NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread- Page 86

[mdbro88]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 9:18pm

"I'm sorry, but looking for reasons to continue rooting for her is exactly what you're doing. You are honestly trying to suggest that she chose to give Karen the ring during the most stressful moment of her life as she storms into the dressing room defeated purely by coincidence? It was 150% an attempt at sabotage, and I for one was thrilled to see it blow up in her face. I guess you missed her looking overjoyed as she crawled her way into the Marilyn costume before having to eat a big slice of humble pie when Derek and Karen told her to get off the stage in no uncertain terms.

If she was so content on "doing the right thing," why didn't she apologize or take any culpability for what she did? She knew it was Karen's fiance and slept with him anyway. The leeway people on this board give the character of Ivy simply because she's played by a Broadway talent they like is ridiculous. She can literally do no wrong, whereas Karen hasn't done one mean thing to anyone the whole season and gets slammed for it.

I also find it funny when people say that, in the real world, Ivy would have gotten the part without any contest at all. In the real world, Ivy would have been fired from the workshop the second she started her diva antics in rehearsal, and she certainly never would have worked again following her drug-induced shenanigans at HEAVEN ON EARTH, let alone on another project for the same team. Maybe the character will spend next season learning how to get her life together instead of psychotically chasing a train (and a role) that's already left the station. There's a reason she's said to have been in the ensemble for ten years without breaking out, and I'm staring to think that reason is severe mental illness."


Katharine? Is that you?

[SingingChef]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 9:43pm

I'm glad SMASH is showcasing how brilliant Megan Hilty is. And thank you, Marc Shaiman for writing her gorgeous songs.

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 9:50pm

I'd like to hear a recording of McPhee doing "Secondhand White Baby Grand".

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 10:32pm

^Me too. In fact, they need two albums. An IVY LYNN and a KAREN CARTWRIGHT with the two girls respectively singing all the original songs.

[MrMidwest]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 10:38pm

I kind of wish that Bombshell ended with Ann-Margret being passed the baton by Marilyn (I've heard stories that Ann was on the set of The Misfits) and becoming America's next #1 sex symbol. Then they could project images of other sex symbols who lived longer, happier lives (Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Madonna.) If that's that the gayest thing ever, then so be it.

Updated On: 5/15/12 at 10:38 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 10:45pm

I like that.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:05pm

"One of those things is not like the other,
One of those things just doesn't belong,
Can you guess which one is not like the other,
By the time I'm done lip-synching this song?"

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:14pm

I guess you missed her looking overjoyed as she crawled her way into the Marilyn costume before having to eat a big slice of humble pie when Derek and Karen told her to get off the stage in no uncertain terms.

Because you know it was totally her idea to put the costume on and walk around stage in it. Seeing as she was standing with the producer and the writing team she was obviously TOLD to put the costume on. Derek coming in and telling her to take it off was not "serving her humble pie".

Ivy would have known that returning it directly to Karen the way she did would cause problems for Karen rather than solving them.

I believe she thought she thought she was solving a problem. As others have said Ivy was clearly upset over the fact that Dev was still planning on giving the ring to Karen even after cheating. It actually makes me wonder about Ivy's father. Why haven't we even heard of him? Could her reaction to Dev still planning on marrying Karen have something to do with her past? Or maybe I'm reading too much into it.

I am having a hard time with anyone who is dumb enough to not think Ivy told her on purpose to rattle her

So, everyone who doesn't agree with you is dumb?

I kind of wish that Bombshell ended with Ann-Margret being passed the baton by Marilyn (I've heard stories that Ann was on the set of The Misfits) and becoming America's next #1 sex symbol. Then they could project images of other sex symbols who lived longer, happier lives (Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Madonna.) If that's that the gayest thing ever, then so be it.

I'd like it better if you dropped Fonda from that list lol

*******************
Today a coworker of mine suggested that Ivy gave the ring to Karen at the moment in order to elevate her performance. I truly doubt that Ivy is that altruistic or even that far-sighted. No way she did it to "help" Karen's performance. But, I don't think she her intentions were purely selfish.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:45pm

maybe in season 2, Ivy leaves "Bombshell" to star in another new musical and her & Karen both get nominated for the Tony(along with Audra, LuPone & O'Hara). neither win and Ivy's show closes after the Tony's and she then re-joins "Bombshell" as Karen's standby(in season 3, of course).

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 12:29am

"One of those things is not like the other,
One of those things just doesn't belong,
Can you guess which one is not like the other,
By the time I'm done lip-synching this song?"




Updated On: 5/16/12 at 12:29 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 12:47am

You know what the real crime about the SMASH finale was? Those G.D. pop-up ads for G.D. "Battleship." That ish went too damn far.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 1:10am

"I think we can all agree, with SMASH and the surprisingly likeable THE VOICE on hiatus, our Monday evenings are a little more drab. Can't stand AGT...what an ugly, interminable show."

I know. I've never been a fan of AGT. It's overrated.

