Now conceptually, the show itself may ring alarm bells for many of you. In the grand tradition of Glee, it is yet another one of those musical dramedies that uses an eclectic mix of pop and Broadway songs to complement its narratives. Like Glee, it also has many, many of those cringe-worthy moments where characters yack on about how much they love performing on stage and how they dream of stardom (blah, blah). Indeed this is a show which possesses many of the trademarks which have made a large number of viewers of both Glee and that legendary (and now infamous) Fame franchise, simultaneously swoon and vomit.
The plot of the series itself also seems pretty much a case of "been there and got the t-shirt". Our story begins when sweet, wannabe Broadway performer Karen Cartwright (played by American Idol alum Katherine Mcphee) arrives in New York City with her politician boyfriend Dev (Raza Jafrey). As with all Broadway ingenues, Karen is struggling dismally to land her big break and she has little choice but to succumb to that job most young actresses end up doing (waitressing). Yet, Karen's luck changes when songwriting duo Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) and Julia Huston (Debra Messing) come up with the genius idea of putting on a musical about the life of the legendary Marilyn Monroe. When Karen auditions for this prospective production, the show's director Derek Wills (Jack Davenport) is immediately smitten with her and sees her as the spitting image of Marilyn.Things look like they're finally about to turn around for Karen. However, she finds herself having to contend for this role with Ivy Lynn ( Megan Hilty), a chorus girl with much greater experience on the Broadway stage. Ivy is more determined than ever to make Marilyn her own break-out role and she'll do whatever it takes to get it.
So yeah, yeah sounds a bit like the family-friendly version of Black Swan for musical theatre lovers, right? Well the magic of Smash is that it's actually far more than that. In Glee and Fame, most of the narratives revolve around students desperately trying to convince their parents that the arts is a worthwhile career or trying to convince their teachers and peers that they do actually have talent These are issues which do indeed arise in Smash. However, Smash departs from this conventional set-up in the sense that its focus is primarily on the craft of theatre-making. Within the show's first 15 episodes, we are exposed to every facet of the theatre-making process. We witness producer Eileen Rand's (Anjelica Huston) struggles to attract investors to the Marilyn production. In equal measure, we witness the creative battle which is unleashed between Derek, Julia and Tom as their visions for the show conflict significantly with one another. Then, of course, there's the battle between the director and his performers, most notably Ivy and Karen. We are privy to the workshopping of the play, the technical rehearsals and the play's previews. If you know nothing about the behind-the-scenes workings of the musical theatre, this is your education.
There's something refreshing about watching a show that's about the bare bones of theatre-making. It shows us that the theatre environment is certainly a magical one. Yet, it is equally a soulless and ruthless space where humans strengths and weaknesses are pushed to their ultimate limit. There is not a character in Smash that is not at risk of suffering the safe fate as the beloved Marilyn and yet they continue to create and perform because they don't know who or what they are without the "safe" confines of the theatre. This is, indeed, the theatre experience at its most damaging, complex and authentic.
On another level, the music of the Marilyn show itself is sublime. Written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, the songs are a wonderful throwback to classic Broadway, the type that used to be more frequent before the likes of Bono and Green Day started moulding musical theatre to fit the format of the gimmicky overwrought pop concert. Admittedly some of these songs (Let Me Be Your Star) are corny but others (I've Never Met A Wolf..., Twentieth-Century Fox and Let's Be Bad) are clever, sassy and infectious. In fact, when the show is at its weakest, it is the performance of these numbers that offer its redemption. The songs are performed either in their workshop mode or in the way the cast and crew envision them being performed on stage with the full costume and lighting effects. Whatever the mode of performance, these numbers make the Marilyn show (later named Bombshell) look like a pretty stellar and polished production. I've grown more and more weary of musical theatre over the last couple of years but this is the kind of production I'd be dying to see. Even if these performances are the only thing in Smash you watch, they are well worth it.
Another area where Smash succeeds is in its characterization, particularly in term of its gay characters. Because Smash is about musical theatre, it's obvious that gay characters would be part of the package. However, unlike Glee, Smash does not deal in stereotypes. Particularly impressive is the character of Sam (Leslie Odom Jr), a dancer in the show who starts a relationship with Tom. The image of gay dancer characters we are traditionally accustomed to seeing on film and TV are often stereotypically over-the-top and effeminate. Sam breaks the mould by being a character whose interests also exist outside the world of theatre. He's a fanatical sports fan as much as he is a dancer, a fully fledged and dynamic character, rather than a caricature. Most importantly, Sam comes from a religious background. Ordinarily, religion is represented as something that hinders parents relationships with their gay children and causes gay men and women to suppress their true identities. Here, Sam not only has a stable family relationship, he also uses Christianity as a form of self empowerment that informs his identity rather than suppresses it. Now that's something you don't see every day.
Of course, I'm not going to dispute the flaws that critics have found with the show. Debra Messing was always one of the weaker links in Will & Grace and here she does no better as she takes her Grace Adler persona into more dramatic territory. A sub-plot involving her affair with a cast member who plays baseball legend Joe Dimagio (Marilyn's first husband) is excruciating to watch, as are her interactions with her nice enough husband and extremely docile son. Despite the fact that Karen is hailed as a vocal powerhouse in the show, Mcphee really isn't that impressive. Her voice is very much of the run-of-the-mill pop variety and she seems to battle to reach the wide vocal range required for a Broadway performance. Hilty, on the other hand, is outstanding and the thought that Karen would be Ivy's strongest competition in reality is laughable. The show also suffers from having a couple of irrelevant supporting characters, most of whom will thankfully be gone by next season.
Pop music is Broadway's nemesis and does the show no favours here. Smash's efforts to appeal to Glee audiences by slipping in pop numbers in certain scenes gets increasingly annoying and whoever had the "bright" idea of letting Mcphee sing This Is A Man's World should be shot. Smash needs to have faith in its Marilyn numbers because that's all it really needs.
All these faults aside, Smash is, in fact, somewhat of a revelation. It suffers from teething problems and its certainly not perfect. However, it's fresh, original and progressive and, unlike some other prime-time shows of its genre, at least it tries.
Source for Photo 1: http://www.tvovermind.com/smash/smash-behind-the-scenes-look-musical-songs/
Source for Photo 2: http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2012/03/smash-renewed-for-second-season-can-awake-also-make-the-cut.html
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