News on your favorite shows, specials & more!

SMASH Reviews

MemorableUserName
#25SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:33pm

NY Stage Review

SMASH: MARILYN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE

By Michael Sommers

★★☆☆☆ Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman recycle their TV score for the stage

https://nystagereview.com/2025/04/10/smash-marilyn-we-hardly-knew-ye/

 

SMASH: MARILYN MUSICAL NEITHER SMASH NOR BOMB

By Roma Torre

★★★☆☆ The popular TV series about the making of a Broadway musical finally makes it to the Great White Way.

https://nystagereview.com/2025/04/10/smash-marilyn-musical-neither-smash-nor-bomb/

MemorableUserName
#26SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:33pm

1 star from NYP

‘Smash’ review: Shocker — Broadway musical based on old flop TV show is terrible

https://nypost.com/2025/04/10/entertainment/smash-review-shocker-broadway-musical-based-on-old-flop-tv-show-is-terrible/

AKarp2013 Profile Photo
AKarp2013
#27SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:34pm

is jesse green ok?

ElephantLoveMedley
#28SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:34pm

Is Jesse Green okay???????

WiCkEDrOcKS Profile Photo
WiCkEDrOcKS
#29SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:34pm

MemorableUserName said: "Good lord. A Critic's Pick from Green

Review: In a Musical Comedy Makeover, ‘Smash’ Lives Up to Its Name

En route to Broadway, the TV series about backstage shenanigans and Marilyn Monroe has been rejiggered, with the same great songs but a whole new plot.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/theater/review-smash-musical.html

"Great musical comedies are great mysteries, and not just because they’re so rare. They’re also mysteries in the way they operate. To succeed, they must keep far ahead of the audience, like thrillers with twists you can’t see coming. They are whodunits with songs instead of murders.

“Smash,” which opened on Thursday at the Imperial Theater,is more of a who’ll-do-it, and when the big song comes, it’s a killer. But the effect is the same: It’s the great musical comedy no one saw coming."
"

I’m convinced he’s just trolling us at this point. What a joke. 

MemorableUserName
#30SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:35pm

Deadline

‘Smash’ Broadway Review: Scratching A 13-Year Itch

https://deadline.com/2025/04/smash-broadway-review-1236363090/

"It’s not that the musical all goes wrong, exactly. With a cast as good as this one – Robyn Hurder, The Prom‘s Brooks Ashmanskas, Krysta Rodriguez, John Behlmann and the invaluable Kristine Nielsen, just for starters – Smash is thoroughly watchable from start to rather overlong finish. Unlike the series, there isn’t the precipitous drop in quality that so alienated many of the original’s early fans. Instead, Smash The Musical starts just well enough, and stays there.

The musical excises all but one storyline from the series. Gone are the soapy entanglements of what was essentially a drama, turning only the main plot – about the making of a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe – into a broadly-played Broadway cartoon. That’s an idea that could work – Death Becomes Her did pretty much the same trick, albeit with a movie as inspiration, and is one of the best musicals currently on Broadway. Smash, well, isn’t."

KevinKlawitter
#31SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:35pm

Theatremania is positive, with some reservations

Updated On: 4/10/25 at 10:35 PM

Jordan Catalano Profile Photo
Jordan Catalano
#32SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:36pm

Was his review in response to my post this afternoon? 

Please bring back Brantley. 

MemorableUserName
#33SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:36pm

NY Daily News/Chicago Tribune

BROADWAY REVIEW: ‘Smash’ lacks much of what made TV show a cult favorite

https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/04/10/broadway-review-smash-musical-marilyn-monroe-bombshell/

"It’s all just a mess without a clear point of view beyond getting up something related to the cult series, and what is further surprising is that the show is not especially spectacular. I thought the work of the gifted choreographer Joshua Bergasse would explode onto the stage,but that’s just not the case as we flit from rehearsal room to upstairs at Sardi’s in one book scene after another. Beowulf Boritt‘s set does not take the designer’s usual risks."

