Let me be your star! More than a decade after it premiered on NBC, Smash is finally getting the Broadway treatment.
A musical adaptation of the short-lived cult favorite series, which starred Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty as rival actresses competing for the lead role of Marilyn Monroe in a new musical biopic called Bombshell, is currently in the works and aiming to take its first bow during Broadway’s 2024-2025 season.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the stage version of Smash will be helmed by Broadway legend Susan Stroman with Hairspray composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman in charge of the score, which will contain new music in addition to original favorites from the series like “Let Me Be Your Star” and “Don’t Forget Me.”
Running for just two seasons back in the early 2010s, Smash also starred Debra Messing (and her many scarves), Anjelica Huston and Broadway royalty such as Christian Borle, Brian d’Arcy James, Jeremy Jordan, Krysta Rodriguez, Leslie Odom Jr., Andy Mientus and Will Chase with Stephen Spielberg serving as an executive producer.
“Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage,” Spielberg said in a statement about bringing the series to Broadway. “We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the Smash journey which began with my producing partners over 10 years ago.”
This is hardly the first time a Smash-related production has tip-toed toward the Great White Way. In 2015, the cast reunited to stage a special, one-night-only concert of Bombshell at the Minskoff Theatre, and later hosted a live-stream concert in May 2020 during the pandemic.
