Smash on NBC HDTV - Page 7

I was thinking of "The Cape Awake Event"

I loved what Huston did with this wondeful, iconic song. Her "stage voice" delivery was just right. Nice touch having Marc Shaiman playing the piano and his life partner and lyricist Scott Wittman in the crowd. It was also great to see Mark Kudish in the two Darryl F. Zanuck numbers. The new one "Smash" was a real showcase for the ensemble women. I'm still laughing over Derek's "explanation" to Ivy about how he was shtupping Rebecca to get the best performance out of her..HAH!

In regard to Rebecca's peanut spiked smoothie, I have two theories. Either her personal assistant (who is delendent on Rebecca for her income) did it to get Rebecca out of the show after the disasterous finale (nothing says Broadway musical like a drug OD suicide ending ) or Rebecca did it herself to get out of the show. Notice how she didn't actually drink the deadly mix until Karen was with her (or anyone else instead) to act as the emergency safety valve. My bet is on the latter. Rebecca clearly was very shaken by what happened and might have wanted to bail out in a way that would avoid a nasty legal fight.

Not Ivy? Not evil Ellis?

Ivy's ambitious but not to the point of a possible homicide. Ellis is a despicable weasel but again, risking a serious criminal charge? I can't see it. Besides, whatever "allegiance" Ellis has to Ivy is probably as strong as a grain of sand in the wind. Long term loyalties are not exactly his strong suit. I still think that Rebecca did herself in when she knew that someone was there who could get immediate medical help.

Except loyalty to himself.

Perhaps he wanted to get Rebecca sick (not dead, but sick) so that she'd quit the show. After all, she's pretty bad and he's the one who brought her to the project...

I have now watched the latest episode and loved it, despite how preposterous it often was. My positive reaction may well have been partly caused by Smash withdrawal. NBC's OKC affiliate preempted last week's show because the weather guys were covering a bunch of storms around the state. Disappointing but still pretty hard to complain about.

I thought the singing and dancing this week were uniformly wonderful. Mark Kudisch was funny and effective in the Zanuck numbers and Angelica Huston's rendition of September Song was lovely. I also liked the music in the church. As usual, Karen was terrific but the dancing-boy who is Tom's current squeeze really knocked it out of the park. The guy can REALLY sing!

The bottom line is, I am still enjoying the show and look forward to it each week.

I think you've nailed it there... could be wrong though, but that seems most plausible.


Happens here in the mid-west fairly often.

My feeling is that, in many of the snarkier quarters of the blogosphere, McPhee has unfairly gotten a very bad rap. Is she a great actress? Not yet but as they throw more of the dramatic plot twists her way, she has grown in the acting department. Is she as good a pure singer as Megan Hilty? Probably not. Hilty has a powerful and very clean voice while McPhee's is bit more mannered but they have both been excellent in their showcase numbers as was on display last night in the Smash number. Huston singing the song that her grandfather had introduced in Hollywood's Golden Age was a very generous and touching moment. As far as Michael goes, don't you wonder why Frank or Julia has not told him that if he doesn't cease and desist, his wife can expect a very revealing phone call? Even if they don't have the heart to actually do that kind of damage, it would put Michael squarely on notice that his family could be shattered with a brief conversation. Would Michael be willing to gamble on that? I doubt it.

Didn't the preview of next week's show hint at Ellis getting fired?

Yeah, it sort of implied that the young ferret was really working for someone else. The betting in my house is that it's Jerry, Eileen's husband.

"Somebody has to produce this show."

Funny, I much prefer McPhee to Hilty as far as singing goes.

I agree that McPhee's voice is both bigger and more beautiful than Hilty's but Hilty is a more polished performer, it seems to me.

Both have chops...Hilty's is obviously Broadway trained and somewhat beefier, but McPhee's is more popcentric and being featured (and processed) for the show. In a real sing off, I give the edge to Hilti. In the show, they are making McPhee's voice sound bigger and richer than maybe it is. I do like her numbers better...probably because they are more popish (and I'm not a fan of pop).

