Smash: "The Cost of Art", "Let's Be Bad" and "Chemistry"
Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 9:10PM It's no fun to get behind when covering television since the new episodes just keep arriving. Let's dance through the past three weeks of Smash, our new favorite show, and be back in the now. Who's joining this kick line?
1.4 "The Cost of Art"
In the stellar fourth episode, we've reached day one of workshop rehearsals. The show is speeding along like it's about to be cancelled and wants to cram everything in. In the past I've criticized the show for a mildly sedate energy in certain key moments but that hasn't been from the typical television problem of the plot not advancing.
I love first days, don't you?
The episode title is a literal reference to Eileen's (Anjelica Huston) original Degas which she hopes to sell to finance her Marilyn the Musical workshop. Thematically its a foreshadowing of impending grief for these showbiz folks as they struggle through the creation of the musical. Ivy (Megan Hilty) didn't realize that Karen (Katharine McPhee) was in the chorus and there's lots of power plays and wounded feelings. Karen didn't realize that Ivy was sleeping with the boss and there's lots of unspoken judgement and wounded feelings. Derek continues to blow so hot and cold that Ivy can't function and there's lots of insecurity, sex and wounded feelings. Meanwhile Derek (Christian Borle) and Julia's (Debra Messing) new love interests suggest that these two just aren't very good at managing their personal lives outside of work.
"Rumor Has It" ...Bobby is so fierce.
LET'S BE BAD with CHEMISTRY after the jump...
This episode even solves the annoying / unexpected problem of Katharine McPhee being both NBC's suggested star of the series and her character Karen being the one we least like to spend time with now that the show has settled into its groove. The company, formerly all on Ivy's side, finally befriends Karen but they tell it like it when she whines about how hard she's trying.
Oh my god you are so not trying."
-Bobby (Wesley Taylor who we already love) staging an intervention
Set List: Originals - "20th Century Fox" (Company) and "Wolf" (Company); Other Songs - Michael Buble's "Haven't Met You Yet" (Nick Jonas, guest star) and Adele's "Rumor Has It" (McPhee & Company)
Cultural References: Oliver!, Degas
Anjelica Awesomeness: "I need some Bubble wrap." "Bubble wrap?" "You've heard of it."
Gay Gay Gay Bobby's intervention / sartorial judgment "It's a disaster"
Best Moment: That rousing "Wolf" number, which is performed impromptu to convince the episode's guest star (Nick Jonas) to invest, has a great chaotic lead-in as Eileen gathers her team "Show time". The energy never lags once that 'let's put on a show' spirit catches fire. You know musical comedy is working when the performers are having as much fun as you are watching.
Curtain Call: "I just want to feel safe."/ "Than go back to the chorus!" The show has sometimes struggled with justifying its contemporary songs but the excellent rendition of "Rumor Has It" fuses the throughlines of both its female leads episode threads and tells you so much about both of their ongoing complicated relationships to their own possible stardom. This is how it's done. If the show can keep this up, we'll be veritably begging for "Show time!" every Monday.
Grade: A
1.5 "Let's Be Bad"
There was no way to go but down from "The Cost of Art" but there are two special things about this otherwise merely good episode and the first is the increasingly great work from Debra Messing. She does the kind of stretching that tends to work wonders for career longevity in that she is working from a familiar template 'High Strung Woman With Gay Best Friend' but she's adding new notes to it. Tom & Julia re already much different than Will & Grace and not just from the switch to musical drama from sitcom comedy. She's aces in every single scene in this episode whether she's getting the dressing down from Tom for playing with fire, raging at her son for a stupid move that gets him arrested and then grounded, or trying to ignore her own feelings about her former lover Michael Swift (Will Chase) and failing.
Julia: I was eating ice cream and apple pie."
Tom: You're playing with fire."
Meanwhile Derek (the excellent Jack Davenport) and Ivy continue to struggle with very different viewpoints about their relationship to each other and to the show and some of these interpersonal dramas start to feel a bit like repetitive. The show within a show hits its highest peak thus far with a breathtaking book and musical number performance of "Let's Be Bad" in full costume. Sadly the episode is dragged down by Karen and Dev's annoying subplot about his potential promotion and hers should Ivy falter. McPhee's solo in this episode is also the show's worst thus far, mere filler and incongruous at that.
Set List: Originals - "Let's Be Bad" (Hilty & Company x 3); Older - "Happy Birthday" (McPhee), "It's a Man's Man's World" (McPhee), " A Song For You" (Swift)
Cultural and Movie References: Hermes, "The Marilyn Memoir"
Best Moment: "Let's Be Bad"
Anjelica Awesomeness: "How quaint"
Gay Gay Gay Tom's romantic plots are not agreeing with me. That is all.
