REVIEW: Smash on Broadway
Good fun, a sensational cast but who is this new musical for?
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Smash is a Broadway musical about the making of a Broadway musical and was developed from a short lived TV show about the making of a Broadway musical. It is bright, funny and has some great songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman who also wrote Hairspray.
Thematically the book writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice and director Susan Stroman have moved away from the NBC series and its soapiness to give us a good old fashioned back stage musical comedy. There are theatrical in jokes, trips to Sardis, understudies stepping up and instead of mocking the critics, Smash mercilessly mocks social media influencers - the Tik Tok video send ups are hilarious.
The wonderful cast is led by the incomparable Tony nominee Brooks Ashmanskas as Director, Nigel who is basically a more potty mouthed version of the actor’s Barry from the 2018 production of The Prom which was by the same book writer. Nigel is grappling with all the disparate elements of putting together new musical Bombshell about the life of Marilyn Monroe. The pressure is tearing him apart and drives the show’s dramatic arc.
The main source of Nigel’s stress is leading lady Ivy Lynn, played by Robyn Hurder. The character is a great big Broadway star who is well liked, even by her understudy, the cup cake baking Karen (Caroline Bowman who spent 5 years playing Elsa in Frozen, then covered Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard which must be two of the most contrasting roles in Musical Theatre history - discuss!).
When Ivy Lynn receives a book about Method Acting from Bombshell’s writers, husband and wife team Tracy and Jerry (Krysta Rodriguez and John Behlman), the problems begin for the show within the show.
The book starts her descent into obsession and, with the support of new acting coach, Susan Proctor ( the hilarious Kristine Nielson), Ivy Lynn becomes Marilyn Monroe, starts popping pills and detaches herself from her colleagues and reality.
It is at this point that Smash starts to get reductive and confused. We are asked to laugh at the actress behaving like a diva while simultaneously feeling sympathy for the actual Marilyn Monroe who was accused of behaving like a diva when all she wanted was to be treated properly. Are we laughing at our own response to a woman standing up for herself or at the woman who asserted herself?
The creative team should have known better.
We are then asked to believe that a leading actor goes so far off the rails while the show is in rehearsal that it brings the whole production down but she gets it back in time for opening night and everything works out well; which old school musical theatre fans will be find normal.
The show wants us to believe that Bombshell’s writers are involved in a Fleetwood Mac Rumours situation of writing revenge songs to slip into the show with no process of approval, that the associate Director happens to be an incredible performer who steps into the Marilyn role when Ivy Lynn is absent and understudy Karen has taken cow laxative and, finally, we have to go along with with the fact that the Producer, Anita, (the amazing Jacqueline B. Arnold), would give a job to an unqualified intern just because his father invested a million dollars in the show. Actually, that last one is believable. Wrapped up in all of these episodes are fleeting comments on casting biases towards larger women, racism and sleeping with Bob Fosse.
Ultimately, Nigel gets fired from Bombshell ( and can then enjoy a relationship with a cast member), the show gets savaged by the critics and everyone has a good drink in Sardis. But the previously know-nothing intern, Scott (Nicholas Matos), suddenly reveals an encyclopaedic knowledge of Broadway history and encourages everyone to follow Hal Prince’s advice and start a new project right away. It’s pretty much a “Let’s put on a show in a barn” moment and even Nigel is no longer bitter at having lost his job: Smash likes you to suspend your disbelief.
The musical numbers in Smash look, sound and feel like several million dollars. Joshua Bergasse’s Tony nominated choreography mixes classic show shapes with more contemporary movements and, along with Alejo Vietti’s costumes is the best part of the production. The set by Beowulf Borritt looks old fashioned and clunky with the video elements remaining separate from the rest of the show rather than properly integrated.
The cast, from ensemble to leads, is much better than the material and they really make this show work. There is a lot of work and effort expended to make moments land and mine laughs that don’t deserve to exist. The three leading women all hit their solo vocal moments out of the park and both Robyn Hurder and Caroline Bowman dance up a storm as well.
The plot does not quite mesh as tightly as it should and runs out of steam at the end of Act One. There are scenes that feel slack and overlooked, as if there was a promise from the writers to work on them later but time ran out.
The show’s biggest problem is understanding who it is for in the long run. Is there still an audience for an old fashioned musical comedy - especially one that is based on a weak IP? The same question might be faced by the producers of both Boop and Death Becomes Her especially with & Juliet round at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre now over one thousand performances into its run, playing at 98% capacity and killing it with audiences of all ages - but especially under 40s.
Smash is great fun and definitely worth watching. To achieve the success the show deserves, the Producers and Creatives need to really consider who their audience is going to be because their market research appears to be as unfocused as their script.
Smash is playing at The Imperial Theatre in New York.
I saw it on 29th April 2025 and paid full price for front row tickets in the Mezzanine (Balcony).
For More Details and to book tickets go to SMASH BROADWAY
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