Smash The Musical: First Reading

via Marc Shaiman's FB page.

So, this past Friday, we had a reading of “SMASH -The Musical”, a new Broadway show that takes place, well, to be au courant, in a SMASH “multiverse". Surrounded by a hysterical script by Bob Martin & Rick Elice, Scott Wittman & I got to hear our songs for BOMBSHELL (the Marilyn Monroe Musical we wrote for SMASH) come alive again, with a brilliant gathering of performers. Who knows if we’ll ever get a cast like the one we had on Friday, but let me tell you, if you wanna hear if your script is working, get Brooks Ashmanskas, Beth Leavel, Daniel Breaker, Krysta Rodriguez, Christian Thompson, Maddie Baillio, Bonnie Milligan and, yes, Megan Hilty to read it for you. Then add in Stephen Oremus’ sight-reading ensemble of my dreams. The drama, the laughter, the tears just like pearls…We laughed, we cried, we plotzed!

Scott & I wrote a new song as well (maybe more to come) and when you come back to the table after getting up to play said new song and co-producer Steven Spielberg (do you like how I just subtly dropped that name?) GRABS and SQUEEZES your hand to convey how the song made him feel, well, that is a rush I wish I could bottle.

Much thanks to our producers Steven Spielberg, Bob Greenblatt & Neil Meron for affording us a great week of work that culminated with something that does NOT always happen, and that is, when the reading was over, EVERYONE STAYED IN THE ROOM! No one scurried out the door to avoid talking about it! We have no concrete plans yet, this was just the first reading, but I think I can safely say that, unless the world ends soon, you really will get to see SMASH on Broadway sooner than later! Kinahora, poo poo poo, God willing!

It's happening...

Assuming Ashmanskas was Tom (Borle), Leavel was Eileen (Huston), and maybe Rodriguez was Julia (Messing), with Breaker as the director or Julia's husband. My guess is the director role has changed quite a bit post-MeToo, and some of these characters are going to have to be scrapped, combined, or abridged for a 2.5-hour musical.

The most logical Karen/Ivy combo would be Milligan and Hilty...but maybe not! (Hilty could have just been doing stage directions for all we know.) But Rodriguez, Baillio, Milligan, and Hilty could all be Ivy/Karen.

It does concern me that they only wrote one new song. But this is all so early in the process. I'm excited to see where this goes.

Updated On: 5/22/22 at 06:24 PM

Brooks & Beth would certainly be fun as the authors, especially if they want to give them more of a Comden & Green feel. A lot of these roles were probably tailored to the cast they had for the TV series and can now be freed up by the new bookwriters.

I would guess that IF you want to go with an "older" Ivy (Hilty is 41), maybe you cast someone 15-20 years younger for Karen. But this is all speculation; Friday was merely a reading with seasoned pros to hear how it works.

Show-within-show is always tricky, and I assume some of what's in the Marilyn musical will mirror what's happening in the "real world" of the musical. As we know from shows like 42nd Street and The Producers, those can be both the best source of good musical numbers/entertainment and can weigh down the plot of the show itself.

(Of note, the show does not have a Director announced yet. Josh Bergasse was announced as choreographer, which is odd because usually the Director chooses the Choreographer.)

An industry only reading happening this week -- great cast!

https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/smash-musical-broadway-industry-readings-1235730255/

Updated On: 9/21/23 at 01:35 PM

Kerry Butler seems like an interesting choice? I wonder if this will go the way of her Little Mermaid and Legally Blonde workshops, or the Xanadu workshop for her.

I would've loved to hear about who made the ensemble cast for this reading.

I love everyone in this cast and look forward to the future of this adaptation!


I still don’t know why it wasn’t picked up by HBO or something for a reunion season. It has a cult following and would draw in more of an audience.

pethian said: "I'm told they did a presentation today at Open Jar. Did anybody hear anything about it?"

RaisedOnMusicals was there and has nothing but praise.

Yeah, go down to my post in a thread I started. I would have put in this thread but I screwed up.

Making the composer-lyricist duo a couple (thereby cutting out all the boring drama of Julia's personal life) feels like a good choice. Who plays Ellis?

Someone in a Tree2 said: "^ Sounds from the blurb like Ellis would be played by Justin Cooley. Wasn’t he the evil intern?"

There is no Ellis (thankfully) in the show. Cooley plays a new character not on the TV series.

Is anyone at the read through tonight? Very keen to hear reports!