“Smash,” NBC’s tuneful and powerful backstage musical filled with front-and-center wattage, debuts at 9 p.m. (10 p.m. on the Mainland) Monday — and it’s a smasheroo.
It replaces “Rock Center with Brian Williams,” which is moving to Wednesdays, but for Hawaii viewers, it’s going to make a bit of impact on the struggling “Hawaii Five-0” on CBS and the other primetime contender in the Monday TV radar, “Castle” on ABC.
This premise — the making of a Broadway musical, going through process and procedure (yes, with several clichés on how a wannabe becomes a star) — has star power seen and unseen. “Smash” has been receiving a lot of buzz, in NBC promos (you can watch the pilot episode in advance, at (http://www.nbc.com/smash/video/special-full-length-preview---episode-1/1380656), but notably with “Super Bowl” exposure.
Producer Steven Spielberg, collaborating with creator Theresa Rebeck, aims to create a must-see that echoes the heartbeat and heartache of “American Idol,” “High School Musical,” “Fame,” “The Voice,” “Dancin’ with the Stars,” “A Chorus Line,” and “42nd Street.” Even “Glee.”
The show embraces known songs but the originals — in a show-within-a-show, about the legend that is Marilyn Monore — are being composed by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, whose Tony Award-winning “Hairspray” already is a viable credit.
So here we have fiction coated with creative and credible drama, with that urgent, surging “I hope I get it” battle cry that underlined every candidate from “A Chorus Line,” which dealt only with chorus-line dancers. This one takes the ambition to the max: the chance to make a name and gain fame in a Broadway smash. So as the melodrama unfolds, the real-life tension — will it make and break into primetime powerhouse? — delivers additional anticipation.
Throw in the never-tired myth and magic of Monroe — and the doctrine exhibits a potential winner in the context of the production. In real life, there’s potential beyond the small tube: the producers have boldly stated that if “Smash” doesn’t cut it as TV fodder, it will eventually find its way to the Great White Way reality. How brilliant is that?
“Smash” involves two composers, Julia Houston (played by Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle), who are successful Broadway creators who are clueless about their next project. Levitt’s new backstage assistant, Ellis (Jaime Cepero) suggests why not a musical about Monroe?
So Houston and Levitt write one song, which goes viral on YouLenz (OK, the obvious inspiration is YouTube, which either should sue or give in to a realistic deal with the network to consummate the reality of an online posting in real life), and the production starts to take shape with the signing of a producer, Eileen Rand (played by Angelica Houston, whose real-life director-dad John Huston, directed the real Monroe in one of her stellar films, “The Misfits), and a director, Derek Willis (Jack Davenport).
Obviously, the puzzle now involves the search for a star to play Monroe.
Well, “Smash” has not one but two Monroe jewels. And that’s where the show draws its power and conflict. Director Levitt favors his Broadway trouper named Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty, whose real-life credits include “Wicked”), because she has cred, the blonde hair, the sumptuous lips and, well, knows the Broadway routine. Her audition finds her decked out as Monroe.
Everyone adores an underdog, and here’s where there’s joyful pleasure: Karen Cartwright (2006 “American Idol” runner-up, Katharine McPhee), becomes a thorn and a game-changer, even if she isn’t blonde, not as curvaceous, and is a virtual unknown. Karen has the smarts to do her audition as herself, no costume, no wig, and she sings “Beautiful,” the earlier Christina Aguilera hit). Beautiful, indeed.
But Karen has baggage and conflicts on the home front: the tryout comes at a time when she and hubby Frank (Brian D’Arcy James) are in the midst of trying to adopt a baby from China and worrisome parents from Iowa. But she is a toughie, with the boldness to put off the advances of the show’s director during a late-night “callback” in his apartment. You go, girl!
These struggles, both personal and professional, contribute to an edginess, albeit stylized, in the mounting of a show and the making of a star — an arc that will continue to pit one Monroe against the other, in the next few weeks.
Sure, you can root for your candidate, and there are no judges with backs against the auditioneers, or livingroom voters ready to cast a telephonic vote. Just the wisdom of a mundane show biz element poised to grab viewers on a Monday night, creating a competition with two procedural shows. So which show will smash the ratings barometer on Monday night?