But it has no book. And it's incredibly rare for a book musical to succeed when the book is written around the score. The songs of Bombshell are no ABBA songbook, they're beloved by only a relative handful of Smash fanatics.
The TV series was first aired about a half dozen years ago. Will there actually be a mass ticket buying audience for this show? Though I saw a musical based on the subject back in the eighties and then an opera at Lincoln Center, neither one sold tickets. And will SMASH cover her life up until her unsolved death or end as her career takes off? Unless it's in the right hands, I feel over the years we've been told all we need to know about the woman with all the books written and documentary TV shows based on the her life. Plus an OLC recording on Marilyn starring Stephanie Lawrence and a Canadian cast recording of a production titled "Hey, Marilyn!" starring Beverly D'Angelo are already out there and once again they both failed. As far as Marilyn goes, I think most people would prefer viewing her films.
The ship for Smash has sailed. If Bombshell is ever mounted on Broadway, it will have to rely on everything but the Smash brand to sell tickets in my opinion.
"You can't overrate Bernadette Peters. She is such a genius. There's a moment in "Too Many Mornings" and Bernadette doing 'I wore green the last time' - It's a voice that is just already given up - it is so sorrowful. Tragic. You can see from that moment the show is going to be headed into such dark territory and it hinges on this tiny throwaway moment of the voice." - Ben Brantley (2022)
"Bernadette's whole, stunning performance [as Rose in Gypsy] galvanized the actors capable of letting loose with her. Bernadette's Rose did take its rightful place, but too late, and unseen by too many who should have seen it" Arthur Laurents (2009)
"Sondheim's own favorite star performances? [Bernadette] Peters in ''Sunday in the Park,'' Lansbury in ''Sweeney Todd'' and ''obviously, Ethel was thrilling in 'Gypsy.'' Nytimes, 2000
It's not like the song-writing team has had a string of hits. They seem to be missing a lot lately, and while there might be a small core group excited for this, I just don't find it to be appealing. But curious what the concept is.
It was refreshing in that interview to hear htey acknowledge there's no way BOMBSHELL would've been greeted with anything but jeers, given how cheesy it would be to make a Marilyn musical (still), especially how bombastic parts of tat score were. It worked on the show because they were writing for the two stars and their styles but I watched the numbers and thought, what a cheesy show.
Also, I had the impression they might use the SMASH framing to do it. He kept referring it as putting SMASH onstage, not BOMBSHELL. I wonder if it would be a behind the scenes musical of making a musical.
It seems Bombshell isn't dead after all (despite the upcoming Some Like It Hot, which many seemed to think was a compromise). Craig Zadan just teased on Twitter...
that tweet. FMLLLLLLL. been waiting for this forever.
i feel like you dont have to be a smash fan to appreciate it.
the marilyn name alone will attract people (mostly tourists prob)
someone on this thread explained why it was so hard to get this to the stage (mostly about one person being able to sing all those song) so that gave me some patients with regards to the show.
but seeing katharine mcphee in waitress makes me even hungrier for it
I think this will do very well. The show has a (shockingly) huge fanbase here in the US, but also has a huge international fanbase as well. People love that score and it really is a great score. If they match it with a good book and keep Hilty, McPhee, Bernadette Peters, Will Chase, and maybe even Christian Borle involved, I could see this doing very well.
Tag said: "the marilyn name alone will attract people (mostly tourists prob)
Ha! Tell that to the Marilyn musical that just completely bombed in Vegas."
That Marilyn musical was the equivalent of domestic terrorism LOL Don’t even get me started on their party city wigs -.- at least the songs from smash are amazing. Don’t Forget Me, Lets Be Bad, 20th Century Fox Mambo...
BJR said: "Also, I had the impression they might use the SMASH framing to do it. He kept referring it as putting SMASH onstage, not BOMBSHELL. I wonder if it would be a behind the scenes musical of making a musical."
I think that putting SMASH on stage holds much more promise than doing Bombshell. The show within a show kind of gives them a Kiss Me Kate / City of Angels structure that could be interesting. If I was doing it I would much rather write that than try to wring something fresh out of the Monroe story. It also gives them the opportunity to write more songs for the backstage SMASH characters to make the score eligible for a Tony.
Speaking of reboots, you’re working on a Smash musical for Broadway, yes? We haven’t announced anything really detailed about this, but I’ve said before we want to look at how to adapt Smash or Bombshell for Broadway. We actually have a creative team coming together and are excited about that.
What about a revival for TV? I don’t think a reboot of that show is in the offing. I mean, that cast is all over the place. I love that there’s a cult following that would love it, but I think we’re going to see what the live stage version yields first.