Smash: Sn 02 Ep 03 – Dramaturg – The Recap

Derek Wills says, “Why don’t we take it from the top ...” and those are the last lines of the 3rd Episode of Season 2 of Smash. The Episode was called Dramaturg. And we had to slog through about 40 minutes of scattered nonsense before Jimmy pitched the idea of his and Kyle’s show to Derek. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. That’s how the episode ends. So, to follow Derek’s words, let’s take a look at this episode ‘from the top‘.

Karen is singing a hot song. Sounds great. Looks great – only it is just a visualization (like a dream) of Karen and Derek listening to a song by Jimmy. Karen convinces Derek to take a meeting with the youngsters.

Eileen has an idea. She’s hired a script doctor, on Broadway they’re called dramaturgs, to rework the book for Bombshell. Eileen has to tread gently around Julia and Tom to do this.

Eileen: There’s someone I want you to meet. His name is Peter Gilman. And I think you’ll like him very much.
Tom: A dramaturg – are you joking….
Julia: Of course she’s joking…

Only she’s not. A meeting is set for 3:00 PM that very afternoon.

Ivy auditions for a role in Liaisons – a new Broadway musical. She’ll finesse her way into auditioning for an even better role (Cecile) in the show.

In a spectacular Central Park South apartment, Veronica is working on a song from The Wiz, as Derek arrives. The key to this scene is that a) The Wiz still doesn’t have a replacement director yet, and b) Derek wants another shot to get back into the show that fired him.

Tom and Julia arrive at the restaurant to meet Peter Gilman. Julia is badmouthing him before they even meet him. Julia describes him: A man who makes his living feeding off the work of other writers, without creating anything of his own, is not a shepherd, he’s a parasite.

Hi, I’m Peter – the parasite. Nice to meet you both. Peter is played by Daniel Sujata.  Even Peter describes the situation as awkward. Dramaturgs are like dentists, he says. No one ever wants to see them, but once the pain wears off, you’re always glad you went. And things go downhill from there. Julia is plainly not at all happy about the situation and she doesn’t do anything to disguise her feelings.

Smash: Season 2 Episode 01 – On Broadway – Recap

It only took two minutes and Dev was tossed into the wastepaper basket never to be seen again. If only real life were that simple. NBC’s Smash, a tale of Broadway, returned the airwaves last night with a special 2 hour season premier. Only after the second hour ended did they bother to tell us that we’ll have to wait two weeks for the next show to air. We just waited 8 1/2 months to see this, and then they put us back on hiatus for another two weeks.

While the curtain doesn’t exactly rise, following a montage which serves as a fast Season One recap, Season 2 opens with Karen Cartwright performing on stage of the closing night in Boston in a full black and white screen. Within seconds, she will become ‘Marilyn’ as the full color bleeds in. Not exactly flattering to Katherine McPhee who plays Cartwright, but if the technology exists, why not use it? Anyway, the show’s opener is a song called: Cut/Print/Moving On. And wasn’t it eerily reminiscent of a tune from the Broadway musical Ragtime called Journey On. Not the complete song mind you – just the key phrases of Moving on and Journey On. And the intent:

Tell me a brand new story. Together we’ll turn the page…
The grass is always greener on some Technicolor stage
And if a duckling never swims, she’ll never become a swan…
Yes, I’m dropping in some cut/print – Moving on.

I guess that’s a big clue from new show runner Joshua Safran that things are going to be different. Well yes, some people are gone like the ratboy Ellis, one of TV’s most uniformly detested characters ever. Like Julia Houston’s son Leo and husband Frank. At the 25 minute mark, and just ahead of a commercials break, Frank was seen flirting with a pretty woman who he had just placed in a taxi. Just another major point to be noticed by another cast member – in this case Tom Levitt, Julia’s writing partner. Frank will have a major shootout with Julia, a public one at that, in front of dozens of folks, later on. And poof, just like that, a character becomes history, a marriage ends, and everybody must move on.

But that’s getting a tad ahead of the story. As Karen Cartwright belts out Cut Print Moving On, we have a montage of most of the lead characters leaving Boston and arriving back in New York. Karen is now Dev-less, Ivy tosses away her supply of prescription drugs – those pills she shook out of the bottle near the end of Season implying a suicide were just a part of the cliff-hanger finale but no one was fooled. Especially not Karen who remains furious with Ivy – Karen will snub Ivy twice in the first five minutes of the show by not sharing either a taxi or an elevator with her.

In New York, at the rehearsal hall, Derek is thanking everyone for their efforts in Boston as he said, thanks for a job well done – in Boston. But that was then, and this is now, but much hard work remains. Eileen allows that she’s going to get the show into one of New York’s finest theaters

She also reminds them that rewrites are necessary, and once the determination is made about which characters will remain, all players still in the show will have new contracts sent to their agents. And PS – no raises – so don’t ask!

As they break, Eileen calls Karen over to tell her about a soiree she’s planning for the weekend. A press party for the show. Eileen invites Karen to do the opening number, and she can pick her own back up singers. Karen names Jessica and Beth of course, and the third is … Joy. Ivy is snubbed once again. Eileen says to Karen, I hope you’re ready. It all starts now.

Not a bad format for the intro to the second season. Cue the music, roll the montage, bring everyone up to speed, and keep that Ivy/Karen stew of a feud on the slow cooker.

In Eileen’s office, we are told that Michael Swift wants out of his contract. You can almost hear Julia’s sigh. Eileen says that’s trying to get the show into the St. James Theater which is one New York’s most storied and cherished theaters. This isn’t the Belasco, or the Morosco - it’s the St. James. Oklahoma, The King and I, and The Producers all opened there. Then there’s the reviews which were decidedly negative. Julia hasn’t read them. She relies on the expressions on Tom’s face.

