The long-in-the-works stage adaptation of NBC’s cult favorite musical drama series “Smash” is finally heading to Broadway.
Producers Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron, and Steven Spielberg announced Wednesday that “Smash” will bow on the Great White Way in the 2024-25 season, per TVLine.
The producers have assembled a talented team to mount the production. Five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman (“The Producers”) will direct. Bob Martin (“The Prom”) and Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”) are writing the book. Composers Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (“Hairspray”), who wrote over two dozen songs for the TV show’s in-universe musicals “Bombshell” and “Hit List,” will return for the stage adaptation. Choreographer Joshua Bergasse, who won an Emmy for his choreography on the TV show, will also return for the stage version.
According to the producers, the plot will once again follow the “harrowing and hilarious” ordeal of mounting “Bombshell,” but will “depart liberally” from the series. Many of Shaiman and Wittman’s songs, including “Let Me Be Your Star,” the show’s signature number, will be used in the stage musical, but they will also write new songs specifically for the stage.
“‘Smash’ is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage,” Spielberg said in a statement. “We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the ‘Smash’ journey which began with my producing partners over ten years ago.”
The Broadway version of “Smash” was originally announced in 2015, a couple of years after the TV show’s cancellation. The cast reunited for a charity livestream during the pandemic, and the adaptation gained steam after that, with the producers announcing the stage musical in May 2020.
“Smash” originally ran for two seasons on NBC in 2012 and 2013. It followed the personal and professional drama of musical theater makers as they work to mount an original Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe called “Bombshell.” The cast included Megan Hilty, Katherine McPhee, Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Brian d’Arcy James, and pre-”Hamilton” Leslie Odom, Jr. None of the original cast members are confirmed to return for the stage musical at this point.
“Smash” earned six Emmy nominations over the course of its run, with choreographer Bergasse its sole winner. The show had a well-received, much-watched pilot, but it never reached those critical and ratings highs again, and it was canceled after Season 2. But it retains a devoted fanbase who are surely hoping the stage musical rectifies some of the TV show’s missteps and lives up to the pilot’s potential.
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