No, this isn’t another Covid related doom and gloom article about how bad things are looking for commercial theatre in New York.
Back in 2012/13 there was one TV show all musical theatre fans had to watch. Called SMASH it followed the trials, triumphs and tribulations of a company creating a new musical for Broadway about the life of Marilyn Monroe.
The fictional show was called BOMBSHELL and we watched avidly as the female producer (Anjelica Huston as Eileen Rand) hustled to find the backing, a brilliant and ruthless director manipulated leading ladies in and out of bed (this was pre- MeToo) and two ambitious, phenomenally talented young actresses competed for the role of Marilyn.
Each episode featured preparations for a new number, rather unconvincingly also choreographed by the director (played by British actor Jack Davenport who blatantly could neither sing or dance). The songs reflected both Marilyn’s journey in the fake musical and incidents in the performers lives.
These were big, bold, brassy show tunes, by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, often in the great tradition of 1950’s Broadway musical comedy and we lapped it all up. Well, we did for the first series, in series two they focussed on younger cast members and a contemporary musical and it became more and more earnest and less and less entertaining, shedding viewers every week. It wasn’t commissioned for a third season to no one’s surprise.
This week there’s been a little flurry of news stories about BOMBHELL being developed into an actual Broadway Show. But to be honest those rumours have been burbling away for years. It’s not quite clear what recent developments have occurred that warrant this increased expectancy.
Anyway it’s a great excuse to discover, or remind yourself, how terrific the BOMBSHELL score was.
When it was announced there’d be a one-off concert staging for charity a few years ago, tickets sold out in 15 minutes and were rumoured to be changing hands for £6,000 each on the black market.
Luckily you can stream the night for free right now but don’t forget to make a donation to support Broadway charities.
The good people of the Shows Must Go On organisation have made such a great job of steaming Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals to raise money for Covid related charities that there going to carry on, branching out into shows by other composers.