{"id":3606,"date":"2025-04-11T02:43:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T02:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/smash-is-escapist-fluff-and-exactly-what-we-need-right-now\/"},"modified":"2025-04-11T02:43:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T02:43:09","slug":"smash-is-escapist-fluff-and-exactly-what-we-need-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/smash-is-escapist-fluff-and-exactly-what-we-need-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Smash\u2019 Is Escapist Fluff and Exactly What We Need Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/p>\n

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Robyn Hurder and the cast of Smash<\/em> Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since recorded time, Broadway critics would casually dismiss certain lighthearted musical comedies as a \u201ctired businessman show.\u201d Such trifles would include long-stemmed chorus girls, broad gags and catchy songs aimed at the office drone who simply wants to unwind with earworms and eye candy. Dear reader, this critic is the tired businessman. Perhaps we all are, bleary and thumbsore from doomscrolling, exhausted by endless End Time headlines. And so, who wouldn\u2019t perk up at volcanic trouper Robyn Hurder<\/a> doing her best Marilyn Monroe in the iconic filmy white dress, or leggy and vivacious Caroline Bowman<\/a> belting out a Shaiman & Wittman power ballad? How can you fail to giggle at Brooks Ashmanskas<\/a>\u2019s infinite variations on the bitchy punch line? <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i><\/a> is 100% escapist fluff and wow, do we need it.<\/span><\/p>\n

