As we wait for ABT’s single tickets to hit the shelves on April 7th, NYCB’s first week of spring casting which is due around April 8th, and the NYCB ’25-’26 season which should drop around April 15th, there is plenty around town to keep balletomanes busy.
Susan Stroman’s SMASH opened preview performances on Tuesday at the Imperial Theatre and, oh my, she’s done it again! It’s a musical based on the TV series about a musical being created about Marilyn Monroe entitled “Bombshell." Stroman was visibly touched by the extended roaring ovation that she received when she stepped out from the curtain corner to explain a few things. First, she wanted us to know that the cast & crew had not yet made it all the way through a tech rehearsal without having to stop to fix something; so there might be a pause or two. Then she wanted us to know that the crew had not yet had the opportunity to practice the turnover at intermission; so she recommended that we all have an extra drink or three because it might be a long one. Then she dropped a proverbial bombshell. She had to put an understudy on stage in the principal role of Susan Proctor, and it would be the actor’s Broadway debut. The audience was ready. Ready for everything. We were clutching our sparkly souvenir posters which had been placed on every seat in the house, and we just wanted this long-awaited show to get going.
Get going, it did. The choreography by Josh Bergasse is muscular musical theater dance, a stylish composite of influences from the great Broadway choreographers, including Stroman herself. Not a slow moment to complain about. The cast is incredible. Robyn Hurder as Ivy who turns into “Marilyn” captures the glamour and neurotic traits of the star while Brooks Ashmanskas as the director, Nigel, steals the show in “Brooks-ish” form — Mel Brooks, that is. (Does everyone remember that first preview performance of the Brooks/Stroman The Producers? Nobody in the audience knew what was scripted and what was not.) Oh, and the understudy? Chelle Denton making her Broadway debut as Susan Proctor, the acting coach from The Actors’ Studio who manipulates Ivy into becoming “Marilyn,” was phenomenal! Her character exaggerations were not too far off from the truth.
Music and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman are memorable and hummable. The orchestra sounded fabulous and robust as directed by Stephen Oremus.
See this show before the tickets go wonky-expensive.
Next up for us is David Hyde Pierce as Major General Stanley in Pirates of Penzance followed by Hugh Jackman’s show at Radio City Hall .
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