Hit Series Smash Is Coming to Broadway as a New Musical
There has been an official announcement that the 2012 drama series Smash will be turned into a Broadway musical, making for a theatrical meta spectacle.
The original Smash Broadway musical announcement was in 2020, however, more details have come out. There has been no reveal of an opening date, but the musical is on schedule to open in the 2024-2025 Broadway season. The score will be by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who originally wrote the music for the series. In addition, Joshua Bergasse, the choreographer for the series, will be choreographing this musical. Susan Stroman will be directing, and the book is by Rick Elice and Bob Martin.
In absolute seriousness SMASH has had indelible impact on my life and I cannot wait to hear those many, many, MANY incredible songs sung live!! GET YOUR SCARVES ON YALL WE’RE GOING TO BROADWAY
— Casey Mink (@Casey_Mink) March 22, 2023
The original series of Smash aired for two seasons on NBC, from 2012 to 2013. The series focuses on the development of a new musical, Bombshell, about the life of Marilyn Monroe. It centers around the many moving parts of Broadway musicals and the drama that occurs off-stage. One of the biggest plot lines is the rivalry for the lead role between Karen (Katherine McPhee) and Ivy (Megan Hilty). There are also problems for people behind the scenes, especially between theatre writers Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle). The second season introduces more musicals and additional crew members to focus on. The whole series is well known for revealing the complexities and challenges of being on Broadway.
My arrival at the opening night of the Smash musical pic.twitter.com/ahRu69qhEt
— Rachel Shukert (@RachelShukert) March 22, 2023
Along with the series, Shaiman and Wittman have a lot of musical experience. They teamed up to write the score for the iconic musical, Hairspray. This led to their Grammy and Tony wins. They also wrote the scores for the musicals Catch Me If You Can and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The duo then wrote the score for their recent musical, Some Like It Hot. That musical includes the song “Let’s Be Bad,” originally from the Smash series. In addition, Shaiman has seven Oscar nominations for his musical work in film, including work on Sleepless in Seattle, First Wives Club, Mary Poppins Returns, and more.
Let’s Be Bad in Some Like It Hot walked so Smash the musical could run pic.twitter.com/HIjNixNxgh
— Jessica Derschowitz (@jessicasara) March 22, 2023
Stroman has five Tony wins out of nine nominations. Her first Tony nomination and win was for Best Choreography for Crazy For You in 1992. Her second win was in the same category three years later for Showboat and in 2000 she won the same award for Contact. She later won two Tonys for directing and choreography for The Producers.
A year later, she won Best Choreography for a revival of Oklahoma! Other credits to Stroman’s name include Big, a revival of The Music Man, The Scottsboro Boys, and Bullets Over Broadway. She has had a lot of accomplishments and will likely bring a wonderful vision to Smash.
SMASH is coming to Broadway in 2024 directed by Susan Stroman. You did it, gays. pic.twitter.com/S2xF1zYmjt
— Chris Rovzar (@Rovzar) March 22, 2023
It helps that there is a talented team behind this musical. That includes the producing team from the series, which includes three-time Oscar winner Steven Spielberg. In a statement, Spielberg proudly exclaimed, “Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the series would eventually come to the stage. 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.”
As we await more details for the anticipated broadway adaptation, it looks like this musical is gearing up to be a Smash-ing success.
