TV audiences only saw bits and pieces of “Bombshell,” the musical-within-the-TV-show on NBC’s Broadway soap “Smash,” but New Yorkers will get a chance to see the whole thing next year in a one-night-only benefit performance produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced the series.
With venue and cast still to be set, details are sketchy for the concert presentation, a benefit for the Actors Fund. But with so many cast members of “Smash” drawn from the New York legit world (Megan Hilty, Christian Borle, Jeremy Jordan, Krysta Rodriguez), chances seem good that at least of few of them will turn up in the concert.
Broadway regulars Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, the songwriting duo behind “Hairspray” and West End musical “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” churned out 22 original songs for “Bombshell,” the bio-musical about Marilyn Monroe that provided the spine of the backstage action of “Smash.” Some of the musical’s book scenes were also written and incorporated into the series.
As originally conceived by its producers, “Smash” always had the potential to yield a new stage musical that could be produced on Broadway. The Actors Fund benefit gives Zadan and Meron a chance to see if “Bombshell” might have legs.
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Update: The date of the “Bombshell” concert has been moved up one week to June 8 at a Broadway theater still to be set. The show follows the 69th annual Tony Awards, which will take place on June 7.