True, it\u2019s a fine line between a flop and a smash. Both involve velocity and gravity, with the former splatting on the ground and the other bouncing to success. The new musical from a gold-plated creative team and a cast to die for commands not-insignificant levels of bounce. Unlike the short-lived NBC series from which <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i> has been loosely adapted, this material is dished up to an audience hungry for it: Broadway geeks who understand when I say <\/span>Smash <\/span><\/i>opens like <\/span>The Producers<\/span><\/i> and ends like the first scene of <\/span>The Prom<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Not surprising, since the show is brightly directed by Susan Stroman<\/a> of <\/span>Producers<\/span><\/i> fame and stars Ashmanskas, who basically ran away with <\/span>The Prom<\/span><\/i>. All three titles orbit around making or recovering from a musical-theater turkey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Caroline Bowman and the cast of Smash<\/em> Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here, the disaster waiting to happen is a glitzy biomusical about Marilyn Monroe called <\/span>Bombshell<\/span><\/i>. Book writers Bob Martin<\/a> (<\/span>The Drowsy Chaperone<\/span><\/i>) and Rick Elice<\/a> (<\/span>Jersey Boys<\/span><\/i>) take us inside rehearsal studios where a small army of artists sweats to get <\/span>Bombshell<\/span><\/i> ready for tech and previews. These greasepaint pros include Ashmanskas as weary, wisecracking director Nigel; Krysta Rodriguez<\/a> and John Behlmann<\/a> as a husband-and-wife team\u2014lyricist Tracy and composer Jerry; and ex-actress now imperious producer Anita (Jacqueline B. Arnold<\/a>) and her assistant, Gen Z twit Scott (Nicholas Matos<\/a>). The show-within-a-show cast of <\/span>Bombshell<\/span><\/i> is headed by beloved star Ivy Lynn (Hurder) and her friend and longtime understudy, Karen (Bowman). There\u2019s even a third, shadow diva thrown into the mix, assistant director Chloe (Bella Coppola<\/a>), an ex-chorus-girl with a rafter-shaking belt.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, there\u2019s plenty of charm but not much drama. The lyricist and composer are nervous second-guessers (new opening? more depth?), but that\u2019s nothing new. Nigel has to massage egos and avoid flirting with a chorus twink, and Anita grumbles about budget. Perpetually positive Karen doesn\u2019t seem to resent the understudy life and bakes cupcakes for everyone. What could possibly be the snake in this Times Square Eden? Cue Tracy lending Ivy a book about Marilyn Monroe\u2019s study of The Method at the Actors Studio, written by ancient, sinister guru Susan Proctor (Kristine Nielsen<\/a>, mugging queen). Ivy devours the book and seeks out the author, who worms her way into Ivy\u2019s confidence with Benzedrine pills and thespian woo-woo. Soon, the black-robed \u201cwitch\u201d is disrupting <\/span>Bombshell<\/span><\/i> rehearsals and turning Ivy into a delusional kook who only answers to \u201cMarilyn.\u201d Yes, in <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i>, Sue Proctor is the villain.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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From left: Megan Kane, Brooks Ashmanskas, Robyn Hurder, Kristine Nielsen, Krysta Rodriguez and John Behlmann in Smash<\/em> Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Even for a transparently silly musical comedy it\u2019s an absurd premise\u2014leading lady goes nuts but recovers her wits by the end. Still, you can forgive the flimsiness of the book for occasioning so many first-rate comic performances and Marc Shaiman<\/a> and Scott Wittman<\/a>\u2019s best overall score since <\/span>Hairspray<\/span><\/i>. Many of these big, juicy showstoppers were road-tested 13 years ago on TV, but their jazzy workmanship holds up: the double-entendre-stuffed baseball romp \u201cNational Pastime,\u201d Karen\u2019s bluesy lament \u201cThey Just Keep Moving the Line,\u201d and the Kander-and-Ebbish ode to sin, \u201cLet\u2019s Be Bad.\u201d Curiously, several songs take the form of pleading imperatives: \u201cDon\u2019t Forget Me,\u201d \u201c(Let\u2019s Start) Tomorrow Night\u201d or the fame-ravening anthem, \u201cLet Me Be Your Star.\u201d It\u2019s not so much \u201cI Want\u201d as \u201cWant Me.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The writers deserve special praise for the clever and consistent use of diegesis. (Theater kids, pardon while I explain.) Surprisingly <\/span>not<\/span><\/i> a skin condition, diegesis is when music happens in a scene <\/span>within the reality<\/span><\/i> of the scene, not imposed as a formal break. Character switches on the radio and pop tune plays: that\u2019s diegetic music. Character at a party pulls out a guitar and sings: same. The neat thing about <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i> is that nearly all its musical numbers are justified as glimpses into rehearsals and previews. Except for the very end, where the reality of the world bends and breaks into a musical\u2014as Nigel and the others discuss making a musical about making a musical about Marilyn Monroe. These folks never meta in-joke they wouldn\u2019t milk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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From left: John Behlmann, Krysta Rodriguez, Jacqueline B. Arnold, Brooks Ashmanskas, Robyn Hurder, Caroline Bowman, Bella Coppola and Nicholas Matos in Smash<\/em> Matthew Murphy<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For all its showbiz shine and genuine laughs, <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i> has its flaws. The plot engine, as noted, is paper thin. Ivy and Karen\u2019s conflict gets too blithely resolved: a reconciliation in Ivy\u2019s dressing room could have dug deeper, found an emotional center of sisterhood. Likewise, one misses a husband-and-wife duet for Tracy and Jerry on marriage and collaboration. Martin and Elice\u2019s depiction of alcohol and pill abuse edges toward tacky. But it\u2019s a phenomenal cast and Stroman delivers her most dazzling, fluid staging in years, immensely aided by Joshua Bergasse\u2019s frisky, high-kicking choreography. After years burning up the boards in <\/span>Moulin Rouge! The Musical <\/span><\/i>and elsewhere, thrice-blessed Robyn Hurder finally gets the starring role she was born to sing, dance, and act the hell out of. Will <\/span>Smash<\/span><\/i> live up to its name? Who knows; how many tired businessmen you got?<\/span><\/p>\n

Smash <\/i><\/b>| 2hrs 30mins. One intermission. | Imperial Theatre | 249 West 45th Street | 212-239-6200 | <\/b>Buy Tickets Here<\/i><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"\u2018Smash\u2019<\/p><\/div>\n