'Smash,' old-fashioned
drama that works
New NBC series deftly builds on familiar characters and themes
By Tom Conroy
Feb 6, 2012
This TV season saw two big-budget, big-ensemble period dramas come and go quickly: ABC’s “Pan Am” and NBC’s “Playboy Club.” Although it’s not technically a period drama, NBC’s new series “Smash” could break the streak.
Despite a few 21st-century details, “Smash” is a classic backstage musical that draws on stereotypes that go back to the 1930s. Either in spite of or because of those stock characters and situations, the show works. As long as they have a smidgen of tolerance for self-absorbed showbiz types, viewers should get caught up in the old-fashioned drama.
Premiering tonight at 10, the series eases us in gently by introducing two of its stars in ways that will feel comfortably familiar. We first see Katharine McPhee, the “American Idol” finalist who plays the ingénue Karen, auditioning for a part by singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” a song she memorably performed on “Idol.” Debra Messing shows up in a scene that could have come from her sitcom “Will & Grace”: As the musical writer Julia, she’s seen bantering around a kitchen counter with her gay friend and writing partner Tom (Christian Borle).
The familiarity continues as the plot develops. After Tom and Julia start to work on a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, Karen competes for the lead role with a more experienced performer, Ivy Bell (Megan Hilty), setting up a classic rivalry between the sweet-natured brunette and the more hardened blonde.
The usual lothario director, Derek (Jack Davenport), hits on both Ivy and Karen, confronting them both with a casting-couch dilemma that in the old movies had to be dealt with much more subtly.
Add a scene in which Karen’s naïve parents urge her to drop her crazy showbiz dreams and come home to Ohio, and viewers will start to feel they’re going back in time. A few details jolt us back to the last couple of decades — an early song is leaked on YouTube, and Julia and her husband, Frank (Brian d’Arcy James), are trying to adopt a Chinese baby — but the rest of the show is strictly old school.
The first two episodes, both of which were made available for review, mainly focus on Karen and Ivy’s long audition process, which is surprisingly involving. Casting McPhee was a smart move: Having inexplicably lost to Taylor Hicks on season five of “Idol,” she has a sizable base of fans who will be rooting for her to succeed.
The actors are generally good, but it’s easy to play theater people, because any false notes or overacting can be attributed to the characters’ own theatricality.
The musical numbers on the show are a mixed bag. When the performers sing a familiar song — McPhee also contributes a lovely version of Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” — they score. The new songs, written by the Tony Award-winning team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, feel as if they could have come from an actual Broadway show. That is, they’re old-fashioned and bland.
The choreographed performances of some of the new numbers won’t create any new musical-comedy fans.
Another off detail is the adoption subplot: Frank and Julia already have a teenage son, and as Frank points out, they’re not getting any younger, and the musical will be a more-than-full-time job for Julia. Viewers will be forgiven for hoping that their application is rejected.
Besides, it’s a distraction from the main story. We want to see if the musical will be a hit and if Karen will become a star. If “Smash” keeps working this old terrain so skillfully, it could live up to its title.
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