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In any case, Judy Garland isn't coming back and the original ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is available on videocassette. So what's the mission of the stage replica at the Gershwin Theater? To spread the good will earned by the overture, I guess. And that task, if not a lot else, is accomplished by this lavish show despite such obstacles as insipid acting, an inane book and a complete lack of originality. While it's not high praise to say so, ''Meet Me in St. Louis'' is superior to the other latter-day Broadway adaptations of M-G-M musicals, ''Seven Brides for Seven Brothers'' and ''Singin' in the Rain.'' Unlike its predecessors, this show respects its source and knows its audience. It also benefits from the fact that the original material - Sally Benson's stories of domestic bliss and teen-age romance on the eve of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition - is too Kensington Avenue-bound to insist upon cinematic chatrandom sweep.

Greenblatt added that the workshop’s cast will likely consist of “actors who are friends of ours, that will please us. It really isn’t supposed to be the cast for the show just yet. So we are only a few steps away from that stage.” He declined to list all the choices he has for a dream live production casting. As previously reported, the team also includes Steven Spielberg and Neil Meron (“Annie Live!&rdquo, who both served as executive producers on the series. Greenblatt was the chairman of NBC entertainment at the time, championing “Smash” as his own passion project. Tony- and Grammy-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who wrote most of the music for the series, will also be working on the musical, along with choreographer Joshua Bergasse. Meron, Greenblatt, Shaiman and Wittman are also collaborating on the Broadway adaptation of the 1959 film “Some Like it Hot,” which premieres later this year.