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[0:00] Mo Brady: Welcome, welcome, recently deceased, be your Democrat, Republican, florist, groomer, priest.

[0:09] Aaron Albano: You're listening to Smashed from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:16] Aaron Albano: And I'm Aaron Albano. But don't come to us with your worries and complaints. Save it for the doorman who's a saint among saints.

[0:19] Mo Brady: He knows your future because he's seen your past, which is why he might be telling you, huh, not so fast.

[0:35] Mo Brady: Welcome back, listeners, to our tongue-in-cheek recap of what is television's most detailed depiction of the theater industry. And yes, we are talking about Smash, the NBC series that aired from 2012 to 2013.

[0:48] Aaron Albano: Smash was also an incredible glimpse at the theater community in the early 2010s, as many of the show's writers, actors, and dancers were played by real Broadway performers with real Broadway cred.

[0:58] Mo Brady: But we wanted to go back in time to see how the show has weathered. The show famously didn't land with a wide audience, but can re-watching the series help us understand why?

[1:07] Aaron Albano: Maybe, yes.

[1:08] Mo Brady: Maybe, yes. So let's dive in and talk about Season 1, Episode 9, Hell on Earth. Aaron, give us the stats.

[1:14] Aaron Albano: Oh my god, we are here. Hell on Earth premiered on April 2nd. It was written by Scott Burkhardt and directed by Paul McGuigan. The episode was viewed by 6.03 million viewers, which is again down this time by 0.11 million. Featured songs? Again, no Bombshell music, unless you count the snippet of the Arthur Miller medley that Brian d’Arcy James sang at the piano.

[1:41] Aaron Albano: But we did get an original song by Shaiman and Whitman from Heaven on Earth called The Higher You Get, The Farther You Fall. We also get a Times Square cover of Cheers, Drink to That by Rihanna. And what happens in this episode, Mo?

[1:56] Mo Brady: Everyone seems to be moving on after the Bombshell workshop. Karen is picking up serving shifts and booking orange juice commercials. Ivy is back in Heaven on Earth, probably forever, but she is definitely not enjoying it, as she rolls her eyes and marks her way through performances and takes prescription pills on the side. Julia's husband Frank finds sheet music to a song she wrote about former flame Michael Swift. She admits to an affair with him, but Frank storms out, telling her sorry doesn't cut it. Frank then confronts Michael, who tells Frank this wasn't the first time they had an affair. Frank leaves him punched and lying on the sidewalk in front of New York Theatre Workshop and walks out on Julia and their son Leo.

[2:39] Aaron Albano: Poor Frank.

[2:40] Mo Brady: Out at a Glasshouse Tavern-type doppelganger, the cast of the Marilyn musical laments the production's need to court a star. Jessica leads the charge, stating, "Chasing a star is lame. It's a musical. It's a new American musical. Why can't the songs be the star?" Ivy takes it one step further, digging at Karen that she walks in with this Midwestern moonface and lands everything. Tom, Julia, and Derek discuss stars to replace Ivy in the role of Marilyn, as well as a title for their musical about her. But unbeknownst to Derek, Eileen is also meeting with potential new directors of the Marilyn musical, where she is spotted by New York Post columnist Michael Riedel. Derek fumes when he reads Riedel's column, but agrees to stay on the project as long as Eileen finds him a star.

[3:28] Mo Brady: After taking a mysterious prescription at her dressing room station, Ivy takes the Heaven on Earth stage under the influence, falling center stage and getting yelled at by Norbert Leo Butz to "get off the frickin' stage." In what is the official jumping the shark of Smash, Ivy Lynn storms out of the Shubert Theatre in costume, wig, and microphone into Times Square.

[3:49] Aaron Albano: It truly is. When Karen, who just happens to be there to drop off Ivy's misplaced sunglasses, follows her out, Ivy lashes at her. Karen then follows Ivy into a liquor store, gives her $20 for a bottle of booze, and drinks it with her, in public, on their way to Duffy Square. They then sing an impromptu duet, accompanied by a busker on an electronic keyboard, a drummer on five-gallon buckets, and two guitarists, one is an electric guitar that is not plugged in.

[4:18] Mo Brady: Tom and Sam end up at an all-night diner until 5 a.m. on what may or may not be a date, but on the bright side, the episode ends with a new title for the Marilyn musical, Bombshell.

