Let's take a trip back in time and look at "Smash" with some Playbill articles from its history. This first story, written in 2011, announced "Smash" being ordered to full series for the 2011-2012 television season. It's particularly interesting to read as we did not fully know yet just what this series would be, nor who all would be involved.
Hip Hooray and Ballyhoo: "Smash," Scripted Drama About Broadway Musical Makers, Will Be NBC Series
By Kenneth Jones
12 May 2011
The subculture of the Broadway musical theatre will come into American homes weekly in the form of the hour-long TV drama "Smash," the pilot of which has been picked up for an NBC series, the network announced.
Expected to be shot in New York City, as was its pilot, the series — the brainchild of Steven Spielberg — will give New York City actors (many of them theatre people) a paycheck and much exposure in the coming months. Whether the show pushes the American musical back to the forefront of pop culture (remember Ed Sullivan regularly showcasing Broadway on his show?) has yet to be seen.
In the pilot for the drama (with music, and humor) Christian Borle, a Tony Award nominee for Legally Blonde, played a composer, and Debra Messing ("Will & Grace") played the lyricist, in a story of the making of a new Broadway musical about the life of icon Marilyn Monroe.
The pilot also featured Katharine McPhee, the one-time "American Idol" contestant, as a beautiful struggling actress who goes to all lengths to book the lead in the musical.
McPhee — a 2006 runner-up in the talent competition's fifth season — is in the company of Jack Davenport (playing a choreographer), Tony nominee Brian d'Arcy James (Sweet Smell of Success, Shrek) as the husband of Messing's character and Wicked and 9 to 5 star Megan Hilty (as "an actress who acts out scenes from the show" as it develops, according to published reports).
A cast for the series has not been announced; pilot performers often carry over into series.
Playwright-screenwriter Theresa Rebeck (Mauritius, Our House, "NYPD Blue") penned the pilot, which launches the series about the bumpy development of a multimillion dollar Broadway musical.
"Smash" was to be a Showtime property when executive Robert Greenblatt (9 to 5: The Musical) was entertainment president there. Now that he's NBC's entertainment chair, the show's curtain will raise at the peacock network. The pilot was fast-tracked