I think there is no question that they both have beautiful voices, but I am curious as to what you mean by 'bigger' - as in more powerful?, or bigger range? Either way, we are clearly hearing something different - on my system, Hilty has a much more powerful voice than McPhee (although as I said, they both have great voices).

Their voices definitely have a different timbre. IMO Hilty is a bit sharper and piercing or "edgy"
while McPhee's is softer (which does not mean quieter) and smoother.

Yes, Hilty's voice is similar to Michelle Lea on 'Glee'. Theater performers have a different training regimen than pop singers. McPhee's voice is clearly benefiting from the fact that they overdub & electronically process the songs on this show. That's not to say she doesn't have a lovely singing voice (or that she looked incredibly hot in that Bollywood outfit. Wow!).

Glad to see the renewal. It's rare that a show I like gets more than one season.

I wonder if McPhee is like Pavarotti in later years in that she can only maintain pitch when she is singing loudly. I could hear autotune in one of her song's beginnings.

I'm also glad this got renewed. As Glee has plummeted into virtual chaos and (for me) near unwatchability, I continue to enjoy Smash immensely. As for the voices, it is clear that Hilty has the true Broadway resume and voice so true to the part. McPhee has a very good voice, but a pop style. It still works for me as it's being carefully used, especially in the off-Broadway numbers she gets (the church, the Bar Mitzvah, the Times Square scene, etc). It works less in direct comparison to Hilty on stage, but that should be expected given their backgrounds and strengths.

If you've seen McPhee in some of the guest artist appearances she's done (with David Foster and Chris Botti among others) you would be dissuaded from that feeling. Look up her duet with Andrea Bocelli on "The Prayer" on Youtube. She does not need any processing or autotuning but they are done routinely on Tv shows. Lea and Amber get tuned on Glee at times and neither girl needs it.

NBC has put out a number of teaser video clips for the season finale on Monday night including interviews with the primary cast members. Looks likes it's gonna be fun. They are all on YouTube.

True that. it's interesting that Hilty is playing a character whose career track in the exact opposite of her own (Ivy in the ensemble for 10 years and Hilty taking over for Chenoweth as Glinda one year out of school and in Wicked's ensemble). She is a brilliant talent and hopefully, her career will now expand well beyond the Broadway stage.

She does not need any processing or autotuning but they are done routinely on Tv shows. Lea and Amber get tuned on Glee at times and neither girl needs it.

Then I wish they would stop it.

As for Glee, it's gone so far off the rails there is little to be done for it. I'm not sure I have what it takes to watch the two-part season finale, and after this year I'm done with it.

Seems to me like 'Glee' has climbed back onto the rails. This last part of the season has been more focused on music than moralizing, which is what most of us wanted. It's fun again, at least to me and my wife. YMMV.

We enjoyed the show (although my daughter, a devout "Team Ivy" member hated it). Sure a lot of things happened that never would in the real world (i.e. director blowing off his producer/sole money angel) but it is a fantasy after all. Jack Davenport continues to shine as Derek and McPhee was very good during the show montage playing the lead. The last song was a nice capper as well. You gotta give it to Megan Hilty. She's playing a entirely thankless role but has done it wonderfully. Even with Ivy being a hyper-ambitious, do anything to get the part b*%ch Hilty is so talented that more people still probably want to see her character get the lead. I'm not sure where the series will go next season. A lot of things can go terribly wrong between an out of town run and a Broadway opening but the show runners are going to have be careful not to have something blow up every 10 minutes or the series could deteriorate very quickly into nothing but melodramatic nonsense.

I thought the last episode was particularly well-done and McPhee's performance was the best I've seen this season. I'm definately looking forward to it continuing next year. I think this is a good show.

Well the obvious solution is the before and after Marilyn story with McPhee as the before innocent Marilyn and Hilty as the after drugged blonde Marilyn. I just kept waiting for that to happen in the finale.

Okay, why didn't Eileen call the cops on Ellis after he admitted to "poisoning" Rebecca with the peanuts in her smoothie? I know things can get cutthroat, but attempted murder of the star is not allowable.