SMASH Previews- Page 14

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 2:49pm

It's kinda wild to see everything from "this is a blast!" to "just terrible" about this show. I grew up with the tv show and it was very formative for me. I'd like to see this when I get the chance but I have to admit I was hoping for a full on bombshell adaptation (as silly as it would've been in a way). 

[Broadway61004]

Posted: 4/4/25 at 11:00pm

I have seen Soul Doctor, Tuck Everlasting, Debbie Allen's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and the Sally Field Glass Menagerie. And Smash is the worst thing I have ever seen on a Broadway stage.

[PipingHotPiccolo]

Posted: 4/5/25 at 12:34am

i didnt understand why anyone thought to pull Betty Boop off the shelf, but i was impressed with what they build out of that hairbrained idea. i 100% understand the urge to pull Smash off the shelf--the score is chock full of treasures. its just a shame this is what they came up with to house those songs.

they are great songs. this is a great score and its performed really well. the criticism of the show is warranted, i get it, but the notion that this is the worst 2.5 hours spent in a theater is just ridiculous. gripe all you want, and im about to, but did i enjoy listening to these ladies sing these songs? i did. and so did the roaring audience that sold out the theater tonight.

so the good: hurder is killing it in an impossibly stupid role. bowman is killing it in a shockingly simple silly role. bella coppola blows the roof off the place, and i cant remember the last time an audience exploded like that after such a kick ass vocal show. about 50% of the attempted humor lands, thanks to ashmankas who is doing the same ole shtick but really well. i laughed out loud more than a few times, and act 1 in particular moves at a healthy clip. 

but the bad: as wonky as the insultingly stupid storyline is in act 1, it just gets outright ridiculous in act 2 and you can feel the air hissing out of the theater as it slogged on. Krysta Rodriguez and John Behlemann are so talented and so naturally likeable (and he so funny) that its almost impressive how this book saps them of humor or interest. i CANNOT believe that grown adults landed on "Ivy Lynn thinks she IS Marilyn due to her relationship with an old lady played like Igor from Young Frankenstein" and i CANNOT believe they wrapped up that mental instability with a quick "im sorry i was insane" and thats it. the body positivity angle is so mishmashed and nonsensical. there is no consisent message or tone or even character we can invest in or care about. its truly hard to articulate how idiotic much of it is.

BUT the good is still good. i did not have a bad time by any stretch, partly because you all got me prepared for a total disaster and it wasnt, but partly because even though the pretext for setting up the numbers was rough, the numbers themselves were not at all. 

im glad we did TDF for this. Dead center of the very front of the Rear Mezz. No bad seats, though. Lotta snarky comments about the show from the people around us, but lots of laughing and screaming in appreciation too. Shrug. Ive definitely seen worse.

Updated On: 4/5/25 at 12:34 AM

[Dreamboy3]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 8:05am

Background:   Saw this last night. $60 TDF tickets for second row center orchestra so that definitely shaped my experience. Thought Season 1 of Smash was a fascinating mess and season 2 a boring mess. 
 

I have to say that I enjoyed this a lot notwithstanding the flaws in the book.  My husband who never saw the TV show liked it even more than I did. There are plot points that don’t make sense and are there to move the story along.  The book scenes especially in act one drag a bit especially because the characters don’t sing.

That being said, I enjoyed the score a lot. I had forgotten how good the music from the TV show was. It’s far superior to the score of Some Like It Hot  though maybe that isn’t a high bar  At least Let’s Be Bad works far better here than in SLIH. I thought all 3 of the women leads were great  Brooks is implausible as a director and brings out the same old stuff though he does bring a lot of humor and I’m always happy to see him dance even if for just a few moments. There isn’t any chemistry between Brooks and the Producer character so the fact that they are old and best friends doesn’t really work.

Yes, the sets aren’t exciting.  And I really wish there were more dancers in the cast  

I was expecting a disaster given this thread but despite its flaws I had much more fun seeing this than a lot of other things the past few years.  

