There was talk of such happening when Smash was new last year. It's certainly a possibility, given the positive reception for the Bombshell recording, which was released earlier this week.
If you check the Bombshell OCR thread, a few posters were already discussing their picks should the show make it to Broadway.
Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman were just featured this week in an "Ask A Star" video on Broadway.com where they talk about it. Basically they say that initially when Smash started, that is what they were told...and now they are still waiting. They also talk about how impossible it would be to have one actress sing the role of Marilyn as currently written (too difficult to sing).
I disagree with that assertion. As the libretto is currently outlined, Marilyn sings on 16 of the 22 songs; that's the exact same amount of songs that feature Henry Jekkyl/Edward Hyde in Jekkyl and Hyde in solo performances and duets, and I've never heard of anyone ever making the claim that that musical is too daunting for one performer to handle night after night.
If you were alternating between two Marilyns, I think it's very doable, especially since almost all of Marilyn's solo songs could be staged with a background ensemble accompaniment, which could help lessen the strain on the lead actresses' voices.
The really sad thing is that BOMBSHELL is one of, if not, Mark Shaiman and Scott Whitman's best score(s) and it won't be eligible for a Tony Award should it come to Broadway.
Well, as you know, a male's voice is different than a female's. And with the character belting to the rafters in almost every number, it would certainly be a killer.
I hope some kind of full stage incarnation comes out of it, if just to see how it would materialize as an actual book musical (especially since biographical shows always seem to be a challenge to really do correctly).
Because the score would not be considered "original" just as the score for "Once" or other adaptations would not be considered. Granted it was written for a musical originally, but it was part of a TV Show. They might have a good case for petitioning it, because it is a very special type of circumstance/situation, but I really look for it to face some hurdles.
Not to mention how they have openly admitted that the songs written for BOMBSHELL were written to also play to the stories and circumstances of the characters in SMASH.
The show has exposure through the TV show and album sales (indeed Amazon suggests it is selling quite well), some potential stars if they stay over from the show (and because it probably will be cancelled I doubt scheduling will be an issue), a well known creative team, and is apparently good. This sounds like a good investment to me....I wonder if it will be a difficult financial exercise though (surely a lot of people working on the TV show will want some kind of royalty).
There are two thoughts that I have. The first one is, should this show come to Broadway, is there a chance that the Bombshell album could be considered a concept recording in the same vein as Jesus Christ Superstar or Evita? Maybe that'll allow it to be up for best score.
Furthermore, keep in mind that if they do bring this show to Broadway, it will not be any sort of shock to me if they have only one actress that plays Monrore. After all, there are shows out there (such as Wicked) that don't have an alternate for the lead but should. And then, there are of course shows that do have an alternate but isn't needed like Christine in Phantom.
You've already got two actresses in Megan Hilty and Kathryn McPhee who are basically tailor-made for the lead role, and I therefore think that, if Bombshell were indeed to be adapted as an actual stage musical, they'd both be a lock to 'reprise' the role, which means that you'd indeed want to have them alternate on different nights.
It's not the number of songs, but the dynamics of those songs. They can right a disproportionate number of belting songs, because the actresses aren't actually singing them 8 times a week.
And bwayphreak is right -- no way could they pay both women to work part time.
Wasn't it also stated some months ago, that it would still be quite a ways off as there is no actual book written?
And, with the rating of the tv show what they are, that isn't going to make an automatic audience.
DigificWriter - Robert Cuccioli who was the original on Broadway did not due matinees of Jekyll and Hyde and it was publicly stated the reason was that it was too hard vocally.
Unless the ratings for the second season really rebound, I would say it's pretty unlikely that NBC would pony up an additional 10 million dollars to stage "Bombshell" on Broadway, as, from their angle at least, it would really just be a marketing tool for the television show.
I wouldn't be surprised though if perhaps, down the road, "Bombshell" was eventually packaged for regional licensing.
I'm thinking that the opposite will happen- Bombshell will outlive the television show. When the show goes under, NBC and Universal will still (probably) own shares in "Bombshell" unless Shaiman and Wittman wrote a clause that they have exclusive power over the music they wrote for the show.
In that case, one of two things will happen- NBC/Universal will blackball "Bombshell" forever and it'll NEVER be staged, or they'll decide to cut their losses by producing the stage show, with the idea that it may do better than the TV program did, and win back some of their investment.
I think we are actually in agreement on that darquegk, but my belief is that Bombshell would be rolled out in a regional production first-- perhaps if it were an unexpected hit on that front, like say, Newsies was, maybe they would consider bringing it in to New York, but as these things go, it's generally not cutting your losses to risk an additional 10--15 million in a Broadway staging of a property with questionable audience appeal. I would say the ratings don't warrant that move.
I come from a very vocally musically inclined family - both immediate and extended - and one thing that I've learned is that the way a song was originally written and composed doesn't mean as much as you'd think it would, and that most songs can be easily and simply tweaked in some fashion in order to make them either easier to sing or to tailor them for a particular voice.
If Bombshell were in fact to ever be adapted for the real-world stage, there are things that could easily and simply be done to lessen potential strain on an actress's vocal chords without having to fundamentally change the composition of the songs themselves.
I also took drama in HS and have personally seen the same thing happen with full musicals and straight plays, so I know that the challenges presented by the nature of the songs that Shaiman and Whitman wrote for Bombshell could be surmounted in order to allow the show to be adapted for the real-world stage.
Unless Smash rallies in its ratings, I really don't see this happening. And the fact we've heard nothing about an actual book writer at this point seems to suggest the project is simply speculative. 22 songs does not a musical make.
I noticed this morning that Music Theatre International is doing a big promotional push for SMASH, which likely means they have some kind of licensing agreement in place for any potential future stage adaptation of the TV series, or the "Bombshell" musical contained therein.
And I still think it would be for regional/school productions, not Broadway.
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Posted: 2/17/13 at 12:02am