Kad said: "It’s not about creativity, per se. The songs from the fictional Bombshell were written to serve three purposes: 1) tell the story of Marilyn Monroe ostensibly from the musical, 2) comment on the action in Smash, 3) work as standalone showstopping musical numbers."
And since they're using the framing device of "show within show" and putting up SMASH - the musical, and not Bombshell - the musical, 1 and 2 sort of naturally fit in with the original intent of the songs. The show-stopping nature of all songs could either get exhausting or thrilling. Legally Blonde is one of those non-stop train of showstoppers, and it makes for a good experience as an audience member (the shi**y book notwithstanding). Yet another advantage of having a SMASH framing alleviates the concern about a single performer being able to sustain 8 performances a week with such hard songs.
I think it's safe to say that any approach towards putting up this musical will not focus on just SMASH fans. It will have to be marketed in a way so it is attractive to audiences outside of the pre-existing base. Most new shows don't even have a pre-existing fan base so it's really a bonus more than anything else.
I personally cannot have enough of these buddy-frenemy musicals with 2 leading ladies, so I'm all in to see how this shapes up :)
Caption: Every so often there was a rare moment of perfect balance when I soared above him.