"Robyn Hurder and Caroline Bowman will star in ‘Smash’ on Broadway" by Broadway News' Michael Abourizk - "The previously announced musical based on Theresa Rebeck’s NBC series will begin previews on March 11 and open on April10 at Broadway’s ImperialTheatre, current home of “Water for Elephants.” At the helm of “Smash” will be SusanStroman.
The company of the musical will be led by Tony Award nominee RobynHurder as Ivy and CarolineBowman as Karen, with Tony nominee BrooksAshmanskas as Nigel, Tony nominee KristineNielsen as Susan, KrystaRodriguez as Tracy, JohnBehlmann as Jerry, Jacqueline B. Arnold as Anita, BellaCoppola as Chloe and CaseyGarvin as Charlie. ...
“Smash” features a score by Tony-winning duo MarcShaiman and ScottWittman and a book co-written by Tony winner BobMartin and Tony nominee RickElice. Tony nominee JoshuaBergasse will serve as choreographer.
“I am thrilled that it is the best in the business,” Stroman told Broadway News. “When we have creative meetings, they’re filled with electricity. Everybody is funny, everybody’s smart and everybody understands what it takes to do a Broadway show.” ...
“The collaboration is very strong and very energized,” Stroman continued. “It is joyful. What excites me most is the comedy. It’s really funny. Bob Martin and Rick Elice are hysterical, both of them personally and then in their writings. They really have done an incredible job on making the script funny. I love comedy, so I can’t wait to do these scenes with this cast — I have real comics doing it.” ...
Also newly announced are the “Smash” ensemblists, which comprise Wendi Bergamini, Sarah Bowden, Jacob Burns, Deanna Cudjoe, Chelle Denton, Daniel Gaymon, Merritt David Janes, Megan Kane, David Paul Kidder, Ian Liberto, Libby Lloyd, McGee Maddox, Connor McRory, J Savage, Jake Trammel and Katie Webber. Additional casting, by Bernard Telsey and Kristian Charbonier, will be announced.
The creative team for “Smash” includes Tony-winning scenic designer BeowulfBoritt, costume designer AlejoVietti, Tony-winning lighting designer KenBillington, Tony-winning sound designer BrianRonan and projection designer S Katy Tucker. The music team includes Tony-winning orchestrator DougBesterman, Tony-nominated dance/incidental music arranger SamDavis and Tony-winning music supervisor StephenOremus. 101 Productions,Ltd. will serve as general manager.
“Smash” is being produced by StevenSpielberg, RobertGreenblatt, NeilMeron and JenniferHudson." https://bway.ly/47dtef
A hot new BOMBSHELL enters the villa! (Hopefully, no emphasis on BOMB.)
Notably, Meg Zervoulis music directed the staged readings from earlier this year, but she told me she is sticking with CABARET. The other keyboardist from the readings was Roberto Sinha, who also worked on REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES out-of-town. So, at the moment, I'm not sure who will MD the Broadway iteration of SMASH.
Bowman going from touring as Elsa, to standing by for Norma Desmond to being (presumably) a co-lead in a new hotly-anticipated musical makes for one hell of a year for her.
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The show will need to have been seriously rewritten since the workshops for Karen to be considered a leading role. I don't even recall her having a solo number (maybe 1?), whereas Bella Coppola, as Chloe, had 2.
A Chorus Line revival played its final Broadway performance on August 17, 2008. The tour played its final performance on August 21, 2011. A new non-equity tour started in October 2012 played its final performance on March 23, 2013. Another non-equity tour launched on January 20, 2018. The tour ended its US run in Kansas City and then toured throughout Japan August & September 2018.
EDSOSLO858 said: "Meg Zervoulis music directed the staged readings from earlier this year, but she told me she is sticking with CABARET. The other keyboardist from the readings was Roberto Sinha, who also worked on REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES out-of-town. So, at the moment, I'm not sure who will MD the Broadway iteration of SMASH."
A tangent, but...
Having a "Music Supervisor" plus a separate "Music Director" is such a waste of money and it creates additional steps in the pipeline to becoming a music dept leader on Broadway. The current role of Broadway MDs is something more aligned with what we used to think of as the Associate role. The MD is relatively powerless in situations where the MS sets the template for the show (vocal direction, tempo-setting, liaising with the composer/arranger/orchestrator/contractor, etc). Occasionally the Music Supervisor is more of a Consultant role, which creates even more uncertainty within those departments.
