Bombshell OCR Thoughts- SMASH

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/6/13 at 6:57pm

I know there are already a lot of SMASH threads, but I thought one dedicated to the cast recording would be easier than sifting through the other thread.

For those who have listened to it, what did you think?

Also here is the AOL Music Live Stream


Bombshell Live Stream

Updated On: 2/6/13 at 06:57 PM

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 7:22pm

Of the new songs I love "Public Relations", "Moving the Line", and "Hang the Moon".

Hang the Moon has such a simple melody and it uses some of the same theme from "Mr. and Mrs Smith"/"White Baby Grand". I am curious as to how it fits in the show. It also gives us proof that Leigh Conroy will be playing Marilyn's crazy mother.

[jasonf]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 8:01pm

I got to listen to it on AOL -- what a great album! I think it would make for a great show.

I can't get Mr. and Mrs. Smith out of my head.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 2/7/13 at 8:48pm

"Public Relations" is one of my favorites too! I'm really excited to see that number on the show

[DrJekyll]

Posted: 2/8/13 at 8:38am

Nice to hear "Dig Deep" sung by Hilty instead of the intolerable Uma Thurman.

[Zarkana2]

Posted: 2/8/13 at 10:35am

The Bombshell album is one of my favorite musical theater albums. Amazing music and vocals!

[mb87]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 3:35pm

Anyone know of the cheapest place to get the album digitally? I had preordered Les Mis soundtrack off itunes for 16.00, and then the day it was released amazon mp3 sold it for 5.00

Anyone know deals like that?

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 5:14pm

The best deal, in my opinion, digital or not, is the 2-disc special deluxe (limited) edition from Target... it's $13.99. You've got the booklet (with BOMBSHELL synopsis and liner notes), the CD of the show and a second disc with an interview with Marc & Scott, and three unreleased tracks.

That's what I'm getting tomorrow.
Updated On: 2/11/13 at 05:14 PM

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 6:31pm

^And so am I. Can't wait to hear Christine Ebersole sing "Second Hand White Baby Grand"; know it will be devine!

I second Zarkana2's thoughts:
"The Bombshell album is one of my favorite musical theater albums. Amazing music and vocals!"

I'm particularly interested in seeing Leslie Odom's song,"(Let's Start) Tomorrow Night with Christian Borle, Wesley Taylor and Savannah Wise when it airs.

After listening to the AOL music feed repeatedly my favorite new song is "Hang The Moon" with Bernadette Peters and Megan Hilty.

[beensince1987]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 6:49pm

Is this called "Cast Recording" or "Soundtrack"? I personally think it is a "Soundtrack" since there is no show called "BOMBSHELL" (yet). Also the song with Grace Adler is the weakest one on the whole album. (But since there is no "Album" anymore...)

Christian and Debra are gonna be in BOMBSHELL on the show this season? I know who's directing it but...

[jonartdesigns]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 11:33pm

I wish they actually re-recorded the previously released songs so that Marc Kudisch could do "Don't say yes..." and Let Me Be Your Star wasn't the audition duet version.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 2/11/13 at 11:58pm

Woha there is a special edition version at Target??? How did I not know about this.

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 4:17am

I hadn't heard about a Target version either. What are the three unreleased tracks?

[GottaHaveAGimmick]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 8:54am

The Target store bonus CD includes an interview w/Shaiman and Wittman and the following songs:

Smash-Jane Krakowski
Never Give all the Heart-Megan Hilty
Second Hand White Baby Grand-Christine Ebersole

Guess I know where I will be during lunch.

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 11:04am

Just got my copy; the booklet includes a plot synopsis of BOMBSHELL (including how these songs fit in context with the show) a few photos from the show and the complete lyrics. About to listen to the demos of SMASH and SECOND HAND...

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 11:51am

Well, that gets Target my purchase over Amazon! Looking forward to the songs and the plot synopsis!

[mb87]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 12:12pm

Can someone please post the plot synopsis with the context of each song?

i'd be forever grateful until I can buy the cd on payday.

[phan24]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 12:50pm

Amazing album! stayed up till 2am listening to all of it. My favorite surprise was listening to Bernadette Peters in "At Your Feet" (Which is the first song of the show, but on iTunes it comes second to allow Let Me Be Your Star to be first)

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 2:18pm

According to the plot synopsis, At Your Feet IS after Let Me Be Your Star.

[Nickhutson]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 3:31pm

I guess in the structure of the piece, Let me Be Your Star appears the opener (albeit, an odd one) and then we go back in time to when she was a child.

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 8:45pm

Per mb87 request here is the synopsis for [i]Bombshell[/i]:

ACT 1
Before she was Marilyn Monroe, she was Norma Jeane. At the top of the show, her first marriage has just ended due to her all consuming drive to be a movie star ("LET ME BE YOUR STAR"--Norma Jeane). As the number finishes, we flash back to the 10-year-old Norma Jeane, who is being dropped off at Grauman's Chinese Theatre by her single mother, Gladys Baker, a mentally-unstable film cutter who uses the courtyard filled with movie stars' foot and hand prints to babysit for her daughter ("AT YOUR FEET"--Gladys, young Norma Jeane & Ensemble).

Flash forward to the adult Norma Jean, who is now an actress often confronted with the casting couch ("SMASH"--Norma Jeane & Starlets). But Norma Jeane pays her bills by modeling. At one photo shoot, she spies a book of Yeats' poetry on the shelf and surprises the photographer with her knoewledge of the poet's work as she sings of her history with men ("NEVER GIVE ALL THE HEART"--Marilyn). But even as she quotes Yeats, the song ends with her naked, in the iconic calendar pose.

