NBC's SMASH - Series & Broadway Adaptation Thread- Page 17

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 2:45pm

"we are not Glee - we are nothing like Glee."

I saw a lot of ads and never saw those.

[MotorTink]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 2:49pm

I'm sorry, I should have been more specific - not "ads" but "interviews" (which when a show is in press stage there isn't much of a difference in my opinion).

[newintown]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 3:15pm

I don't know who Aaron Frankel is, or why anyone should listen to him or buy his book (according to ibdb, his only Broadway experience was directing a play that ran 2 nights).

However, the poster to whom you replied, Gaveston, was talking about writing songs before you have any story at all, not going through the book front to back and writing every song in order.

Writing your score before you have a book results in flops like Chess. There's a chance you can succeed, but if your songs don't come from your story, you run a much greater chance of writing a flop, as opposed to doing it the other way round.

Like I always say - it's "musical theatre." Never forget the importance of that second word.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/15/12 at 8:17pm

Updated On: 2/16/12 at 08:17 PM

[Cabchic]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 10:16am

Oh right my bad. She was so excited about getting the part I forgot it was only for the workshop and not the actual run.

[steveshack]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 10:49am

For the record, both off-Broadway musicals (The Last Session and The Big Voice: God or Merman?) which my partner, Jim Brochu, and I have written were written score first. So, it's definitely possible to do it that way. What I don't get from this show is who the book writer supposedly is, or whether they have one at all. Or whether they're going to bother getting one.

The only hints they have given are "the book is a mess" from the pilot. What book?
Living In The Bonus Round, my personal blog

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 11:31am

You get the part of Marilyn by sleeping with the director. How original!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 11:56am

I enjoyed this episopde, but I kind of feel like the reverse of Robbie, in that this week I felt like it was by people who'd never encoutered a musical before.

The one thing I really find myself scratching my head over is how everything about the adoption subplot makes no sense. He stopped working - and expected his wife to stop working as well - ostensibly thinking he was going to do that for the duration of the adoption? Who does that? Wouldn't the fact that no one is working make them less desirable candidates?

Also, how can I, someone who doesn't have, doesn't want and never will have children, know more about foreign adoption than Brian d'Arcy James's character? He really had no idea how long it would take?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 12:16pm

"The one thing I really find myself scratching my head over is how everything about the adoption subplot makes no sense. He stopped working"

Especially because his job is a science teacher. He could work as a substitute until the time they need to prepare for the baby. It really made no sense.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 12:17pm

His wife is "working"--she's making the lyricist's 2% royalty of the gross of a musical at the Shubert that seems to be selling out.

Memphis grossed just over $500,000 last week. At 2%, Deborah Messing's character would be making $10,000 each week. But Memphis is doinf 60-70%, mostly on discounted tickets.

But the Shubert has a potential gross of $1.2 million per week. If that show were selling out with full-price tickets, her royalty would be $24,000 a week.

They'v been unclear about who writes the book for their musicals, but that's another 2% that she either receives if she writes book and lyrics or that they split if Christian Borle's character co-writes the book with her.

So, yeah, Brian D'Arcy James could stop working for a while.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 12:22pm

I assumed that he wanted to go back to work...not had to go back to work. Just by their dwellings, I believe we're supposed to assume that Tom and Cousin Debbie (LOVE THAT) are successful, no?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 12:27pm

Thanks for the explanation, PJ. That does make better sense to me.

It still doesn't explain why he seems to think with a foreign adoption he was going to get a baby tomorrow, though.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 12:29pm

Is the Anjelica Houston character supposed to be Fran Weissler?

[Taryn]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 4:18pm

I don't think she's "supposed" to be Fran Weissler, although I think the Weisslers are definitely who contemporary theatre artists are going to think of when it comes to married producing partners.

I'm vaguely annoyed at the sneak peek scene where the director offers the ingenue a spot in the ensemble as if it's insulting and talks about how she's "too good" for the ensemble. I hate the popular trope that being in the ensemble is somehow a sign of lesser talent or ability. She should be thrilled to book an Equity workshop! Especially if it's an actual workshop and not a staged reading, because then she'll even get royalties for the eventual production.

[bwaylvsong]

Posted: 2/16/12 at 4:34pm

^Agreed! And while I see where Ivy's coming from, she should be thrilled to have a job, let alone be in a hit broadway show. There are equally talented people who are still waiting all day to sing 8 bars at a non-eq open call.

[Taryn]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 1:36am

^Agreed! And while I see where Ivy's coming from, she should be thrilled to have a job, let alone be in a hit broadway show. There are equally talented people who are still waiting all day to sing 8 bars at a non-eq open call.

Eh. It doesn't bother me as much when someone who's been working steadily in the chorus for 10 years wants to move up. It certainly rubs me a lot less than "I'm 24 and just two years out of college and I want that LEADING ROLE and not the ensemble because that would be insulting." Pay your dues!

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 2:30am

But this isn't a documentary -- none of that kind of business savvy is going to come anywhere near this show -- and why should it? The average person could care less.

And again -- it's just more dramatic to go after the lead. Just like HOUSE is never to treat an infected hangnail. It's real, it's just not interesting.

[random person 112]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 6:05am

Phyllis, when most americans begin the adoption process they sadly assume the other country will be very similair to america, or it will be so simple they could get the child immediatly. They mainly believe this after seeing celebrities do it all the time. Is it stupid, yes. Do people actually think this way, yes.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 10:41am

I'm not so sure that most Americans think it will be exactly the same, especially since it's not that easy in America in the first place. At any rate, they'd been at this for ten months. I don't think the fact that they'd be waiting another two years should have been such a surprise.



Updated On: 2/17/12 at 10:41 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 11:19am

I hate the popular trope that being in the ensemble is somehow a sign of lesser talent or ability

You may hate it, but that popular trope is what the plot of A Chorus Line is based on.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 11:23am

...and most young people aspiring to be an actor don't tell their parents that it's their dream to be in the ensemble.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 3:16pm

Is Karen Equity? And she has an agent. What I find weird about the whole thing is that it seems like she did not go to school for theatre.

[picturetaker9211]

Posted: 2/17/12 at 7:29pm

Interesting...
A Smash Fan's Plea: Please Skip Episode 3!

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 11:50am

{{Is Karen Equity? And she has an agent. What I find weird about the whole thing is that it seems like she did not go to school for theatre.}}

One would guess no, based on how clueless she seems. I liked episode 2 a bit more than the first, but I don't understand them even considering casting Karen. From her inappropriate audition material to being super clueless about everything and (imho) wrong for the part, it is just too far fetched.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/18/12 at 12:01pm

I think D'arcy stayed home to be the at home parent and it just got extended with talk of adoption. I don't htink he stopped working FOR the adoption.

Why is the assumption that Karen has no training? Just because they didn't discuss it? I don't think we're suppose to think she came to NY right from HS. (But I also don't think it matters to the plot if she had a college education.)

I'm willing to overlook "reality" issues.