 

[Poconopanther]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 9:47am

Was happy to see SMASH yesterday! Still in previews, it was a great, fun, light, musical. The full cast was in attendance and they are clearly exceptional! The voices, the dancing, the thin, but wonderful story, the perfect sets, lighting costumes…it was a great afternoon of enjoying wonderful performances. Is it a social commentary that will change lives…no. But it is a very fun, very big musical that anyone can enjoy! 
 

 

[rj433]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 9:58am

Not sure if people see this yet - nice preview of the show on Sunday Morning released just now: https://youtu.be/yfzzWewhoGM?si=rUR9dsIl1xBohVB-

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:23am

broadwayboy223 said: "I grew up with the tv show and it was very formative for me."

"I grew up with the tv show" just gave me heartburn. *cries in mid-life crisis*

[THDavis]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:29am

I don’t feel like Smash is “Best Musical” material but am certainly surprised to see so much negativity towards the show. My husband and I went yesterday and REALLY enjoyed ourselves. Full transparency, he had seen the television show whereas I had not. We both thought it was a delightful and comedic show that delivered a lot of hysterical moments - especially for those with a background in theatre. 
 

I can’t help but feel like most of the negativity towards this show has to be a lot of disappointment from those expecting it to be closer to the television show material. I wasn’t expecting much, but left feeling uplifted and happy after 2.5 hours of laughing. 
 

I’d definitely recommend it to others (more so than Operation Mincemeat, which I saw later that evening). Such a bummer that it’s creating such a sour experience for so many! :( 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:30am

"broadwayboy223 said: "I grew up with the tv show and it was very formative for me."

As did I. Because I am so young. I understand all of your current references and slang because I am the same age as you and we both can probably not buy alcohol yet. I can’t wait to be able to rent a car. 

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:37am

Jordan Catalano said: ""broadwayboy223 said: "I grew up with the tv show and it was very formative for me."

As did I. Because I am so young. I understand all of your current references and slang because I am the same age as you and we both can probably not buy alcohol yet. I can’t wait to be able to rent a car."

THE WAY I CACKLED AT THIS

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 11:39am

Cackling through tears is my favorite emotion.

[Showface]

Posted: 4/6/25 at 1:34pm

Also grew up watching this show and being very obsessed with it. I was actually probably TOO young to watch it when it first came out. For context, I was in middle school when I first started posting and that was in the year leading up to the Into the Woods movie. 

As a mega-fan of Smash, I left the show feeling very mixed.

I was actually very happy that they changed up the plot and characters because I wouldn't have wanted to see the new version interfere with what I've come to love very much, but I have to echo the sentiments that the plot they ended up settling on was very...hmmm.

The highest points of the show were the musical numbers, so it's a shame that they were completely cut to smithereens. I really don't understand that choice at all. 

Too many characters and it was hard to care about any of them.

Could have gone without the Nigel x chorus boy plot. It gave me the ick honestly. 

I didn't mind the acting coach plot line initially, and it provided a lot of laughs, but then it took a turn where it ended up being annoying and tonally weird-- the pills were a lot. 

I still had some great laughs, I love the songs, and the cast is fabulous, but between the songs being chomped down, the set being cheap/nonexistent, and the overall script being what it was, I left feeling like corners were cut. 

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 4/8/25 at 11:22pm

Wow, just wow.  How could a show THIS bad even make it to Bway?  Just saw the Tuesday night performance.  The best thing for this show would be to close even before it opens. With the exception of the last song, this show isn’t a musical.  It’s a play with musical since all of the musical numbers are either rehearsals or the actual show.

Other than feeling like I was at karaoke and the whole audience chose to choose music from the TV show “Smash”, there is absolutely no reason for this show to open.  I would also argue that the show isn’t even bad enough to be good (or camp) it’s just bad.  

[kurtal]

Posted: 4/9/25 at 9:44am

I don't know, I might be in the minority, but I had a great time.  I saw it last night, and the show is bonkers coo-coo bananas.  And it's the most fun when it just leans into that and doesn't try to be earnest in any way.  

