Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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/
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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/
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/21
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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."
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/21/20
Theatremania is positive, with some reservations
Updated On: 4/10/25 at 10:35 PM
Was his review in response to my post this afternoon?
Please bring back Brantley.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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."
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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/
ElephantLoveMedley said: "Is Jesse Green okay???????"
lol hey
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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/
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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
"the marks of a production in full alignment, as if it had been to a dramaturgical chiropractor."
AM I BEING PRANKED????????????
Broadway Star Joined: 10/14/21
AKarp2013 said: "ElephantLoveMedley said: "Is Jesse Green okay???????"
lol hey"
Lol twinzies
Swing Joined: 1/9/24
AKarp2013 said: "is jesse green ok?"
Like I get theater is subjective but isn't he just devaluing the critics pick at this rate
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
Vulture
Smash Is the Wrong Kind of Disaster
https://www.vulture.com/article/broadway-smash-adaptation-nbc-musical-bombshell-timid.html
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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."
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?
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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/
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.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/27/19
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."
MemorableUserName said: "Theatrely: a delectably nasty view of show business to rival that of Bob Fosse."
nahhhhhh
Swing Joined: 7/28/22
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