NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread — Page 87

I still have not seen any sign of:

Shelley Winters
Truman Capote
a Kennedy

All had just as much, if not more, influence over Marilyn as Joe, Arthur and Lee who we have seen.

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I frankly hope next season focuses primarily on the creation of another musical; I don't know how much more mileage they can get out of countless new Marilyn Monroe musical numbers -- I think they wrapped it all up nicely in the finale and should move on to some other new focus

"That would be a crowded musical. A Ragtime-ly crowded musical."

Perfect. Bombshell could have the same opening as Ragtime with the three groups circling each other.

Group 1 will be husbands/lovers

Group 2 will be studio execs/various exploiters

Group 3 will be Shelley Winters & Truman Capote

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^^^They need a Bette Davis character for All About Eve

Davis:

That Miss Casswell
is all ass, well
I didn't get into this biz
To work with a shiz

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"Ha I kind of like that, I wonder about some of your choices though"

Heh, I thought about including Farrah Fawcett, but I thought people would quibble because she died of cancer. She still lived almost twice as long a life as Marilyn.

I guess what doesn't work for me about the last song is that, ultimately, Marilyn's "story" might have ended happily because people still remember and love her, but her life just plain did not end happily. All of her marriages failed. She didn't get to have children like she wanted. She got good notices for playing a few serious roles, but I doubt she played as many as she wanted. The abuse and neglect that Marilyn is said to have suffered in her childhood left her insecure and wanting for love. She was ambitious, but she didn't have the benefit of living in a time when there were examples of women who were strong and independent the same way as, say, Gloria Steinem and those who came after her. You could almost look at Marilyn as example of where women were at as far as receiving respect and being treated as equals. That's why I feel like the new last song feels false. If this musical is supposed to really delve into who Marilyn was and not just be about the more shallow iconic image that many people associate with her, then the last song kind of doesn't fit.

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Updated On: 5/16/12 at 02:07 PM

Some interesting personal stories about Marilyn:
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/marilyn-monroe-later-career.htm

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"Bombshell" is obviously based on the "Evita" paradigm, more of a pageant than a real musical. Except for some basic "relationship" numbers and scenes, the show musicalizes the big events in her life, as opposed to a serious study or biography.

Where Marilyn takes a machine gun to Hitler's face?

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It's interesting, because that seemed to be one of the big problems with Marilyn: AN American Fable as well as the Canadian 70s musical, Hey Marilyn (which you can hear the original CBC radio version online), as well.

When they started staging the finale, Ivy had just walked on as Marilyn expecting to get the part, but then Derek walked out with Karen and Ivy left the stage. They would have let her cool off instead of putting her into the number. I'm sure her absence, if she did take the pills, at the curtain call will be addressed next season. The entire cast was probably too concentrated on Karen to notice that Ivy wasn't waiting in the wings. I think it was realistic enough.

Besides we never really saw the aftermath of the bows, simply that they were all excited and pleased that the audience actually applauded.

Lovely interview with Michelle Williams about what she learned about Marilyn from doing research:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpzoE_we-jA

Catherine Hicks as Marilyn in a 1980 tv movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2-aTBXRxJI

http://themarilynmonroecollection.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-birthday-jfk-marilyn-planned-to.html

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They should've done a chapter in her life, like "My Week with Marilyn." In that film, you get a glimpse of her life, and who she was privately and publicly and on the set. In fact, I think the story told in "My Week with Marilyn" is ripe for musicalization. The movie is told through the eyes of Colin Clark, a gofer on set who becomes smitten with Marilyn and eventually protective of her. [This is one thing many people who met her confirm, and Marilyn herself often took advantage of this.]

Anyway, a lot of musicals require a narrator of sorts, and Colin Clark fits the bill. Through him we get an inside look not only into the making of "The Prince and the Showgirl," but also into Marilyn herself: her personal struggles, insecurities, stage fright, neediness. The story also has a cast of great supporting characters, like Laurence Olivier (director and co-star, who becomes exasperated with Marilyn's tardiness/absences and overall lack of professionalism), Dame Sybil Thorndike (legendary British actress and Marilyn's champion on set; comic relief), Paula Strasberg (Marilyn's meddling acting coach and sycophant, who causes further conflict between Olivier and Marilyn), and Arthur Miller (Marilyn's distant and regretful 3rd husband, who is not and does not want to be the rock Marilyn so desperately wanted and needed).

And of course at the center of it all we have Marilyn -- at times flirtatious and seemingly happy-go-lucky, and at other times desolate and forlorn, but all the time luminous. The part of Marilyn would be a great part for any actress 'cause she's not one-note. Her emotions run the gamut.

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