Karen is heading out to see a show with Derek. They’ll be seeing Veronica Moore’s new show. Moore is played by Jennifer Hudson. And they’ve backstage passes and will get to meet her. Thank you Derek.

NBC’s Smash: Episodes 4-5-6 – Recap

Slim pickings at the movies. We are in the 10th week of the year, and I’ve gone to the cinema just 4 times. So how about TV?

Since my last post on the NBC Series Smash! three more episodes (4,5 & 6) have aired. As you may have heard – things are heating up. In fact there have been a number of characters introduced since my last post. While things have heated up, they’ve also become more than a tad predictable. Usually this is disappointing, and I think I am disappointed to a degree, but this series is about a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. So with the life of the actual fallen movie star and idol well known, it is not too hard to guess that the stars of the show, the ones either portraying Marilyn or trying to – that would be Megan Hilty as Ivy – and Katherine McPhee as Karen Carpenter, would be heading down similar pathways. Of course, insecurities, or whatever else it might be to give them stress is going around, and would have to – that’s the predictability factor. No way to avoid it.

There’s another perspective that occurs to me as well. Very few of the characters seem to be having fun. If it’s not stress, then it is insecurities. If it’s not insecurities, then they’re just not good enough. Finally, if they know or understand that they’re not good enough, then for sure, they’ll be wearing that sad sack, ‘woe is me’ look. Not to stay or start with the negatives – how about we look at the few people who might actually be happy.

First and foremost has to be Eileen Rand, the show in the show’s producer. This role is Angelica Huston’s. Initially, aside from throwing some drinks in her future ex-husband’s Jerry’s face, and fretting about financing the show – she didn’t have much presence. Okay – in 4 she tried to sell a painting but that didn’t work because it was in Jerry’s name. But something tells me – the financing won’t be a problem going forward. Money will appear, or maybe Jerry might get back into play. After all, there goes the series if the production of Marilyn the musical has to be shut down.

But there’s a dark cloud gathering above Eileen. That would be Ellis (Jaime Cepero). First the creepy Ellis was floating around Tom (Christian Borle). He seemed to function as Tom’s houseboy. But he was sneaky. He lifted Julia’ notebook (and barely managed to wriggle off the hook on that one). Then he gained access to Eileen’s PC. Then he somehow had the right connection to have a friend of his show Eileen an 83rd floor apartment that she could get for a steal at 10K per month. I thought she had money issues.

But, really – having Ellis in her atmosphere can’t be a good thing for Eileen. We’ve been set up to hate Ellis. He made Julia’s skin crawl, and he’s not the least bit trustworthy. So Eileen – be aware, and be wary. You’ve admitted a cobra into your home.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith - Will Chase and Megan Hilty as Joe Di and Marilyn Monroe

Another guy that is probably happy is Michael Swift, played by Will Chase. He’s married with a kid, and leaving that on the side, he’s managed to turn Julia (Debra Messing)  upside down so well, that despite her strong misgivings, they’ve resumed their affair. They were an item 5 years ago – but that was another time and another place. He’s also been cast as Joe DiMaggio in the show. So far, he and Megan Hilty as Ivy have been superb as Joe Di and Marilyn. The Mr. and Mrs Smith song in 4 was great. But I don’t think he’s going to last. First of all, the affair with Julia can’t go unpunished. Second, Ellis knows about the past affair between Julia and Michael. And he hasn’t played that card yet, and may not have to. Prediction: Adios Michael Swift.

And on that note, I think I’ve used up all the characters who would fall on the credit side, the happy side, of the ledger. That ledger is strongly unbalanced, as the debit side (the unhappy, too much stress side) is filled to overflowing.

In Episode 4 Ivy’s insecurities are out there for all to see. First she gets Karen moved out of her place in the ensemble’s geography. Karen gets sent to the back row. Then after more grousing by Ivy, Karen is removed from the song completely. Then there was the party. Ivy sees Derek’s hand on the ass of another woman. When she confronts him about it, he explains it away with – It’s just business – I was sweet-talking a prospective investor for the show. Ivy begins to wonder if sleeping with Derek was the right thing to do.

Let's Be Bad

In Episode 5, the hits just keep on coming. Ivy arrives to find Derek practicing/dancing with Karen. “Am I late?” she asks. “No, Karen was early,” replies Derek.  Another punch to Ivy’s bag of insecurities. Later Ivy has a superb song called Let’s Be Bad, which is also the title of the Episode.  The song was marvelously edited with the rehearsal version intercut with a finished stage version. From the lyrics:

If you say something is taboo
That’s the thing I want to do
Do it ’til we’re black and blue
Let’s be bad

But that’s just the half of it. At the conclusion of the song, the whole company breaks into a spontaneous applause. The performance was that good. But what does Director Derek do? He gets up and walks out without saying a word. You can almost hear the exuberance rush out of Ivy like air out of a deflating balloon. Her insecurities just took a massive blow. Will it ever stop? The sad sack she has been carrying around inside of herself just grew  again. THUD, THud, and thud.

By the time we get to Episode 6 called Chemistry, right from the jump – Ivy has issues. Major issues. Her voice is shot. The lead in a Broadway musical has got to have her pipes in tip-top shape, or more accurately – in perfect working order. Rest and an escape from stress would help. As well as a potent drug. But Ivy hasn’t the right constitution for this drug. But she takes the prednisone anyway. The drug does help her voice get back to excellent working order but there are some nasty side effects. Ivy is soon saying hello to some hallucinations – you know the kind – Karen as Marilyn (including a blonde wig) is what Ivy sees when she looks in the mirror. Uh oh.

NBC’s New TV Series: Smash!

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.