SMASH Previews — Page 13

I was a fan of the show and I did enjoy it .. there I said it . I also met Marc Shaiman there last night .

Such a fun show! Just what we need in today’s times. Great laughs. Great music. Oh, and Steven Spielberg was there today!!

quizking101 said: "I have honestly no idea what I just saw tonight.

It has the SMASH name. It has the SMASH songs. But whatever this Frankenstein monster of hackneyed tropes, half-baked plots, and poor character development doesn’t deserve the title.

Yes, the show itself (Season 1 at least)was a soapy mess, but at some point it realized that leaning into the camp made it an enjoyable watch. This felt like trying to condense an entire season into one show and the songs usedare primarily non-diegetic, making this in essence a badly written play with interspersed music. The only thing that comes out good from this are the songs we know and love.

Bob Martin’s book was bafflingly terrible. Most characters I either felt were underused (Caroline Bowman’s Karen), questioned their existence (the social media kid), or downright terrible people (mostly everyone else). I especially took issue with Brooks Ashmanskas’ character being essentially a slightly predatory gay directorgoing after a chorus boy. There isn’t really any room for that type of character behavior the post-Me Too era. Additionally, I know Brooks tends to play characters that are all cut from the same flamboyantly gay cloth, but most of his choices here seemed like they were recycled from his role in THE PROM. Additionally, Joshua Bergasse’s choreography is recycled from the television show more than once, which is rather lazy to me.

l don’t know why they just didn’t move forward with the straight BOMBSHELL show. This was just a bomb…"

I believe you mean diegetic. Am I mixing them up? Just curious. Can someone confirm or deny?

I believe you meandiegetic. Am I mixing them up? Just curious. Can someone confirm or deny?"

Well diagetic music is music that characters in a film, show, or play can hear or sing as it originates from within the fictional world, like music playing on a radio or from a live band or yeah, even in a fictional musical about Marilyn Monroe. So to the above poster, you are correct, the way the songs are performed in Smash is very much diagetic

I also really enjoyed this, and I don't think of myself as a fan boy (of Broadway musicals or of SMASH). I think the production is a lot of fun, with the great BOMBSHELL songs, the chaos of a production in trouble and the outsized personalities on the verge of nervous breakdowns. Brooks Ashmanskas is terrific (though he's pretty much replaying Barry from THE PROM, no complaints here), Robyn Hurder is wonderful, Krysta Rodriguez is reliably great. Loved Bella Coppola's work as the director's assistant (with some pretty major moments). As has been discussed throughout the thread, Kristine Neilsen is doing some major comedy work with a overinflated, one-joke role. Saw it with a packed house tonight-- and they seemed to love it.

NOTE: I actually agree with a lot of the posters who cited the show's flaws-- an implausible book, too many outdated jokes, subpar costumes and sets-- but there's a lot of talent on the stage (and in the pit!) and it was a hell of a lot more fun than, say, SUNSET BLVD.

Yep - I passed right by Shaiman outside the Imperial on my way out of Times Square last night.

EDSOSLO858 said: "Tix are now on sale through January 4."

Now, girl...

The set looks like it’s ready to tour.

The last show to release this much footage before opening night was Lempicka.



Do with that what you will.

The set for this is laughably terrible. It features a few very big, awkward, and unwieldy pieces that are clumsily clunked into place.

Updated On: 4/3/25 at 04:24 PM

smash preview



The non union touring set of Tootsie has been put to good use, I see.

That promo set reeks of the promos the non-equity tours used to do in the early 2000's.

In The Jackson Heights said: "I may be the unicorn who loves Broadway and musical theater and who never saw the TV show. (I was living overseas at the time.) I had heard Let Me Be Your Star, but otherwise came into today's matinee totally fresh on the material.



I'm definitely in the minority in this thread, but I had a blast and really liked it! Brooks can deliver a line like no other. Everybody was on today and the cast is uniformly excellent. The first act book could be tightened up a bit but I laughed a lot. Of course it's dumb and silly, but I thought it was great fun. And the score is wonderful. I'm looking forward to seeing it again."

Are u sure you were at Smash…