As we near the halfway point for Season One, it is evident now more than ever that SMASH has firmly established a pretty clear-cut style, structure and overall dramatic direction - each week we can depend upon most if not all of the following in one form or another: a fabulous Marilyn Monroe-themed musical production number; a soul-baring rehearsal scene or three; a pop cover or two (both a classic and a current one, if possible); some Derek (Jack Davenport) and Ivy (Megan Hilty) diva drama and hand-wringing; cattiness, backstabbing and shade thrown in the direction of, and almost always directly affecting, sweet-as-pie Karen (Katharine McPhee), an all-too sympathetic character who just can't seem to catch a break (bar mitzvah tween audiences excluded); a peek into the lives of the Marilyn musical songwriters, Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle), currently developing the show-within-the-show before our very eyes and ears; Julia and Tom's subsequent respective romantic relationships and entanglements (showmances and otherwise; though it seems there are many more of the former than the latter with these two); and, of course, Anjelica Huston being both poignant in one way or another in her delicate portrayal of Eileen and also just plain divine as only she can be, kicking ass and taking names as the lead producer of the show-within-the-show. All in all, the show-within-the-show based on Marilyn Monroe acts as the real machine running SMASH and keeping it all connected. And, that about sums it up. Shake, stir and serve - there you have SMASH in a sentence or two. Better still, this formula really works - and also really works wonders, from time to time, too. Each week dishes up its fair share of surprises, as well. I mean, who could foresee that scintillating scene with Julia and Joe DiMaggio (Will Chase) post-rehearsal, paralleling the Marilyn/DiMaggio duet just rehearsed? Or, furthermore, Karen positively killing Florence & The Machine at a bar mitzvah like she most certainly did? Best of all, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman provided another tantalizing and terrific new Marilyn song with a fiercely fresh style and sound in the spectacular form of the romantically rapturous, late-50s doo-wop-hued duet "History Is Made At Night", given a particularly playfully seductive performance by Chase and Hilty as the undeniably perfect Monroe and Joe DiMaggio (though Chase's character does not seem like he will be sticking around much longer). Plus, how badass was Eileen (Huston) at the very end of the episode and how all around awesome was her delivery of the final line? Shoot to score, indeed - and, on "Chemistry", there was more focus on the scoring, both in the musical and sexual senses, than on anything else. Above all, last night's SMASH showed that one aspect of show business shall always remain a viable, hot-cross-bun-level-hot commodity: sex.
History Is Made At Night Sex sells. Never has that entertainment mainstay been more clearly exploited in the goings on on the musical drama series SMASH than it was last night - sudsy soap opera antics and sweat-soaked sheets seen so far in the past five episodes notwithstanding. Episode Six was all about the making of a musical - and the making of a romance (or rendezvous fling, as the case may be). As the director of the show-within-the-show himself said, "I'd like something that vaguely resembles sex." And we got it. As SMASH itself begins to loosen its collar and let down its hair as a series - settling into its course as an amusing, entertaining divertissement with some glamour, Broadway drama and the truly, utterly fantastic production numbers offered up week after week - the comfort of the cast as can be seen onscreen adds an appreciable air of confidence and verve to storylines and scenarios that undoubtedly could seem cliché and plodding in heavier hands. There is a spark and vivacity that permeates the show as it hits its stride that is unmistakable to witness and experience - it is starting to feel like a show with real legs. No, not everything works - not even close - and it is not as good as it can be - again, not even close - yet, it is coming into its own and taking us on an unexpectedly enjoyable ride, for sure; and, there are glimmers of the ultimate potential of what SMASH can be each and every week. Well, at least once or twice every episode, they hit they B spot - for Broadway, that is - and show us how a production number can be done as only the Great White Way can do - and, that aspect of SMASH is utter ecstasy. Sure, the pop covers are fun - whether throwbacks (Blondie,
JAmes Brown) or current hits (
Bruno Mars,
Carrie Underwood, Florence & The Machine) - but, the bread and butter of the meal that makes SMASH satisfying show after show is the
Marilyn Monroe show-within-the-show and the material being created for it. And, sometimes, like last night's glimpse into a rehearsal, we see how art and life are inextricably linked in the world of show business - and how some things cannot be undone as easily as a button on a shirt or blouse (or both, as the case may scandalously be).
So, too do the characters and their pairings on SMASH gain shades and take on new shapes as the episodes pile up and the show finds its chemistry and balances the alchemy that dictates the magic it can most assuredly accomplish - and sporadically does. As SMASH establishes its pace and rhythm, it is making what in many cases at first may have seemed to be one-dimensionality actually have more developmental detail and authorial thought behind it than we may have initially jumped to assume it did or would ultimately have - the unexpected storylines involving the alliance of Ellis (
Jaime Cepero) and Eileen (Huston), as well as Julia's romance with Joe DiMaggio (Chase) and her son's subsequent discovery of it amidst her adoption attempt with her husband (Brian D'Arcy James) being two of twelve or more examples immediately memorable as having been developed in an intriguing and entertaining manner with a juicy pay-off still awaiting further exploration and denouement. There are some big wheels turning insofar as dramatic devices that were set in motion from the very start coming into use week after week, no matter how relatively subtle or ham-fistedly that they may have been established in the first place. Exposition is hard to do elegantly and harder still to make seem effortless, especially on episodic television, so the somewhat slower pace of character development is appreciated as an audience member in a show that should be - and more often than not is - all about the onstage show being devised and how it is affected by the colorful creative team and core of actors conjuring it all up; and, of course, how it affects them. The hallucination and fully-integrated use of Jessie J's "Who You Are" by Hilty shows the line the show it toeing. It's a dance - a fiery tango determined to strike the very best balance between drama and comedy, dialogue and music, real-life and fantasy, Broadway and reality, soap opera and showstopper, the expected and not, and, well, everything else SMASH was, is, could, should and can be. It can go anywhere - and let's hope it goes everywhere.
Yes, SMASH's "Chemistry" definitely hit the right spots - and, thanks to the Marilyn musical number and McPhee's stupendous roof-raising rock cover, by the final inning, it took us all the way home.
Also, next week, Broadway superstar Bernadette Peters starts her hotly anticipated story arc as Ivy Lynn's mother! Stay tuned!
