Smash is heading to Broadway!
Nearly seven years after the series took its final bow on NBC, Steven Spielberg, Robert Greenblatt and Neil Meron announced on Thursday that they're developing a live-stage adaption of the show, which they all worked on together.
"I am personally thrilled to be a part of this musical and its road to Broadway," said Steven Spielberg. whose original idea led to the NBC series. "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."
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"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," Meron added in his statement. "We’ve all felt that [Marc] Shaiman and [Scott] Wittman’s incredible score for Smash belonged on Broadway. Collaborating with first-class bookwriters 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 the TV, including the Emmy-nominated "Let Me Be Your Star" will be used in the stage musical.
While the story will generally follow the roller coaster 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. Despite that fact, writers Julia and Tom (who were originated on screen by Debra Messing and Christian Borle) as well as stars Ivy and Karen (who were originated on screen by Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty) will be central characters to the story line. All other details about the stage show are being kept under wraps.
Development of SMASH, A New Musical is currently underway, though no production dates have been announced.
The exciting news comes one day after People aired Bombshell in Concert, a benefit show that was put on in June 2015 at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. The never-before-aired concert was streamed in its entirety as a coronavirus benefit for The Actors Fund.
During the stream, original cast members Borle, Hilty, McPhee, Messing, Jaime Cepero, Will Chase, Brian d’Arcy James, Jack Davenport, Ann Harada, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, Leslie Odom Jr., Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor participated in a virtual reunion.
Watch the video below for more on Smash.
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