Broadway-Aimed SMASH Musical Lands Susan Stroman as Director

Broadway

Susan Stroman | Photo: Rebecca J Michelson

By
Dan Meyer
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March 22, 2023 9:00 AM
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News

They’ve moved one step closer to the line. The long-in-progress stage adaptation of NBC’s cult favorite musical drama Smash has found its director in five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman, currently at the helm of the upcoming premiere of New York, New York. In addition, producers have announced plans to debut Smash on Broadway in the 2024-2025 season.

As previously announced, the musical will feature songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who wrote numbers for the TV show—many of which will be used in the musical. They will also be writing additional new songs. Smash will also feature a book by Rick Elice and Bob Martin, along with choreography by Joshua Bergasse.

Like the TV show, which premiered in 2012, the story will follow the process of mounting Bombshell, a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. However, the stage version of Smash will also depart liberally from the series.

The original cast of Smash, including Katherine McPhee and Megan Hilty, performed a charity benefit concert of the songs from Bombshell at the Minskoff Theatre in June of 2015. The event sold out in fifteen minutes and was filmed for archives. It eventually streamed during the early days of the pandemic in 2019 as a benefit for Entertainment Community Fund.

Robert Greenblatt, Neil Meron, and Steven Spielberg will serve as lead producers on the musical, the latter making his Broadway debut in such a role. 101 Productions, Ltd. will serve as General Management.

When Speilberg got attached a few years ago, he said “Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage. We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the Smash journey, which began with my producing partners over ten years ago.”

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Dan Meyer

After 4 years in the biz, Dan swapped out theatre for sports and is now a researcher at NBC Olympics. Spectacle remains a key passion and is dedicated to building bridges between different forms of entertainment. He has worked as a writer and editor at Theatrely and Playbill, covering Broadway and beyond. In addition, he has been published in Rolling Stone, Spy, and others.

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