Curtain Call: "A Song For You" and a very dangerous kiss (Julia & Michael) with a shocked witness (Julia's son)
Grade: B+
1.6 "Chemistry"
With the latest episode the series is starting to feel more like a workplace soap opera with occassional music and less like a musical in a workplace. I hope that doesn't last. But thankfully the soap part is good. Who knew that Debra Messing could sell sexual angst and guilt this well? The episode kicks off with Ivy losing her voice, sending everyone including producer Eileen into panic mode.
A leading lady with vocal problems? Nobody believes that even when it's true!"
Ivy takes pretanazone to heal quickly and it gives her hallucinations so we see Karen in Marilyn garb again reminding us all that Ivy makes a way way better Marilyn and the show should really quit this teasing about Ivy losing the role she already won to Karen.
Set List: Originals "History is Made at Night" (McPhee & Chase); Older - Jessie J's "Who You Are" (Hilty), Florence and the Machine's "Shake It Up" (McPhee); Traditional - "Hava Nagila" (McPhee),
Best Moment: "I can't think if you touch me" - Debra Messing is just selling the romantic chemistry and guilt. Who knew she had this much drama in her.
Gay Gay Gay "You boys are very clever" Eileen stars palling around with the young 'uns, hitting the dive bars.
Anjelica Awesomeness: she loves a cheap drink. And the bartender "one for you."
Curtain Call: This episode doesn't end with a musical number. Though the prologue of "History is Made at Night" with Ivy exploding at Derek is cathartic bitchy fun. Well, he really is awful to her.
Grade: B- Mostly because the musical numbers weren't good --Ivy's felt like a cheap music video, even if she was meant to be drugged up -- and didn't feel organic to the plot.
Previous Episodes
"Pilot" in which we meet our cast and crew and "Marilyn the Musical" sparks in Tom & Julia's mind.
"The Callback" and "Enter Joe DiMaggio" in which we get our Marilyn and her main man.
Debra Messing, Reviews, Smash, TV, musicals
Reader Comments (26)
Am I the only person who doesn't enjoy this show? It bored me to death and I stopped watching. :P I think maybe I can't handle a musical that takes itself too seriously. At least Glee knows it's a hot mess and runs with it.
I can't imagine being bored by this show but then the topic itself thrills me.
I agree. The Cost of Art was a homerun. I like this show, if only because I NEED to like this show (if that makes sense). Above all, the original musical numbers are so strong that I'm willing to sit through a few boring sub-plots. I'm really starting to wonder how it will turn around for McPhee though. Hilty continues to nail every number so convincingly, that I'm losing patience with Karen's character and I'm way ready for some competition to start up again. Karen's character is 'ready', she says, so I was hoping that the next episode would be IT, i.e. the moment they make us think twice about the casting, or at least start to showcase McPhee in her eventual role (whatever it may be)
But then, I saw that Bernadette Peters singing a number from Gypsy in the previews and almost died instantly lol.
Ok I guess I have nothing to complain about then.
Cheers
G
I agree Cost of Art was my favorite overall episode.
That staging of "Let's Be Bad" my goodness, it was fantastic. They've had many good original songs and stagings but that one took the cake, it was like watching the actual musical.
Last night's episode was a bit blah for me but I'm interested to see where the show goes with the off stage lovelies of julia and tom as well as Karen getting a card from the record producer...
Well, Uma Thurman is coming in at some point...so this will probably become a three-way competition soon. I really liked the Shake It Out cover.
Philip: I quit the show already. I wanted to stick with it for the Anjel factor just like I wanted to stand by AHS for Lange and HL for Bates but I just can't.
I'm really liking this show! The big musical numbers and all the original songs are amazing. Here's my new favorite, the full version of "History Is Made At Night".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJsqRIblXBQ
Debra Messing is surprisingly killing it in her role. She's pretty much making this romance with DiMaggio (who's a hop and a skip away from becoming Alex Forrest) work all by herself.
I still have a problem with Karen though. I have no reason to care about her. Her parts are always the most bland and unrealistic. Plus, McPhee is a good enough actress but the songs she gets to sing? blah. This might be coming from a potential Ivy/Megan Hilty bias though because i usually end up smiling whenever she opens her mouth to sing. She blasts Karen right out of my mind.
