NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread — Page 56

I'm not bothered by Thurman's age. There won't be close-ups on stage.

But I don't understand why they keep hiring tall, skinny actresses (Thurman and McPhee) to play a woman famed for her voluptuous figure. Hilty makes perfect casting sense, but not the others.

Hilty's song for Monday about Marilyn's childhood Piano is really beautiful.

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@E.Davis---I was just about to post the same thing in this thread. I absolutely LOVE that "White Baby Grand" song that Hilty will sing in Monday's episode.

To be honest, they need to release an album of all the original songs and not what they are doing now with all the cover music.

There is a sneak peek here on Broadwayworld.com

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/STAGE-TUBE-Sneak-Peek-Megan-Hilty-Performs-White-Baby-Grand-on-SMASH-20120419

Loving that song. I hope they get rid of Uma and bring back Ivy.

Eos, thanks for posting that article--it's really well written and I also agree with the majority of it, even if I still seem to enjoy the show a Hell of a lot more than he does, maybe despite myself. I amd shocked he didn't mention Ellis (unless I missed it)

My one main objection to his argument is I think some concessions they have made make sense. For instance I think most audience members do find the flashy way they film many routines cutting to a fantasy (I assume) of the finished stage version--I know most people I know who watch (and aren't "theatre people") name them as a highlight. Sure it may be ultimately more rewarding to see a bunch of numbers rehearsed with no costumes week after week and then at episode 15 see some of them staged or something, but that's not gonna hook many viewers...

I never got the impression she is on verge of giving him a co-producing credit.

I was with the Murray article (a very nice analysis of why "Glee" works, a realistic reasoning why Karen should not be Marilyn) for about half of it...then he just started getting stupid. Around the part where he starts complaining why we don't see much "book" he becomes the awful "theatre-insider-who-complains-about-"Smash"-cause-its-not-realistic-enough" person. And he even gets that wrong. As anyone who writes musical theatre can tell you, Tom and Julia's "aha" moment when they decide to move "Let Me Be Your Star" was about as correct and emotionally truthful a moment as this show has ever seen...I'd even argue, in regard to the "fully staged" rehearsals, we are getting an inside view of a director's brain, that's how Derek sees the show. I find that psychologically interesting, as well a nice way to placate non-interested-in-how-a-show-is-built non-theatre type viewers. Now, again, "Smash" drives me nuts a lot of the time. But Murray pretends to be critically above the fray, he infers he and his "hardcore theatre compatriots" (ew) aren't like message board posters, his (and their) questions about "Smash's" quality are better and more pointed and less bitchy.

Updated On: 4/20/12 at 01:26 PM

I absolutely agree--

I'm crushed that, in my years at J-school, they never taught me how to get a job at the New York Times that comes with no writing responsibilities or deadlines and instead lets me hang around with a low-level bureaucrat at the mayor's office all day long.

Or lawyers on lawyer shows.

I truly don't understand what people want from this show, or what they were expecting in the first place. If anything, the show exceeded my expectations. I really expected to hate it. But it's fun and it neither takes it self too seriously (like Glee) nor keeps its tongue in its cheek for the entire 42 minutes (also like Glee).

Eric makes a good point about other shows not being an accurate representation of their professions like Grey's and that it's grotesque spawn Private Practice, but I don't know why some people got a memo that Smash was going to be an accurate representation of everything single bit of minutiae in regard to musical theatre.

Poor Betty. She's doesn't even have a disease, she's just fat!