Norma Jean changes her name to Marilyn Monroe. A smart agent gets Marilyn a screen test for 20th Century Fox ("THE 20th CENTURY FOX MAMBO"--Marilyn & Film Crew). The screen test does the trick, and Marilyn becomes a star. Famed Yankee slugger Joe DiMaggio sees her picture in a magazine and asks her out. Marilyn goes straight to the ball field for some due diligence ("THE NATIONAL PASTIME"--Marilyn & Ball Players). Marilyn & Joe have their date and it lasts well past dawn ("HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT"--Marilyn & Joe). The two quickly fall in love, and marry. While honeymooning in Japan, Marilyn is asked to perform for the troops in Korea. Joe sees firsthand how men react to her and how she loves it. ("I NEVER MET A WOLF WHO DIDN"T LOVE TO HOWL"--Marilyn & Soldiers). When they arrive back in America, Joe does his best to domesticate her with the promise of a simpler life ("MR. & MRS. SMITH"--Marilyn & Joe).

Testing out the power of her stardom, Marilyn starts showing up late and refusing roles. Daryl F. Zanuck reacts with anger ("DON'T SAY YES UNTIL I FINISH TALKING"--Daryl F. Zanuck & Yes Men). On location of the streets of New York City, Marilyn shoots the famous skirt blowing up scene for Billy Wilder's "The Seven Year Itch", and the public display enrages Joe, who leaves her ("ON LEXINGTON & 52nd STREET"--Joe). Back in Hollywood on her next film, the divorce from Joe, becomes official, and as the film wraps, Marilyn resolves to keep going with the only family she knows, the film crew ("CUT, PRINT, MOVING ON"--Marilyn). They smile at her attempt at camaraderie, but long fed up with her on-set behavior, they throw all her wrap presents away, which she discovers as the curtain falls on Act One.

ACT 2
Making one picture after another, Marilyn becomes dissatisfied with the roles she is being offered, "retires" from pictures and flies off to New York City, where she is met by a phalanx of reporters and fans at Idyllwild Airport ("PUBLIC RELATIONS"--Marilyn & Ensemble). More determined than ever to become a great actress, Marilyn begins to study with Lee & Paula Strasberg at the The Actor's Studie ("DIG DEEP"--Lee Strasberg, Marilyn & Students). Huddled around a piano at a party in New York, Marilyn meets esteemed playwright Arthur Miller. She tells him of how her often-institutionalized mother bought a piano once on an infrequent visit home, which is Norma Jeane's only memory of a happy moment between her and her mother, and that after searching for years, she found the actual piano, bought it, and now takes it with her wherever she lives ("SECOND HAND WHITE BABY GRAND"-Marilyn). Arthur is deeply touched, they fall in love and marry.

With newfound conficence in her acting skills, Marilyn goes to England to film "The Prince & The Showgirl" opposite Laurence Olivier. Unfortunately, Olivier treats her like a "no talent" and she admits to the apprentice hired to look after her that she wonders if the auditioning and always having to prove herself will ever stop ("THEY JUST KEEP MOVING THE LINE"--Marilyn). With the box office failure of "The Prince and the Showgirl" Marilyn begrudgingly heads back to Hollywood to film "Some Like It Hot", but is so unhappy about still having to play the dumb blonde that she begins spiraling down, keeping the crew waiting more than ever, as she drinks and takes pills ("LET"S BE BAD"--Marilyn & Ensemble). Soon, Arthur Miller, watching her even worse behavior as she films his screenplay, "The Misfits", realizes he can't help her or even stay with her ("THE RIGHT REGRETS"--Arthur Miller).

On her own back in Hollywood, Marilyn attends a fundraiser for JFK in Palm Springs, where Nat King Cole entertains, rallying the super glamorous guests ("(LET'S START) TOMORROW TONIGHT"--Nat King Cole). At the fundraiser, Marilyn meets JFK, sparks fly, and they begin to sneak off together whenever he can manage to get away. But it is a degrading and doomed relationship ("OUR LITTLE SECRET"--JFK & Marilyn).

Fired from her latest film, used up by the Kennedys and deeply under the influence of pills and booze, Marilyn fantasizes about visiting her mother at the sanitarium, where--in the dream--Gladys says all the things to Marilyn that she always wanted to hear ("HANG THE MOON"--Gladys & Marilyn). But when she awakens to find herself alone, Marilyn calls one friend after another as the drugs and alcohol have a final, lethal effect on her. Marilyn's spirit looks back on what she has done with her life, and how she hopes to be remembered ("DON"T FORGET ME"--Marilyn).

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 8:52pm

Who is singing with her in the extended intro? Hilty as Monroe?

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 9:25pm

^Hilty and McPhee are listed as the singers.

Just listened to the bonus CD and the interview with Shaiman and Wittman is excellent as they discuss how they created the songs for season 2. Shaiman even sings in each of the composition.

The demos are all good:
Smash with Jane Krakowski who if they needed a star to play the role she'd fit.
Never Give All the Heart is the complete version from the pilot sung by Megan Hilty and she blows McPhee out of the water.
Second Hand White Baby Grand with Christine Ebersole is good but Hilty's version is perfection and just can't be improved on for me.

Anyone who's planning to buy this should buy it at Target $13.99 just for the bonus CD; so happy I did.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 9:36pm

It is only 9.99 on Targets website right now.

[Wicked Fanatic]

Posted: 2/12/13 at 9:42pm

There are two versions available at Target--$9.99 is the one with only the soundtrack. The 2 cd limited edition is $13.99 and may not be available online.