MemorableUserName
#34SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:36pm

Variety

‘Smash’ Review: TV-to-Stage Metamusical is a Fizzy, Fun Comedy With a Few Surprises for Fans

https://variety.com/2025/legit/reviews/smash-review-broadway-musical-1236366477/

AKarp2013 Profile Photo
AKarp2013
#35SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:36pm

ElephantLoveMedley said: "Is Jesse Green okay???????"

lol hey

MemorableUserName
#36SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:36pm

Theatermania

Review: Smash Is the Hottest Mess on Broadway

Robyn Hurder and Brooks Ashmanskas star in the long-awaited stage adaptation of the NBC series.

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-smash-is-the-hottest-mess-on-broadway_1770154/

MemorableUserName
#37SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:37pm

4 stars from The Guardian

Review

Smash review – canceled TV drama gains new life on Broadway

Imperial Theatre, New York

The much-ridiculed musical TV series has been transformed into a sleekly enjoyable new stage show, complete with Easter eggs for its cult fanbase

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2025/apr/10/smash-review-broadway

ErmengardeStopSniveling Profile Photo
ErmengardeStopSniveling
#38SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:38pm

"the marks of a production in full alignment, as if it had been to a dramaturgical chiropractor."

AM I BEING PRANKED????????????

Jordan Catalano Profile Photo
Jordan Catalano
#39SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:38pm

What the actual hell is happening here. 

ElephantLoveMedley
#40SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:38pm

AKarp2013 said: "ElephantLoveMedley said: "Is Jesse Green okay???????"

lol hey
"

Lol twinzies heart

choircatdog1
#41SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:38pm

AKarp2013 said: "is jesse green ok?"

Like I get theater is subjective but isn't he just devaluing the critics pick at this rate 

MemorableUserName
#42SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:38pm

Vulture

Smash Is the Wrong Kind of Disaster

https://www.vulture.com/article/broadway-smash-adaptation-nbc-musical-bombshell-timid.html

MemorableUserName
#43SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:39pm

Theatrely

A Ruthless, Sensational SMASH — Review

https://www.theatrely.com/post/a-ruthless-sensational-smash-review

"That it subtitles itself “A Comedy About a Musical” is one of the few kindnesses imparted by Smash, the stage adaptation of the messy but memorable 2012 television series about the troubles of putting a show on Broadway. I mean that as a high compliment, because this show provides a delectably nasty view of show business to rival that of Bob Fosse. Energetically cynical and committed to upending easy audience comforts, it’s best viewed as a play tracing the creative process with high-octane choreography, vocals, and just enough earnestness to save it from choking on itself. It likely won’t be for everyone, but it’s vicious fun for those along for the ride."

Jordan Catalano Profile Photo
Jordan Catalano
#44SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:40pm

So Green just can’t wrap his head around why Betty Boop would be in a musical but this one, he’s all in on? 

MemorableUserName
#45SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:40pm

Observer

‘Smash’ Is Escapist Fluff and Exactly What We Need Right Now

Loosely adapted from a short-lived television series, this musical comedy about the making of a musical is full of showstopping songs and powered by a phenomenal cast.

https://observer.com/2025/04/smash-is-escapist-fluff-and-exactly-what-we-need-right-now/

bwayphreak234 Profile Photo
bwayphreak234
#46SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:41pm

I am shocked and appalled. Green has GOT to be trolling us. I was kind of able to forgive the Redwood critic’s pick, but this… I have no words.


"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "

MemorableUserName
#47SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:41pm

An A- from Entertainment Weekly

Smash review: The infamous NBC drama is reborn as a riotous musical

The long-gestating production about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical succeeds where NBC's much-maligned series failed.

https://ew.com/smash-review-broadway-nbc-drama-riotous-musical-11710412

"Bowman's powerful vocals and endearing sweetness bolster the somewhat underwritten role of Karen, while Hurder and her show-stopping pipes make Ivy a divalicious delight. Beowolf Boritt and S. Katy Tucker’s sleek stage design blends practical sets with large-scale projections, allowing the action to move seamlessly between Bombshell’s big production numbers and the rehearsal studio."

AKarp2013 Profile Photo
AKarp2013
#48SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:42pm

MemorableUserName said: "Theatrely: a delectably nasty view of show business to rival that of Bob Fosse."

nahhhhhh

Updated On: 4/10/25 at 10:42 PM

Adeliciaboy
#49SMASH Reviews
Posted: 4/10/25 at 10:42pm


Videos