a long at all.
Director Derek Wills (Jack Davenport with Marilyn's 1 and 1A
D) The Producer of the show, whose job it is to round up the show’s backers/investors is Eileen Rand who is played by Angelica Houston. Rand is in the midst of a very messy divorce with her husband Jerry Rand, played by Michael Cristofer.
Anjelica Houston is 3rd from right, sitting on the high director's chair
So far the series has aired two episodes. We are quite familiar with the above named characters. Tonight, Monday the 20th of February we will get Episode Three which is called Enter Mr. DiMaggio. The search to cast the role of Joe DiMaggio begins in earnest.
To be honest, I’m surprised that I’m watching this series. My last personal experience in the ‘theater’ was in elementary school. I’ve known just a couple of actresses in my life – and their lives seems fraught with either disappointment or pressure. Life in The theater is not for me.
But I guess that I succumbed to the huge promotional campaign by NBC to launch this series:
Don’t Miss It! The Monday Night after Super Bowl Sunday. A Must- see!
Yeah, they got me. It’s not that I’m terribly eager to see tonight’s episode, or that I’ll be distraught if I miss it. But, barring an electrical calamity – I will watch it.
I’m giving the series a thumbs-up for the two episodes that have aired. The music is great, the actors and actresses have really bought into their roles, and the story is intriguing. Whether or not I can sustain enough interest to watch all 15 episodes is still up in the air. We’ll see.
Notes from Episode Three (Monday 020212):
The actress who won the role of Marilyn wonders if she got the role because she had the talent or because she slept with Derek.
Karen flies home to Iowa for a baby shower and sings Gretchen Wilson’s Redneck Woman at a karaoke bar.
Julia Houston and the actor up for the DiMaggio role share a secret – it’s five years old but is newsworthy.
Tom’s assistant Ellis (Jaime Cepero) is even more shifty than we thought.
Producer Eileen Rand is having trouble raising money. Has Jerry poisoned the well?
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Things are heating up. Did we expect anything less? And what about you? What do you think of it so far?
Comments
We have liked the show, however the last show, where the two guys are in bed really was revolting. It was unbelievable just to see them in bed, but to be talking about their sex was disgraceful. We will continue to watch, but we do hope we will not see this again. The cast is great and the plot moves right along. Megan is doing a great job of wanting us to dislike her – love Angelica – of course Kathryn is wonderful, as usual – we like Debra very much, she is so pretty.
Guys, please leave the gay scenes, such as Monday’s out.