Plus, i'm sort of hoping that Julia's son has some sort of mental deficiency because there is no reason why the actor who plays him should sound like a 7-year old alcoholic.
In regards to Messing and drama, the best episodes and moments of Will & Grace were always the ones where the cast was asked to play straight drama. Messing won her Emmy for an episode that featured this huge fight between Grace and Will (Grace won the fight by the way). Her character really is the most interesting one on the show for me, mostly because she actually has some layers. I'm totally drawn in to the show and love, love, love the music, but it would be great if the other characters could have more dimensions to them.
And as Regina George said about fetch, Smash writers, stop trying to make Karen happen, she is never going to happen! That is far and away my biggest problem with the show. I don't know if it's McPhee's lack of sparkle or they just haven't given her anything to do, but that character hasn't done a single thing that justifies all the gushing that goes on around her. If they wanted to make the show real interesting I think they'd resist those inherent urges to go all diva with Ivy and make Karen an Eve Herrington type bitch. Talk about fun!
I'm really enjoying this show, the original songs are ridiculously fun (iTunes has gotten a lot of business from me lately). Before it started airing I assumed that it would end up with one character playing Norma Jean and the other playing Marilyn, and I really hope that's the way it goes. Either that or Ivy is Marilyn because I really don't want to think that the people behind this amazing show are stupid enough to try and get us to believe that Karen is a better choice! I like McPhee, but I really need her character to be more dynamic, they've given us small glimpses of the bite that she may have but I want more.
As for Debra Messing, yeah, she better win some awards.
who is this "we" and "our" you keep referring to?
have you forgotten that 'the cost of art' was burdened with the mean girls of the chorus suddenly changing their collective mind about karen being from iowa/ohio/wherever (UGH WE HATE HER) and suddenly becoming BFFs (OMG WE LOVE HER!1!). that plot alone dragged it down to a d.
the (supposed) topic of this show thrills me but the trials of the characters bore the bejeebus out of me. it doesn't help that the writing is terrible and you can see plot points coming from space. the only thing that was keeping me interested was ivy but they seem to want to turn her into some kind of diva to make us root for karen (never gonna happen). i had decided that this week would be my final episode....but then they lured me back in with the promise of an appearance by little bernie lazzara from queens next week.
damn you, smash. and damn you most of all, show queen gene.
Is it awful that I only care about Tom because I think that guy his mom set him up with is super cute? So is that dancer that asked him out (whatever happened with that? I sort of expected someone to mention it when Tom was at that party with a date). I'd have to echo that Debra Messing's finest moments in Will & Grace were the dramatic parts, but she's crushing it here. I feel sort of bad for Karen because Ivy's such a bitch to her, but I feel like the only reason she's the other one is because she didn't show up to audition as Marilyn, not because she's some omgamazing singer.
Wow. The Cost of Art convinced me to completely give up watching.
The notion that it was some sort of tough decision choosing between a sexless-expressionless McPhee and a dazzling Hilty for the role of Marilyn f-in Monroe (!) always made me a little bit uneasy, the cheesiness of McPhee's All-American flagwaving hometown visit made me very very uneasy, but the grotesqueness of a terminally wooden Jonas brother joining an impromptu production number in between McPhee and her suddenly-so-supportive sassy entourage pitching it to the rafters... vomit vomit vomit.
Also, all of the dialogue belongs in 1991.
As much as I enjoy watching Messing, Huston and Hilty, watching them combat this dialogue is a bit too painful.
Just saying: the trailer for On The Road is out.
I liked the first 4 episodes, but the last two were a disappointment, I hate the subplot of Debra Messing, it's just too much soup opera, I find it a little annoying when I think it should be a fun drama (that doesn't mean that it should be light), and the actor that plays her son is awful in that, but the original songs are heaven, especially 'Let's Be Bad'. Hope they are back on track next week, if not, I will start to worry.
I'm in love with this show! I just have watched the first three episodes. Although at first I was biased and wanted McPhee to get the Marilyn Role, but when I saw them perform my mind was changed and now I hate the idea of Ivy losing the role, all the teasing makes me angry she is just killing it and Karen, now I don't care about her, her character is becoming annoying, GIVE US MORE ANGELICA HUSTON PLEASE! and more shirtless Jack Davenport, that man is pure sex... I share your love for true blood and mad men and now smash
Wow. I guess I'm alone on Messing. I think she nails everything except this new love interest. She's sold me on the conlict, not the lust. I have no idea why this creepy guy who basically blackmails her ("talk to me or I'll make a scene in front of everyone") has so much power over her.
