SMASH Previews- Page 13

[jeffrey2]

Posted: 3/29/25 at 8:15pm

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

[Melissa25]

Posted: 3/29/25 at 11:09pm

This thread had me fairly apprehensive but I had a great time at Smash. I laughed often and loved the musical numbers. The cast is terrific and I would like to see it again. The ending was a bit over the top but I was never bored and there are plenty of songs that I would want to hear again. 

[BdwyFan]

Posted: 3/30/25 at 12:20am

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

 

[Voter]

Posted: 3/30/25 at 2:04am

This show isn't just bad, it's shockingly bad. A completely nuts yet somehow also incredibly lame plot with a million loose threads, hackneyed and uninspired humor including (of all things) poop jokes, ugly costumes and cheap sets, and incredibly average performances with mostly flat acting (save for Brooks Ashmansakas and Kristine Nielsen who both know exactly what tone to hit and how to milk a bad joke till it almost seems like a good one).

I had the greatest time of my life. Like "The Room" of musicals. So shockingly bad it's almost good again. The show doesn't realize it's high CAMP, but thankfully some of the actors do. Never once I was bored (it did have rapid pacing), I've been more bored at shows I loved, but here I was too busy laughing so hard I was crying at this miraculous **** show and the overwhelming and endless number of awful creative choices. So awful it kind of works itself around again to a must see.

The critics are going to have a field day with this and I doubt it'll last through the summer (if that long). 

[Voter]

Posted: 3/30/25 at 2:10am

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?

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 3/31/25 at 8:15pm

 

This is your first footage of this show and there is not a single set piece on stage. WHAT is happening?

[malcs98]

Posted: 3/31/25 at 8:53pm

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

 

[matineeidol2591]

Posted: 3/31/25 at 9:37pm

Am I the only one that hates the new norm of dubbing cast recording vocals over b-roll video footage? The new Let Me Be Your Star video is clearly the vocal tracks in the promo released a few weeks back. Hate that. Give me the real unfiltered voices

[HugoP]

Posted: 4/1/25 at 1:18am

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.

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/2/25 at 10:09am

Saw the show last night and noticed Marc Shaiman was in the theater standing at the back! In the show, Jerry (husband writer) said something about how a musical should have less dialogue and more songs. Well, for this musical we loved the songs and wish there were more songs and less dialogue. I'm still rooting for this show to succeed given how much I loved the TV series. Cast is amazing!

Since opening night is next week, I'm guessing the press/critics will see the show the next few days?

 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/2/25 at 10:13am

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

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:12pm

Tix are now on sale through January 4. 

Also, Megan Kane is now being billed as a principal, in the role of "Holly."

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:38pm

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

Now, girl...

 

[JP2]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 12:42pm

TheatreFan4 said: "

 

 

 


This is your first footage of this show and there is not a single set piece on stage. WHAT is happening?"

 

Well... there are so few set pieces in the show. And when they appear, they are hideous. 

The show is nearly three hours of people in jeans and a teeshirt talking and talking and talking on a bare stage. WHERE is this allegedly massive budget? 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 1:09pm

The set looks like it’s ready to tour. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 1:12pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "The set looks like it’s ready to tour."

I was having this exact conversation the other day, saying it looks obviously built to be able to box up and put right on the bus. 

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 2:07pm

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

 

Do with that what you will. 

[Plannietink08]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 4:16pm

Just extended to January ‘26

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 4:24pm

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

[dearalanaaaa]

Posted: 4/3/25 at 11:40pm

I don't even know where to start. I feel like I wasted my time tonight going, and it didn't even take much money or effort for me to be there.

I agree with the critiques of the set, but every single dress that isn't the silver Marilyn dress looks awful and cheap. The rivalries between the 3 ladies didn't have any rewarding payoff, and I only had one authentic laugh the entire show. I don't know how drunk the audience had to be to find any of this entertaining, but at least it keeps somebody employed.

I get it's a musical about a terrible musical, but it feels so painfully self aware toward the end ("Oh, gotta call investors" "Hal Prince is needed!" "Merrily was eventually good") that I didn't understand who put their money behind this. I hate to slam a show like this, but I would rather sit through Patriots again before seeing this. and I actually liked Tammy Faye. If you're thinking of seeing Smash, walk across the street and rush literally anything there. Or go to the TKTs booth. There's no need to subject yourself to this.

[starlightlocamotion]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 11:12am

smash preview

 

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

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 11:39am

They could afford a voiceover from Nathan Lane but a few walls was just too much! 

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 11:43am

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

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 11:45am

Having seen the show, there are like 15 things in it worse than the design of the physical production. It's the least of the problems. I might have liked the SMASH set better than the BOOP set, despite feeling the opposite about the respective shows.

Updated On: 4/4/25 at 11:45 AM

[DrMonicaDeMoneco]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 2:36pm

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…