Hit List
Hit List
#1Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 1:49am
I know there's already a post about the 54 Below stage door and Hit List being recorded, but nobody's talking about the actual show itself. After seeing it tonight, I actually believe this could be on Broadway. The one glaring issue is how unlikeable the main character is. She steals the songs from the one person who seems to care about her, leaves him for someone with better pull in the industry, and ultimately goes back to him only after that other guy proves he's not all that interested in her. I was glad she finally got shot! All of the other characters are great, the songs are so catchy, and all the performers were top-notch. Krysta Rodriguez was ON FIRE (and I don't usually think that of her). Jeremy's voice is flawless, and Andy Mientus provided great comic relief, as well as the voice of reason for Jeremy's I-can-save-her-it's-okay-that-she-stole-from-me naivete (I'm talking about the characters obviously).
Did anyone else see it? What did you think?
oasisjeff
Broadway Star Joined: 11/15/07
#2Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 3:22am
I saw it on Sunday night and had a great time, but there's no way this would work on Broadway. I think there are great songs, and obviously the talent is top notch, but the book is pretty awful.
And the problem there is the cast won't want to alter a word, to honor the memory of Kyle Bishop, so it's kind of screwed unfortunately.
Now t/d/b/a haterobics on here.
bstoll1
Broadway Star Joined: 9/27/13
#3Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 9:45amThe idea that no one would want to fix the book (the book being terrible being a plot point of Smash as it is) to "honor the memory" of a fictional character if someone actually showed interest in making Hit List more than just a concert at 54 Below is kind of nonsense, to me...
#6Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 10:43amI feel as though Hit List would work more in an off-Broadway setting, because I'm not so sure it would be able to sustain a life on Broadway. However, this is all sort of hypothetical, because there's been no real talk about it having a life post-54 Below, but I would absolutely love to see more concerts do or even a legitimate production.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
#7Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 11:35amYeah. The whole concert seems to be full of sarcastic/passive-aggressive references to the show being owned and regulated, at least in part, by NBC. The "feel free to photo, instagram, video, the concert, etc" line is quoted from the "Hit List" pre show on Smash, if I recall, but they have added the line "since you have as much right to record it as we do to perform it" in reference to NBC holding the rights, not them. And they don't have a new book "because of Kyle Bishop" is probably part reference to Kyle and his death becoming a theatre meme, part reference to the fact that NBC hasn't given full show rights, so they've just got fragments.
#9Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 12:56pmGreenblatt loved Smash, so I think he'd be completely on board with making Hit List a thing if it was up to him, but considering what a massive failure the show was, I'm not so sure NBC would be willing to put more gamble into it than they already have. I think at the very least, they should let a recording of it be done, simply because Bombshell got it's own recording at one point, so Hit List should get the same. I personally would love to see the show get an actual production, because it sounds like it could be great.
"Anybody that goes to the theater, I think we’re all misfits, so we ended up on stage or in the audience.” --- Patti LuPone.
oasisjeff
Broadway Star Joined: 11/15/07
#10Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 3:37pm
"The idea that no one would want to fix the book (the book being terrible being a plot point of Smash as it is) to "honor the memory" of a fictional character if someone actually showed interest in making Hit List more than just a concert at 54 Below is kind of nonsense, to me..."
I find it hard to believe you were able to write all of this seriously without sorting out it was a joke, hehe.
Now t/d/b/a haterobics on here.
bstoll1
Broadway Star Joined: 9/27/13
#12Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 4:24pm
I was fortunate enough to see the 11:30pm performance Monday night. I really felt bad for all those who were unable to get tickets, so I took pictures, videos & wrote a little bit about my experience (among other things) to share with those who are eager to get a glimpse of last nights performance.
I have posted the photos and links to the videos on my tumblr page. I am still in the midst of uploading more videos. There are about 7 in total I'll be posting. If you have any questions feel free to DM me and thanks for all your help answering my questions I've posted on these message boards.
http://observerbri.tumblr.com
bwayboy22
Broadway Star Joined: 5/9/12
jacobsnchz14
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/13/06
#14Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 5:05pm
ACT I
The Diva comes to Amanda’s concert, just another fan in the crowd. She moves through the throngs, singing a haunting song a cappella (“Broadway Here I Come (Pre-Reprise)"). When she reaches the front, she points her gun and shoots. Who does she hit? We flash back to the beginning of the story, where we meet Jesse, a struggling songwriter (and recovering addict) in Greenpoint with a dead-end life and no hope of getting out. He works as a bartender. Amanda is a poor little rich girl from the Upper East Side who dreams of being a pop star, but doesn't have enough of a defined look or style in both herself and her songs. They both dream that they can change their lives, but know they truly can't ("Rewrite This Story").