Please note: THIS IS A TERRIBLE SHOW.  But sit back and enjoy the batsh*t, and you, too, can have a great time.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/10/25 at 2:49pm

Went again last night to see what the final product was and amazingly, they’ve managed to spend the last month doing nothing to improve the show. I noticed two Julie Andrews jokes which made me laugh but somehow, the show (for me) got even duller than it was when I saw it last night. It could be the audience was extremely tepid for most of the show (save the “big” numbers, where they got more vocal) but interestingly, that lack of enthusiasm only highlighted the shows many many problems. 

I’m fascinated to see what critics will say tonight. Does anyone know what time reviews are supposed to start? 

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 4/10/25 at 3:13pm

kurtal said: Please note: THIS IS A TERRIBLE SHOW. But sit back and enjoy the batsh*t, and you, too, can have a great time."

 Since I saw it, I recommend everyone have several martinis beforehand, because watching it sober (like I did) was a f*cking chore. The critics shouldn't be kind, they had one billion years to perfect this before coming to Broadway. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/10/25 at 3:16pm

I heard 10:30pm for the review embargo.

I'll add my voice to the defenders of the show, I saw it last week with a mixed group of friends (some had seen the TV show and some hadn't) and I thought it was the most fun I've had in a show all season.  Part of it is just me and liking dumb campy stuff with some cheap jokes, but I actually think they were overall pretty smart in how they pulled the show together, though I wouldn't mind excising some of the plotlines (the Nigel/chorus boy one most of all).  Maybe my expectations were also lowered due to all the feedback in this thread and elsewhere, but I thought it lived up to what it promised in the promo materials it put out (primarily that it was NOT the TV show and that it was mostly going to be a silly backstage farce).

The two friends I had who hadn't seen the original show seemed to enjoy it more than those who did (possibly also because of expectations), one of them going so far to say "I don't understand why Reddit hates this".  I think a lot of the plot actually hinges on your response to the Susan character.  She's so out there and really pushes the plot of the show into a stylized realism where you just accept things as MacGuffins and don't think too much about it, so if you can accept that premise I think it just acts as a fun delivery system for jokes and some great performances.

I found the show easier to swallow because of that, since any flaws in the book (and there are still quite a few) just seemed less important.  The show isn't necessarily looking to give emotional depth to the characters because they're almost meant to be two dimensional tropes (with some shading nicely added by the actors) and so every time it clunked i felt that I forgave it more easily because it felt like I was more just there for shenanigans (in contrast to Boop, which I felt was also a lot of fun but had some pretty rough spots in the book that I felt more because it was trying to actually mean something).

Underneath it all I think there's also some sly commentary on how the finished product of a musical is not necessarily what you wanted when you first started with because so many factors (economic, social, even physical) can put pressure on different areas to try to develop a different kind of show.  And the show even calls it out "we're trying to make a musical comedy, why do we need depth?" becomes a running joke which could easily be applied to Smash the musical in itself.  I thought the ending was cheesy but it seemed a fitting way to wrap up the show and an easy way to essentially give everyone what they wanted.

My biggest surprise was how much the "theater casuals" in my friend group enjoyed it.  There's a lot of inside baseball in the show (I think I was one of three people that laughed at the line about Mandy Patinkin in The Knife), but my friends who barely know who Sondheim is were still enjoying the energy of the show.  In a way it's a warped combination of Noises Off meets Stereophonic and while it's not nearly as good as either of those individually, I still think it's a great time and would recommend it to people (providing that they manage their expectations accordingly).  It will be interesting to see reviews but I hope they at least get some positive notices.

[Robbie2]

Posted: 4/10/25 at 6:59pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Went again last night to see what the final product was and amazingly, they’ve managed to spend the last month doing nothing to improve the show. I noticed two Julie Andrews jokes which made me laugh but somehow, the show (for me) got even duller than it was when I saw it last night. It could be the audience was extremely tepid for most of the show (save the “big” numbers, where they got more vocal) but interestingly, that lack of enthusiasm only highlighted the shows many many problems.

I’m fascinated to see what critics will say tonight. Does anyone know what time reviews are supposed to start?"

 

That blame goes to Stro! 2 flops in a row NY NY and now this. SMASH is a BOMB!