Broadway Review: Smash

Smash is a Smash!

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE

Playwright Terrence McNally had very little use for the Method (aka method acting). As he told me for my book on him, as young man, he’d worked at The Actor’s Studio and watched acting guru Lee Strasberg and his wife Paula put young thespians through the paces of “becoming” the characters. He also had the chance to watch Marilyn Monroe in class as she tried to become a “serious actress.” McNally ultimately thought that the Method often didn’t serve plays or performers, and he thought that Monroe’s ultimate near total dependence on Paula Strasberg ruined Marilyn as an actress and made her a monster to work with on virtually any production, notably Some Like it Hot.

This footnote to acting history is delightfully lampooned in the gloriously bonkers new musical Smash now on Broadway. Based on the hit NBC program from 2012, this is both a backstage musical and a send-up of the backstage musical. One of the things that made the TV show so much fun for anyone even remotely connected to the theater was its excess, ridiculous plotting—and utter disregard for the realities of the theater. (My favorite scene was Megan Hilty—now making her own smash down the block in Death Becomes Her—leaving the stage door in full costume, gripping her Marilyn wig and singing in Times Square. That could never happen in real life; a phalanx of crew would never let her past the callboard…and those wigs are darn expensive!)

That irreverent fun has been translated beautifully into Smash with a book by Bob Martin and Rick Elice, music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Shaiman and Scott Wittman. It tells the story of creating a production of Bombshell, a musical about Marilyn Monroe and how it all goes horribly, hilariously, wrong.

All seems to be going well as rehearsals are underway. There is tons of flash, lots of chorus girls with great gams and high kicks and cute boys alternating between mobsters and half-dressed baseball players. It looks like a winner…until Ivy Lynn the Broadway star playing Marilyn reads a book on the Method and brings in author Susan Proctor to coach her in the Method. As Ivy works on becoming Marilyn (literally), she becomes a monster who takes over how she’s willing to play the role and how the script should be—all to the frustration of the husband and wife writing team Jerry and Tracy, director Nigel and especially producer Anita. (But Tracy gave her the book in the first place, which caused Nigel fits.) The fact that neither Actors’ Equity nor the Writers’ Guild would allow any of this to happen in real life is part of the silliness of the send-up. Fortunately, neither organization is present (or even mentioned), so the whole Bombshell operation can go marvelously off the rails.

There are too many wonderful Easter Eggs for theater fans in the show to mention, but my favorite, which also sets the tone relatively early on, is when Ivy is presented with a new song by Jerry and Tracy, and after hearing just the first few bars, she crushes the sheet music to her chest and belts out the chorus, word perfect and on pitch. In one moment, it makes fun of the genre, the ridiculousness of the situation, and the desire of an audience to wish something like that could really happen.

As the production becomes more and more “troubled,” of course, there is understudy trouble, a burgeoning show-mance, and some pointed realities about show biz. There are pings at influencers, real life intrusions on the Method and more. Scott, who becomes Anita’s assistant because his father put a million dollars in the show, says his father only invested as a write-off. “It was this or Taco Bell.” Later, Anita says she has to “make 65 phone calls” to quiet the nerves of her producers. (Have you looked at the number of names above the title in your Playbill lately?)

Altogether, this is what in the 1930s might have been called a “madcap romp.” It’s got just enough bite to put it on the edge of satire but always staying on the side of warmth and heart.

Susan Stroman has directed with her usual flair and impeccable comic sense, and Joshua Bergasse has choregraphed with energy and humor. If you look closely, he’s put in a few jokes on Stroman’s choreography style, and like everything in the show it’s classic Broadway, but just a little over-the-top—and that’s just right. The score is also top-notch, drawing on an almost dizzying array of styles from ballad to belt and much more.

The company is outstanding, too. Robyn Hurder plays Ivy Lynn, and she’s a riot at being a termagant. She has Marilyn down pat, especially with the assistance of the excellent costumes by Alejo Vietti. Kyrsta Rodriguez (the only company member who was also in the TV show) and John Behlmann as Tracy and Jerry play the husband-and-wife team dynamic wonderfully, each having their own comic moments. Bella Coppola is Chloe the Assistant Director shoved into the limelight for the first preview performance of Bombshell. It’s another thing that would never happen, but hearing Coppola sing, we can be glad it does here. Kristine Nielsen is hilarious as Susan Proctor, the Method coach. Swathed in black and looking like Marty Feldman from Young Frankenstein, haunting the set, and taking poor Ivy down a rabbit hole, she is the antithesis of musical comedy. Brooks Ashmanskas as Nigel is beyond marvelous. Nigel is the classic overwrought director, and Ashmanskas, who is a comic genius, lands every joke, mannerism and side-eye.

To quote The Producers, “people want laughter when they see a show.” Smash delivers that full on, and along the way creates a smash all its own. Plus, as newbie assistant Scott discovers, once you’re bitten by the musical bug, it’s got you for life. Resistance is futile.

Smash
Imperial Theatre
249 West 45th Street
Tues, Thurs, Fri 7 p.m.; Weds 2 & 7:30 p.m.; Sat 2 & 8 p.m.; Sun 3 p.m.
$114-$321 at Telecharge
2 hours, 35 mins, 1 intermission

Production photos by Matthew Murphy and Paul Kolnik
Posted April 18, 2025