SMASH will officially land on Broadway in spring 2025

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:08am

"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 April 10 at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre, current home of “Water for Elephants.” At the helm of “Smash” will be Susan Stroman.

The company of the musical will be led by Tony Award nominee Robyn Hurder as Ivy and Caroline Bowman as Karen, with Tony nominee Brooks Ashmanskas as Nigel, Tony nominee Kristine Nielsen as Susan, Krysta Rodriguez as Tracy, John Behlmann as Jerry, Jacqueline B. Arnold as Anita, Bella Coppola as Chloe and Casey Garvin as Charlie. ...

“Smash” features a score by Tony-winning duo Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and a book co-written by Tony winner Bob Martin and Tony nominee Rick Elice. Tony nominee Joshua Bergasse 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 Beowulf Boritt, costume designer Alejo Vietti, Tony-winning lighting designer Ken Billington, Tony-winning sound designer Brian Ronan and projection designer S Katy Tucker. The music team includes Tony-winning orchestrator Doug Besterman, Tony-nominated dance/incidental music arranger Sam Davis and Tony-winning music supervisor Stephen Oremus. 101 Productions, Ltd. will serve as general manager. 

“Smash” is being produced by Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron and Jennifer Hudson." https://bway.ly/47dtef

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 10:08 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:11am

Casey Garvin!!!

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:11am

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.

Also, happy 65th birthday, Marc Shaiman!

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 10:11 AM

[Dolly80]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:13am

Who cares who the keyboard is 😂

[corthomas]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:15am

I have an AMEX but can't find the promo code to buy tickets for the presale...any help?

[ElephantLoveMedley]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:15am

Caroline Bowman is perfect casting. Though now I wonder if she'll end up going on for Norma Desmond at all before she has to leave Sunset for this.

[quizking101]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:15am

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.

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:22am

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.

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 10:22 AM

[ACL2006]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:26am

Very excited for this!

[Anastasia_Beaverhausen]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:32am

8003272177 works for all AMEX presales. :) 

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 10:32 AM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:32am

corthomas said: "I have an AMEX but can't find the promo code to buy tickets for the presale...any help?"

If you just go to the Telecharge page, there’s a link above the dates to click on for Amex card holders. I didn’t see it at first, either. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 10:58am

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.

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 10:58 AM

[tthomas76]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 11:08am

Anastasia_Beaverhausen said: "8003272177 works for all AMEX presales. :)"

Thanks!  Used the code for AMEX and it worked.  

[JSquared2]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 11:17am

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”

[blaxx]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 1:13pm

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.

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 1:15pm

Im so confused- isn’t ivy supposed to be young? 

[TaffyDavenport]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 1:24pm

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.

[raddersons]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 1:29pm

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. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 2:03pm

So we won’t get Smash scarves as a first preview gift?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:05pm

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.

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 05:05 PM

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:11pm

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.

[DaveyG]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:31pm

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? 

[Seb28]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:40pm

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?

Population USA

White, percent 75.3%

Black or African American, percent 13.7%

American Indian and Alaska Native, percent 1.3%

Asian, percent 6.4%

Updated On: 10/22/24 at 05:40 PM

[LeftofLinus]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:54pm

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.

[DramaTeach]

Posted: 10/22/24 at 5:56pm

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…