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 1:11am

I am still peeved at NBC making the showrunners give Marilyn to Karen F*CKing Cartwright instead of Ivy, who was their original (and only sensible) choice. Clearly, season 2 of Smash should go meta and be about trying to create a hit musical television show about creating a hit Broadway musical, where Megan Hilty plays Megan Hilty playing Ivy Lynn, because she is the only reason to watch this show.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 1:17am

But Theresa Rebeck was barely involved back when the original pilot script was written for Showtime. Do we actually know it was network interference that created the ending (it's not so far fetched, they did initially sell McPhee as the star, but I just haven't read anything certain, and it sounds like fan conjecture to me).

When Rebeck was still attached early on, they did say that Season 2 would probably involve a continuation of work on Bombshell while another different show was being written as well

Namo--damn right. I usually watch Smash on the Canadian simulcast which has far fewer pop-ups, etc, but watched an earlier East Coast NBC broadcast for the finale and seriously couldn't believe that in the final segment they had a pop up--not even for one of their other TV shows but for *Battleship*. Which, sorry being stereotypical here, I don't exactly see having a huge cross-over appeal with Smash fans whatsoever anyway.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 1:23am

"I kind of wish that Bombshell ended with Ann-Margret being passed the baton by Marilyn (I've heard stories that Ann was on the set of The Misfits) and becoming America's next #1 sex symbol. Then they could project images of other sex symbols who lived longer, happier lives (Raquel Welch, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda, Madonna.) If that's that the gayest thing ever, then so be it. "

Ha I kinda like that, though I wonder about some of your choices But I'm not sure half of the audience would have any idea who these random women carted out in the final number were meant to be, though maybe Marilyn could address each by name "Why hi there Raquel Welch--please learn from my experience. And Sophia Loren! You will live a long happy life"

[Idiot]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 2:00am

"Those G.D. pop-up ads for G.D. "Battleship." That ish went too damn far."

I just watched the finale and was thinking the same thing. If I'd put my blood sweat and tears into that show, I'd have been furious at those obtrusive ads for that absolute dreck of a movie.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 3:37am

"But Theresa Rebeck was barely involved back when the original pilot script was written for Showtime."

You're aware Theresa Rebeck wrote the original pilot script for Showtime, right?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 5:34am

Not the initial treatment, she was brought in once the concept was greenlit from Greenblatt and crews concepts.

[kdogg36]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 5:42am

I am still peeved at NBC making the showrunners give Marilyn to Karen F*CKing Cartwright instead of Ivy, who was their original (and only sensible) choice.

I'd like to know if everyone (especially folks here who are theatre professionals) agrees with this.

I'm not one of those at all, but I saw pluses and minuses for each actress, and slightly preferred Karen/McPhee. I thought some of Ivy/Hilty's singing was too "big" and wrong for Marilyn Monroe.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 6:06am

They are fictional characters, so "fair" or "right" doesn't really matter. And of course, in real life, fair or right doesn't always win, either.

From a tv point of view there are many reasons to cast Karen:
Ivy's a brat
Derek sees an essence in her that he feels Marilyn need.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 7:17am

"When it comes to physicality, in my eyes Hilty has the same body as Marilyn, and a much closer face resemblance than McPhee. However, I do see the softness and vulnerability that is present in McPhee."

I have to strongly disagree on the first part. The only Monroe-esque thing about Hilty is her blonde hair, which on Marilyn was dyed anyway. Hilty can do the breathy Marilyn voice that's associated with her and is put on by countless imitators (but even that wasn't Marilyn's real voice), but other than that, she doesn't bear a passing resemblance to MM.

For one, she's too thick and busty. Marilyn is famous for being voluptuous, but she had a tiny waist. Her measurements were: waist = 24", hips = 37", bust = 36". In other words, her figure was an unusually dramatic hour-glass. Hilty has a thick waist, and pretty much thick everything. Her face is also a bit chubby, which can give the illusion that someone's fat, and she has a big chest, which adds more to the package. With McPhee, they can easily fix this by padding her hips and bosom, like they did with Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn." I was thinking this during the last number (when she's standing on the stage in that gold lame dress) that they should pad her hips/bosom and she'd look perfect.

As for the face, McPhee has a classical beauty with symmetrical features, which Marilyn also possessed. Hilty, while attractive, does not. Like I said, her face is a bit chubby, and her eyes are too close-set. When she dons the Marilyn wig and make-up, she looks, as someone elsewhere put it, like "some plump drag queen." I understand this is a theater board and preference is slanted in her direction 'cause she's a seasoned Broadway performer and Tony nominee, but to me McPhee is the perfect Marilyn fit look-wise. In the bedroom/dying scene, the close-up of her face was spot-on. She just needed blue contacts to complete the transformation.

Furthermore, the other night convinced me that McPhee can capture Marilyn's persona AND personality. Whereas Hilty's Marilyn comes off loud and brassy, McPhee truly conveys her innocence and vulnerability.

Updated On: 5/16/12 at 07:17 AM

[Jane2]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 8:46am

StageManager2, it's all subjective. that's what makes the world go 'round.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 11:03am

McPhee truly conveys her innocence and vulnerability

But McPhee is one thing that Marilyn never was: dull.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 11:08am

"But McPhee is one thing that Marilyn never was: dull."

ZINGER

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 11:25am

"I am still peeved at NBC making the showrunners give Marilyn to Karen F*CKing Cartwright"

That is not a nice thing to say about Karen.