Bombshell Benefit Concert — Page 10

If the creatives wanted to drop the song "Smash" from the score due to it being a little too meta, "Big Finish" could work just as well in the developing Marilyn persona, auditioning into stardom slot. Plus, it would give Norma Jeane and Marilyn a duet that wasn't a power ballad.

I wasn't a fan of it as a dual role until I watched the concert. It pointed up that the two Marilyns not only play off each other musically, but are written in different musical vocabularies. Katherine's Marilyn, who appears to primarily be the Norma Jeane side, sings the more introspective and pop or soul inflected numbers. Megan's Marilyn sings brassier and jazz-heavy numbers. You could find someone who could do both, probably, but with the score being what it is, one person taxing themselves as heavily as Marilyn and Norma Jeane would do isn't ideal.

Plus, like I said, many of the best songs are designed around the build from one to two voices.

I sent out the Bombshell Concert Audio to anyone who contacted me. If anyone else wants an audio just contact me. Thanks!

I also, have really thought about this. I still think it could be played by one actress if there are a few cuts to the score (which pains me to do). I really think "National Pastime" should be one of them, because it's so un-Marilyn/Norma Jean. I really don't think the score is as hard/strenuous as it has been made out to be. It has been pointed out here that Evita has a more vocally difficult score.

The Bombshell in my mind moves rather quickly from Norma Jean to Marilyn.

It has a strong focus on her relationship with the studio, giving Zanuck a nice-sized part. "Smash" is also sung by starlets AFTER Marilyn's rise to fame, and in a manner it was presented in Smash.

"Wolf" can be a very good way to explore her stage-fright, and her full discovery of the impact her star-power has on people.

"Moving the Line" could be a rousing Act 2 closer, when a newly divorced Marilyn still isn't being respected by the film studio

"Dig Deep" is not in the Bombshell in my mind, because "Public Relations", the Act 2 starter, would take place after she filmed The Prince in the Showgirl, married now to Arthur Miller, and finally finding some peace and happiness with her work. We find out, however, after the number, she suffered a miscarriage, and desperately wants a child, and to settle down with her husband.

Arthur, however, thinks that it is best to just continue working on films, which leads to conflict between him and Monroe.

A lot of Act 2 would really play with what has been said about Marilyn, Joe, and Arthur, which is "Joe's problem with her was that she was Marilyn. Arthur's problem was that she wasn't"

We also will get to see "Secondhand White Baby Grand", complete with onstage imagery of Young Norma Jean and her mother, which may also provide some insight into why she desperately wants a child.

Eventually we would get to "Some Like it Hot", when Marilyn suffers from another miscarriage which really puts her in a dark place. On top of all of the pills she needs for her health, and for sleeping, and alcohol, etc., she becomes a mess on set. "Let's Be Bad" explores that brilliantly.

We see her onset behavior get worse and her relationship with Arthur gets worse, as she gets put to work more and more. "The Right Regrets" will explore this time in their relationship, ending in their divorce.

Then, we see the famous(or infamous?) "Happy Birthday Mr President" played out on stage, then a quick transition to a party at Bing Crosby's Palm Spring's home, where Nat King Cole performs "Let's Start Tomorrow Tonight."
We are introduced to JFK, and his affair with Marilyn Monroe.

After the tryst, JFK is awake (Marilyn still asleep) bragging about his night--Marilyn wakes up during this conversation, but doesn't let JFK notice that she is awake. After he leaves the room, Marilyn, who feels very used and broken, reflects on the men that she has known who have only used her, and never thought about her heart and soul ("Never Give All the Heart")

The final part of Act 2, I'm still trying to figure out. "Hang the Moon" is weird, because a reconciliation never actually took place between Marilyn and her mother. I suppose during her death scene, she could have a fantasy of the reconciliation she never had with her mother, "Hang the Moon"

Then the death scene takes place "Secondhand White Baby Grand"

Then, I think cameras, reporters, etc. should just swarm the stage covering Marilyn's death, then Joe DiMaggio could give a heartfelt, tear-filled speech to them about how "this killed her" and "everyone wanted more and more from her, but never gave to her", and he pleads for everyone to "leave her alone". He then stands alone on stage, mourning, and he sings a few notes of "Mr and Mrs Smith"

Then Marilyn, in spirit would come back onstage and sing "Don't Forget Me"

Cut songs:

-Dig Deep

-National Pastime

-Cut, Print, Moving On

Updated On: 8/10/15 at 04:25 PM

I don't see the point in cutting songs because doing so means you're having to rewrite what is already a pretty solid narrative (IMO, anyway) in order to get rid of them and the story elements that accompany/are associated with them.

I also don't see the point in taking the song "Smash" and turning it (back) into a 'chorus'/'ensemble' song, especially since the lyrics and the way they unfold are so illustratively compatible with the rest of Marilyn's journey, especially as presented on the Concept Cast Album.

Splitting up the roles of Norma Jean and Marilyn, as well as dual-casting the latter role, seems to me to be the perfect way to preserve the show as-is while also accounting for the potential pitfalls of vocal fatigue.

I don't really understand the aversion to double-casting the role of Marilyn, mainly because, when you really stop and think about it, it was pretty much conceived and written expressly for the purpose of being a role that is played by more than one actress.

I also believe that, with Fun Home having come along and proven that the concept of having more than one actress play, essentially, the same role (albeit at different points in the story) is more than workable, the idea that you'd have a Bombshell on Broadway where Marilyn IS played by more than one actress a night is far less of a stretch than it might otherwise have been.

Because the concept of the show is a thrilling tour de force star vehicle a la Evita. The show had fun with two actresses because the entire drama of season one and half of season two was "who's going to play Marilyn?".

Anyways, I think "Let's start Tomorrow Tonight" should be cut because it really does not do anything for the story, the character is not important, and I don't think the song is that good.

Since the show, as currently laid out, pretty much progresses in chronological order, you'd be doing the same thing, more or less, as what Fun Home does by having one actress play Norma Jean, one actress play Marilyn up until her marriage to Joe falls apart, and then having another actress play her up until her death.

As far as the role being designed to be played by more than one actress goes, I'm taking into account the following things when I make that statement:

1) The fact that they wrote the evolution of the part so that it paralleled the 'story-within-a-story' nature of Smash and its focus on both Megan Hilty's Ivy and Katharine McPhee's Karen as they both vied for the role and struggled to make it in the theater business

2) The fact that, as per Point 1, they had both actresses sing different parts of the score at different points on the Concept Album and, I believe, in the Concert performance

Given the way that the show was developed to the point that it currently is, I think it makes far more sense to just stick with what they already have structurally and just double-cast the role, especially since Fun Home has provided a tempate for how a double-casting could potentially work.

"I'm pretty sure they had both actresses on the recording, so they can please Team Ivy and Team Karen, and because they already recorded those songs."

We'll just have to agree to disagree on this one as far as whether or not the role was written to be dual-cast goes. :)

I feel like to make it work, they likely will have to add/cut songs to make it work on stage. If they just copy EVERYTHING from the score made for the TV show, it probably won't work as well.

^It was just an example.

Bombshell could most definetely have one actress (Megan Hilty) and have a strong book.