And I agree with the comment above about Nick Jonas joining the song - that was when I put this show on probation. I mean, I want to like it, I like a lot of parts of it, but it's becoming like Glee where they get as much wrong as they do right.
The first few episodes were weak-ish...it felt like the actors weren't connecting, still in the midst of finding their characters...several episodes later, everyone seems to be settling in...totally hooked on The Voice, then Smash.
Debra Messing always has amazing sexual chemistry with her male co-stars, from Will and Grace to Starter Wife to Smash.
Megan Hilty sounded great on that Jessie J song.
Yeah, I've said from the beginning that Karen as Eve Harrington is the only way to go because people have just never liked her, even on American Idol. She's too pretty, too talented, and well, too smug or uptight or whatever. Might as well play to her strengths and let the real inner Diva out. In Karen's world it's All About Karen anyway.
Speaking of Karen & Ivy, they better not make Ivy just a straight up bitch. That would hardly play to Megan's strengths. People naturally like her.
I think the show is pretty hit-or-miss. As others have already said, the musical aspects are definitely the most interesting. But the soapy stuff, not so much. I also find it hilarious that Julia and Michael are in a "secret" affair. They are so obvious in front of others that you'd have to be in a coma not to notice there was something going on. If that's how they acted during the earlier affair it is pretty shocking that Tom didn't figure it out.
I dv-r the show and fast forward through the scenes w/Karen.
This Julia/Michael plot is absolutely horrible. Michael has "restraining order" written all over him, what with that "Talk to me or I'll make a scene" threat.
And to top it off, apparently "no" doesn't actually mean "no"! Ladies, if you start to cry and say "Please stop" to the man in front of you, it's completely reasonable for him to keep advancing on you and then take his shirt off! All you need to do is get the hesitation screwed out of you, right? You'll certainly be all sunshine and giggles the next morning! Because "no" means "maybe," and really, it's best to just let the man have total control over you, right?
Frankly, I have a hard time understanding why anyone would like this couple or find them sexy or compelling at all. That whole storyline is sickening.
I have found every episode good so far, except for The Cost of Art which was, I agree, AMAZING! Everything just seemed to click in that hour. The following ones, not so much. Good, but no full click...age.
Have to agree about Debra Messing too. She definitely deserved her Emmy for that episode of Will & Grace. Whenever she had those dramatic moments on that show, she soared. Infact, I think all of the episodes she submitted had heavily dramatic moments along with comedy and she combined the two so well. If she doesn't get an Emmy nomination, I will be pissed!
And why, why, WHY all the hate for Katharine McPhee? I can't stand Ivy and was hoping from the start Karen got the Marilyn role. I'm still hoping that! Ivy is just a straight up bitch even when Karen's being nice to and trying to help her. Ivy's head needs to shrink just a little bit and she needs to get some humility for me to get on board with her, but for now, KAREN ALL THE WAY!
And, I find Katharine McPhee's voice WWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY better than Ivy's. I could listen to it all the time.
Ha, I meant Megan Hilty lol
Instead of Ivy lol
"Bravo!" to the creators, writers, cast and crew of Smash!
The show is a lot of fun to watch, speaking as a recently retired Broadway musician. While most fellow musicians enjoyed the drama created amongst themselves, some of us preferred to mingle with "the company" (actors, dancers, stage managers, company managers...) more so than others. And believe me, the drama on this side is MUCH more entertaining! However, the downside to most of this drama was how incredibly and excruciatingly long-lived they actually were. But here on Smash, thanks to the brilliance of television writing and a definitive time frame, the dramas now are actually almost bearable and even entertaining!
Talent in simply incredible. Everyone who sang the lead in a number in any episode sounded great. While many of you here are keen on comparing who's better than who, I prefer to judge each performer on the merits of their trade since I don't have to choose one over the other. And each one of them CERTAINLY has merit and deserves ample accolades for their artistry.
Characterization throughout the show is a good sampling of reality. Just as someone mentioned in a previous post that they would like to see Ivy's "good" side portrayed as well, I would definitely agree. I was pleased to see the Karen Cartwright character venturing into some new areas -- and hopefully some taboo areas as well!
The sociopathic relationship-world of director Jack Davenport is off to a good realistic start. To make it even more realistic, Jack should have an affair with a young flaming male dancer, and later use the "I'm straight but I was drunk" line. (Really, most of us don't care whether or not you're straight, gay, or just simply horny. But men like the character in Jack's position of authority commonly feed on their own perceptions of what other people might be thinking about them and the opinions of their lives.
Break a leg!