Bombshell - Do you think it would work as a show?

[WickedGinger]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 9:18am

I loved the concept and music of Bombshell the Musical on SMASH. I think it would make a great show on Broadway or the West End. Do you think it will happen?

[rorschach37]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:01am

I think the songs are great and with the right book writer it could be a great musical.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:54am

Didn't they do a version of Bombshell at 54 Below?

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:57am

I don't know about 54 Below, but obviously if the show comes to Broadway, it needs a book! I think the songs are terrific, and the choreography is great. Would Megan Hilty consider the role? I imagine she's very busy now, but maybe she would carve out the time.

[gleek4114]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 10:59am

Megan has been burned by TV twice now. She might want to come back and do something that is almost gaurenteed to be a hit.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:03am

Didn't they do a version of Bombshell at 54 Below?

No. It was a mini-concert of songs from "Hit List".

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:03am

Sorry 54 Below did Hitlist.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:07am

She might want to come back and do something that is almost guaranteed to be a hit.

Ooh, what show is that? You can't be talking about Bombshell.

[jbroadway4]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:17am

I think it would be really great!!! I'm a big fan of the music (as you can probably tell by my picture) and with the right book writer, it could be a great show. Megan Hilty & Katharine McPhee could alternate the role of Marilyn.

[oasisjeff]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:18am

Yeah, they need to come up with more shows that are guaranteed to be hits.

[bwayrose7]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:25am

I do love a lot of the music written for the show. But the problem would be that, logistically, the actress playing Marilyn would be onstage and singing nearly the whole time. If you look at the "cast recording" they released as a Smash tie-in, Marilyn is in nearly every number. That wouldn't be realistic for an actual show.

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:31am

Idina Menzel belts out almost every number in If/Then, I was surprised to see. How many people can keep that up for eight performances a week? Not many, I assume. In the case of Bombshell, they would have to figure out a way around that. I'm sure it can be done. If not Megan Hilty, who would be my first choice, who else could perform this role? (Not McPhee, please.)

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:36am

Yeah having someone on stage singing practically the whole show isn't unheard of. Laura Bell Bundy often said she was off stage 19 minutes total for "Legally Blonde" and included intermission.

I do think IF it ever happened they'd cut some songs/characters that serve no purpose. At this point I can only assume Scott and Marc own the rights to the music more than NBC does so it's up to them.

[Steve721]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:46am

If a musical based on this opened in NY without a complete re-working, the critics would absolutely slaughter it. The show is supposed to be about Marilyn (who had a very distinctive singing voice), but the songs are for most part generic, modern pop ballads that are belted out--nothing that approaches the "real Marilyn" is in the show.

Updated On: 3/12/14 at 11:46 AM

[macnyc]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:48am

Steve, that doesn't bother me. That happens in musicals all the time. I mean, does Berry Gordy sing? I don't think so. You have to suspend your disbelief. Besides, Megan Hilty did do the breathy Marilyn voice at times, very effectively.

[Steve721]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:53am

Berry Gordy isn't Marilyn; Marilyn is an icon. I don't about commercial success (which depends upon many things), but if the actress playing Marilyn starts belting out pop ballads, the critics will savage it.

[jbroadway4]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 11:57am

Pretty sure there are no pop sounding ballads in "Bombshell".....

[Steve721]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 12:10pm

Um, "Let Me Be Your Star", among other things.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 12:18pm

I think writing a series of songs solely based on "this could maybe work into a plot of a Marilyn musical" and then unwaveringly using them to write a show around is a bad idea.

They weren't written as an actual score to a musical. They were written to be presented periodically on a TV show.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 12:26pm

The songs, when listened to together, just don't really sound like they are part of the same show. And really, very few of them actually seem to be advancing whatever plot there's supposed to be.

[brdway411]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 12:32pm

Kad, isn't that what Wildhorn did for Wonderland and Bonnie and Clyde???? Just kidding.

Updated On: 3/12/14 at 12:32 PM

[NewSynchopation]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 12:51pm

I think Bombshell is a way too showy way to approach the tragic life of Marilyn Monroe, and it almost makes light of the fact that show business was the very thing that killed her. A straight play would work much better, but wouldn't ever be a hit.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 1:06pm

Does anyone here remember the musical, "Marilyn: An American Fable" starring Alyson Reed as Marilyn and Scott Bakula as Joe DiMaggio?

It was a train wreck.

[tmbyru]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 1:24pm

It will only work if they use a real plane instead of the cardboard 2D plane.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 3/12/14 at 1:27pm

They should keep the same songs, but make the show about Mamie Van Doren or Jayne Mansfield. I just think Marilyn's inner music was closer to a Berg opera than Shaiman/Wittman good-time music.