SMASH Original Broadway Cast Recording Thread

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/29/25 at 9:03am

Releases May 16 on digital platforms! Music and lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/29/25 at 9:08am

Track listing:

• ACT I
• 1. Let Me Be Your Star (Bombshell Opening)
• 2. The National Pastime / Public Relations
• 3. Second Hand White Baby Grand
• 4. Mr. and Mrs. Smith
• 5. Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking
• 6. The 20th Century Fox Mambo
• 7. Don't Forget Me
• 8. (I Wanna Be a) Smash
• 9. Let Me Be Your Star

 

• ACT II
• 10. Let's Be Bad
• 11. (Let's Start) Tomorrow Tonight
• 12. They Just Keep Moving the Line
• 13. I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl
• 14. Cut, Print... Moving On
• 15. Second Hand White Baby Grand (Reprise)
• 16. Don't Forget Me (Bombshell Finale)
• 17. Smash!

[ACL2006]

Posted: 4/29/25 at 9:56am

Can't wait!!

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 4/29/25 at 1:48pm

I'm curious to find out if these will be the full versions of the songs or interrupted by a lot of dialogue on the album like they apparently are in the show.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:09pm

Fade in on a cast album... available to stream tomorrow!

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 12:00am

Now out digitally. Fire away, peeps!

[Laurapattifan]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 12:40am

I’ve skipped around the album but am enjoying it so far. Bella Coppola sounds fantastic, such a rich voice. The dialogue is there in The 20th Century Mambo and Don’t Forget Me. This has to do with the Karen/Ivy switch offs not just the scene changes like in the show. It’s only 45 minutes which seems short for the show. Also the Second Hand White Baby Grand Reprise has cut dialogue at the beginning. 

[FolliesCabaret]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 2:03am

Jeez, it feels like every aspect of this has been supremely fumbled. I like some of this recording despite not liking the show. But why didn't they just.... record the numbers in full? They are already written. I understand why they truncate them in the show (though I still think it's stupid there) but it's unjustifiable in the studio in my opinion. Especially when the runtime of the songs featured in this play-with-music (ha) is 45 minutes. Just consistent, head-scratching decisions from the entire team and (to be quite honest) a lot of the performers.

Krysta Rodriguez sounds glorious on Second Hand White Baby Grand. Still a very confusing choice to me that she doesn't get to sing the full thing herself (the only time the sole principal who was in the actual show gets to sing and it gets hijacked for the last 40 seconds?) but beggars can't be choosers I guess - I'm grateful she gets to sing at all, and even more grateful she gets almost the full song. C'est la vie!

[binau]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 3:00am

For someone who enjoyed Smash TV show and thought the score was pretty magical (if only the creative team could have brought some of this to 'Some Like It Hot'), and has no real interest in seeing the show, it's pleasant having an album to revisit some of the songs with new voices. I don't care enough to have any real complaints. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 4:24am

A 45 minute cast album for a full length musical in 2025 is wild. Is there no overture or entr'acte to include? Exit music? Some more dialogue? Something?

[kidmanboy]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 6:58am

CATSNYrevival said: "A 45 minute cast albumfor a full length musical in 2025 is wild. Is there no overture or entr'acte to include? Exit music? Some more dialogue? Something?"

There really isn’t more music than this and the dialogue has nothing to do with the music, so why include it? The score and the plot are so barely connected that I struggle to even think of this as true musical theater. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 12:30pm

The short runtime aside, what’s here is a lot of fun. I wasn’t a fan of the series, I only watched a handful of episodes, so I guess I’m one of the people they changed everything for. Seems like a fun throwback like a Kiss Me, Kate or Me and Juliet. 

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 6:21pm

Concord is offering the digital booklet if anyone else is interested.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/18/25 at 2:24pm

Gave this a first listen over the weekend — it’s good if a little thin on music. Took me back to Hunter College last winter.

MVPs of the record are Hurder, Bowman, and Coppola, who has one of the best first-act finales on Broadway right now. 

Brooks doesn’t make much of an impression here, but when you see him live you’ll see why he earned his nomination. He is Brooksing better than he has ever Brooksed before, and I was cracking up. (Nielsen was great live, too.)

Very sweet that Krysta gets to sing “Second Hand White Baby Grand” here, a touching moment. 

SOME LIKE IT HOT has the better “Let’s Be Bad,” IMO.

The new song is okay but leaves me missing “Broadway’s Calling You” a little bit. 

This album is def worth a listen — very old-school Broadway. Pretty much what you’d expect of Shaiman + Wittman, with a bit of a modern touch. 

 

Updated On: 5/18/25 at 02:24 PM

[Jg2019]

Posted: 5/18/25 at 4:16pm

I haven’t seen the show yet, but as a fan of the show who watched weekly as it aired, i’m not sure how i feel about the upbeat version of let me be your star.  i know it’s part of the plot that its being worked out but its just not satisfying. when we finally get to hear the ballad version, its not even ivy.  i think the idea is good but it just doesn’t work for me. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/18/25 at 4:47pm

Reminder that the strength of the TV show were the songs & music. It's worth listening to this recording even if you're not planning to see the Broadway show.

[DiscoCrows]

Posted: 5/18/25 at 6:24pm

I for one am glad the album is on the shorter side. More dialogue would’ve been cool, but this show’s biggest strengths are in the diagetic score. There is so little else going for it.

The album makes for an energetic, speedy shot of dopamine and it makes a fantastic “pick it up & put it down” listen. I would hate to see it bogged down with additional material that draws out the length and can’t hold it’s ground anywhere near as well as songs like Let Me Be Your Star and Don’t Forget Me can.

Lovely recording!

Updated On: 5/18/25 at 06:24 PM