Today it has been announced that SMASH, A New Musical, has finally set its sights on Broadway. Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt, and Neil Meron will serve as the lead producers and will develop this live stage adaptation inspired by the groundbreaking NBC series of the same name on which they all worked together. The dates for the Broadway-aimed SMASH will be announced at a later time.
Stephen Spielberg, whose original idea led to the NBC series, said “I am personally thrilled to be a part of this musical and its road to Broadway. Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it seems fitting that a new musical inspired by what we did on the show would eventually come to the stage. I’m beyond thrilled to be working with this incredible creative team and my producing partners, who began the Smash journey with me over ten years ago.”
Smash was groundbreaking in its ambitiousness and developed a rabid following, but its popularity has only grown in the following years. The cast performed an elaborate benefit concert of the songs from Bombshell at the Minskoff Theatre in June of 2015 which sold out in fifteen minutes. It was filmed but never shown until this week when it was streamed in its entirety on People.com as a coronavirus benefit for The Actors Fund.
The Tony and Grammy-winning duo of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who wrote over two dozen songs for the original television show will provide the new score. The musical’s book will be co-written by Tony winner Bob Martin (The Prom, The Drowsy Chaperone) and Tony-nominated Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, Peter, and the Starcatcher). Smash’s Emmy-winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse will reprise his role for the stage musical.
Neil Meron added, “Speaking for myself and Bob Greenblatt, our partner when he was running NBC, we’re thrilled Steven wanted to embark on this musical with us. We’ve all felt that Shaiman and Wittman’s incredible score for Smash belonged on Broadway. Collaborating with first-class book writers Rick Elice and Bob Martin, and the world’s best choreographer Josh Bergasse will be the icing on the cake.”
Many of the songs that Shaiman and Wittman wrote for Smash, including the Emmy–nominated “Let Me Be Your Star” will be used in the stage musical. While the story will generally follow the rollercoaster ride of mounting Bombshell (the Broadway musical-within-the-musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe), the stage musical will depart liberally from the series. The characters Julia and Tom (the writers), as well as Ivy and Karen (the stars) will still be central to the storyline, but all other details are being kept under wraps.