BOMBSHELL coming to Broadway?

Has there been any news about this? I think it would be awesome!!!

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Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman were just featured this week in an "Ask A Star" video on Broadway.com where they talk about it. Basically they say that initially when Smash started, that is what they were told...and now they are still waiting. They also talk about how impossible it would be to have one actress sing the role of Marilyn as currently written (too difficult to sing).

The really sad thing is that BOMBSHELL is one of, if not, Mark Shaiman and Scott Whitman's best score(s) and it won't be eligible for a Tony Award should it come to Broadway.

Well, as you know, a male's voice is different than a female's. And with the character belting to the rafters in almost every number, it would certainly be a killer.

I hope some kind of full stage incarnation comes out of it, if just to see how it would materialize as an actual book musical (especially since biographical shows always seem to be a challenge to really do correctly).

Updated On: 2/17/13 at 02:10 AM

The show has exposure through the TV show and album sales (indeed Amazon suggests it is selling quite well), some potential stars if they stay over from the show (and because it probably will be cancelled I doubt scheduling will be an issue), a well known creative team, and is apparently good. This sounds like a good investment to me....I wonder if it will be a difficult financial exercise though (surely a lot of people working on the TV show will want some kind of royalty).

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You've already got two actresses in Megan Hilty and Kathryn McPhee who are basically tailor-made for the lead role, and I therefore think that, if Bombshell were indeed to be adapted as an actual stage musical, they'd both be a lock to 'reprise' the role, which means that you'd indeed want to have them alternate on different nights.

It's not the number of songs, but the dynamics of those songs. They can right a disproportionate number of belting songs, because the actresses aren't actually singing them 8 times a week.

And bwayphreak is right -- no way could they pay both women to work part time.

Wasn't it also stated some months ago, that it would still be quite a ways off as there is no actual book written?

And, with the rating of the tv show what they are, that isn't going to make an automatic audience.

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Unless the ratings for the second season really rebound, I would say it's pretty unlikely that NBC would pony up an additional 10 million dollars to stage "Bombshell" on Broadway, as, from their angle at least, it would really just be a marketing tool for the television show.

I wouldn't be surprised though if perhaps, down the road, "Bombshell" was eventually packaged for regional licensing.

I think we are actually in agreement on that darquegk, but my belief is that Bombshell would be rolled out in a regional production first-- perhaps if it were an unexpected hit on that front, like say, Newsies was, maybe they would consider bringing it in to New York, but as these things go, it's generally not cutting your losses to risk an additional 10--15 million in a Broadway staging of a property with questionable audience appeal. I would say the ratings don't warrant that move.

I come from a very vocally musically inclined family - both immediate and extended - and one thing that I've learned is that the way a song was originally written and composed doesn't mean as much as you'd think it would, and that most songs can be easily and simply tweaked in some fashion in order to make them either easier to sing or to tailor them for a particular voice.

If Bombshell were in fact to ever be adapted for the real-world stage, there are things that could easily and simply be done to lessen potential strain on an actress's vocal chords without having to fundamentally change the composition of the songs themselves.

I also took drama in HS and have personally seen the same thing happen with full musicals and straight plays, so I know that the challenges presented by the nature of the songs that Shaiman and Whitman wrote for Bombshell could be surmounted in order to allow the show to be adapted for the real-world stage.

"22 songs does not a musical make."...think MAMMA MIA...:)

I think this would make a perfect broadway show!!! I agree with dramamama, I think Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty would both alternate the role if it were ever to come to the stage.

I'm sorry, but McPhee would be even more of a fish out of water in an actual Broadway show than she was in Smash. Just no...

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