If there were to ever be a Tony added for Music Direction, there is no way to meaningfully award that until the role is standardized where one single music dept leader runs rehearsals, makes the musical decisions, and conducts the show every night. And a lot of the prominent "music supervisor" types do not want to conduct a show 8x a week or even 6x a week. (Mary-Mitchell Campbell, one of our best, hasn't conducted a Broadway run of a musical since the early months of Mean Girls.) After a show runs a year or goes out on the role, only then is when the Music Supervisor title should be added. IMO.
quizking101 said: "Bowman going from touring as Elsa, to standing by for Norma Desmond to being (presumably) a co-lead in a new hotly-anticipated musical makes for one hell of a year for her."
Many of the press outlets (BWW included) are ignoring the billing in the show's official release and (incorrectly) assuming it is the same as it was on the TV show. In the show, Ivy and Karen are not "co-leads". In the show's official press release, the billing order is:
Robyn Hurder as “Ivy” Brooks Ashmanskas as “Nigel” Krysta Rodriguez as “Tracy” John Behlmann as “Jerry” Kristine Nielsen as “Susan” Caroline Bowman as “Karen” Jacqueline B. Arnold as “Anita” Bella Coppola as “Chloe” Casey Garvin as “Charlie”
JSquared2 said: "quizking101 said: "Bowman going from touring as Elsa, to standing by for Norma Desmond to being (presumably) a co-lead in a new hotly-anticipated musical makes for one hell of a year for her."
Many of the press outlets (BWW included) are ignoring the billing in the show's official release and (incorrectly) assuming it is the same as it was on the TV show. In the show, Ivy and Karen are not"co-leads". In the show's official press release, the billing order is:
Robyn Hurder as “Ivy” Brooks Ashmanskas as “Nigel” Krysta Rodriguez as “Tracy” John Behlmann as “Jerry” Kristine Nielsen as “Susan” Caroline Bowman as “Karen” Jacqueline B. Arnold as “Anita” Bella Coppola as “Chloe” Casey Garvin as “Charlie”"
Wasn't Karen the character we were supposed to root for, while Ivy was the villain? Must be quite the departure from the series.
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blaxx said: "JSquared2 said: "quizking101 said: "Bowman going from touring as Elsa, to standing by for Norma Desmond to being (presumably) a co-lead in a new hotly-anticipated musical makes for one hell of a year for her."
Many of the press outlets (BWW included) are ignoring the billing in the show's official release and (incorrectly) assuming it is the same as it was on the TV show. In the show, Ivy and Karen are not"co-leads". In the show's official press release, the billing order is:
Robyn Hurder as “Ivy” Brooks Ashmanskas as “Nigel” Krysta Rodriguez as “Tracy” John Behlmann as “Jerry” Kristine Nielsen as “Susan” Caroline Bowman as “Karen” Jacqueline B. Arnold as “Anita” Bella Coppola as “Chloe” Casey Garvin as “Charlie”"
Wasn't Karen the character we were supposed to root for, while Ivy was the villain? Must be quite the departure from the series."
In the show, there's no competition for the role of Marilyn. Ivy is the lead, and Karen is the understudy.
I went to the open dress last year. The writing team has more or less written a completely new backstage farce. I remember it being billed as “a comedy about a musical”, which is totally accurate. Some character names have remained, but every character profile is different from the TV show. The plot is also totally different. Basically the only thing that’s the same is the music, and the fact that they’re producing a Marilyn musical called Bombshell.
I had an absolute blast seeing it then and wow was it FUNNY. But yeah, don’t go in expecting to see Debra Messing talking about adoption or Karen struggling with her city hall boyfriend.
Some yelling has begun online because there are apparently only 5 actors of color among the 25 announced today (or, 20% of the cast). However, additional casting is to be announced shortly.
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Some yelling has begun online because there are apparently only 5 actors of color among the 25 announced today (or, 20% of the cast). However, additional casting is to be announced shortly."
Have they cut the intern character (whose name I forgot)? He was a POC earlier this year.
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Some yelling has begun online because there are apparently only 5 actors of color among the 25 announced today (or, 20% of the cast). However, additional casting is to be announced shortly."
Jasmine Amy Rogers from Boop apparently posted something about this on X, but has since deleted it. Anyone know what she said?
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Some yelling has begun online because there are apparently only 5 actors of color among the 25 announced today (or, 20% of the cast). However, additional casting is to be announced shortly."
Can somebody explain what the grounds for this yelling are? What is the goal?
TaffyDavenport said: "The show will need to have been seriously rewritten since the workshops for Karen to be considered a leading role. I don't even recall her having a solo number (maybe 1?), whereas Bella Coppola, as Chloe, had 2."
Well I really hope it's been rewritten because it was completely unbelievable how
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we were supposed to believe Bella Copolla was any competition for Robyn Hurder.
If that is how they kept the plot, they needed a bigger talent for that role.
I think Robyn Hurder is an exceptional dancer, a good singer and a good actress, but this is a vocal beast. She also seems like a lovely human, but I’d prefer someone else as Ivy. Oh well…