Amanda gets a big meeting with a record label and plays them one of her songs ("Good For You") – while fantasizing about performing in a club – but they don’t like the song. Rejected for the last time, she contemplates suicide on the side of the East River ("Broadway Here I Come") until Jesse rescues her. [This is the first time we hear the full version of “Broadway Here I Come.”] Jesse plays her one of his songs on a bridge ("The Love I Meant to Say"), and they connect. He dreams that together maybe they can get out.
Amanda watches The Diva perform on the VMAs ("Reach for Me"), and hears a little bit about her backstory and how she came to be The Diva. After a terrible dinner with her family in which they tell her they will no longer financially support her if she continues to pursue her pop dreams, she decides to do the same ("Original").
Jesse is anxious for a second date, as he has fallen in love with her. They spend the night together, but while he's asleep, she steals his songs and leaves. When he wakes up in the morning, not only is Amanda gone, but she's disappeared altogether, last seen by the water where she first met Jesse. Her family believes she has finally committed suicide. Jesse fears all is lost, until one day when he hears one of his songs on the radio ("The Love I Meant to Say (Reprise)") sung by someone he knows is her, even though the singer is called “Nina,” and has come out of nowhere. Jesse sets out to find her in Los Angeles ("I Heard Your Voice in a Dream"), culminating in a confrontation at her first big gig.
Because he loves her, Jesse agrees to keep supplying “Nina” with music, even though she wants to make sure no one even finds out who he is. Under pressure to keep delivering for her, and because he is hidden away, he quickly falls back into drugs as he watches Nina play the part of the superstar. Nina sings a song Jesse has written for her about loving someone who makes it hard to love them (“Don’t Let Me Know”), and it launches her.
Nina auditions for a big-time manager, JB – who’s reluctant to sign her – on the spur of the moment at a coked-up party in his palatial Hollywood Hills home (“Pretender”). He does sign her, but he wants her as more than just a client. She resists, which only makes him want her more. He pairs her up with The Diva, his biggest client, to make a single and video. They do, and it is successful, but a bitter rivalry begins. After they perform the song together at the VMAs (“I’m Not Sorry"), The Diva ends up having a very public meltdown, and Nina ascends to the top of the charts.
Jesse waits to find out if Nina will choose him or her career (“I Heard Your Voice in a Dream (Reprise)”). A greedy and unrepentant Nina publicly humiliates The Diva, driving Jesse to realize he can no longer love what Amanda has become. He leaves to the hotel penthouse, denying her any more music until she changes who she is ("Caught in the Storm"). Hopeful she will change, he waits for her at their bridge. She doesn't arrive. Nina succumbs to JB’s desires.
ACT II
The Diva returns to her hometown as who she used to be, Sara Smith. No one recognizes her, or believes she is who she says she is. Her family has moved, her friends don't know her. She feels more alone than ever before ("[TBD Returning Home Song]").
Back in Greenpoint, Jesse gets himself clean, watching from afar as Nina struggles to maintain her success without his songs. It becomes impossible, and at the VMAs, she tries to sing a version of her old song (“Good For You (Reprise)”) that fails miserably. Nina spirals downward. Eventually, she comes back to Jesse, meeting him back at their bridge, and she sings about how she wants to change back into who she used to be, if he'll be there with her ("Heart-Shaped Wreckage").
Jesse helps Nina become Amanda again, and due to all her experience, her work has grown, and she is able to get a meeting with the same record executives from the beginning, who have no idea who she was. (Nina has vanished from the world, everyone wanting to know who she was.) Amanda gives her first concert as herself; it is not a huge success, but she’s on the way. Jesse is incredibly proud of her. As she sings her final song ("Broadway Here I Come (Reprise)"), The Diva arrives and shoots Amanda, killing her. Jesse sings to Amanda as she dies in his arms on stage at the concert (“The Love I Meant to Say (Reprise)”).
Jesse is back at zero, but now feels renewed to keep trying in the shadow of Amanda’s legacy. Due to the notoriety over her violent act, The Diva is on top again. At the end of the show, Jesse says goodbye to Amanda as The Diva is back on top, even more famous in her infamy – although the next Amanda is somewhere out there to take her down (“The Goodbye Song”).
#15Hit List
Posted: 12/10/13 at 10:11pm
Review of the show and comments from Josh Saffran regarding "Hit List" on "Smash".
http://www.npr.org/blogs/monkeysee/2013/12/09/249741025/when-hit-list-got-another-shot-at-an-audience