[4:29] Aaron Albano: Say what?

[4:31] Mo Brady: In harmony, boys!

[4:33] Aaron Albano: Oh, that's nice!

[4:35] Mo Brady: The father!

[4:37] Aaron Albano: The father!

[4:39] Mo Brady: The father, you!

[4:41] Aaron Albano: Father!

[4:43] Mo Brady: All right, so in this episode, we saw a good number of ensembleists, because we saw the ensemble of Heaven on Earth. In that number, we saw Angels played by Dyleese Croman, Jessica Lee Golden, Nina LaFarga, Angelina Mullins, Sinners played by Savannah Wise, Greg Graham, Rhea Patterson, Ryan Steele, and Alex Wong, and Assistants played by Bernard Dotson, James Monroe Iglehart, and Boris York. It's a good number!

[5:12] Aaron Albano: It was a good number!

[5:14] Mo Brady: Shaiman wouldn't know how to write a friggin' musical! They do!

[5:18] Aaron Albano: Yeah, it was great! I loved it! I can't decide which performance I liked better when I was watching...

[5:22] Mo Brady: Oh, right, because we got to see it twice!

[5:24] Aaron Albano: We got to see it twice!

[5:26] Mo Brady: Ivy marking, and then Ivy sabotaging the number. Should I say that I liked her marking?

[5:32] Aaron Albano: No, you don't! Say the truth! Say the truth!

[5:36] Mo Brady: I loved Jessica Lee Golden's solo in the middle of the number.

[5:40] Aaron Albano: But, correct me if I'm wrong, that sounded like Angie Schworer's voice.

[5:44] Mo Brady: Wait, what?

[5:47] Aaron Albano: Angie Schworer's voice?

[5:49] Mo Brady: I had no idea!

[5:51] Aaron Albano: Angie Schworer is credited on IMDb as a showgirl, but then I thought maybe that had a Times Square reference?

[5:57] Mo Brady: Because those women who are out in Times Square in bikinis? But now I don't remember seeing it. Maybe she was just the vocals.

[6:05] Aaron Albano: The voice?

[6:07] Mo Brady: That's weird.

[6:09] Aaron Albano: That's drama.

[6:11] Mo Brady: Yeah, it's drama, but both Angie and Jessica made money.

[6:15] Aaron Albano: I also loved seeing future Tony Award winner James Monroe Iglehart.

[6:19] Mo Brady: James Monroe Iglehart? Yes, I did.

[6:21] Aaron Albano: Who at that point was only known for Memphis, right?

[6:24] Mo Brady: Yeah, was he doing Memphis at the time?

[6:26] Aaron Albano: Maybe. This is like 2012.

[6:28] Mo Brady: Or maybe it's between Memphis and Aladdin.

[6:32] Aaron Albano: Like Aladdin workshops?

[6:34] Mo Brady: Yeah, I can't decide whether my least favorite performance was Ivy Lynn or my most favorite performance was Ivy Lynn.

[6:41] Aaron Albano: I've been on stage with people who do that, though.

[6:45] Mo Brady: Who are like marking. You've never been on stage with someone who's like...

[6:47] Aaron Albano: Oh, for sure. I thought you meant someone on stage who is like high and actively ruining the show.

[6:53] Mo Brady: No, no.

[6:55] Aaron Albano: Okay. Oh, no. Yeah, no. Marking is not new to the Broadway stage, sadly.

[6:59] Mo Brady: When especially, I'm like, Ivy, you've been on Broadway for ten years? And you act this way? You better not get any more jobs, ever.

[7:07] Aaron Albano: Because literally the way I just shouted at the screen on first watch and this watch.

[7:14] Mo Brady: Being like, fire her, fire her, burn Ivy to the ground.

[7:18] Aaron Albano: I want to abandon Albano Fact Checks because we're going to get locations.

[7:22] Mo Brady: What is Glass House Tavern?

[7:24] Aaron Albano: Glass House Tavern is a bar.

[7:26] Mo Brady: So it's on 47th Street. And it's a bar that I'll at least say of this Broadway generation's choice to go post-show to get a drink.

[7:37] Aaron Albano: To have some food. Because it's central and everybody knows where it is.

[7:42] Mo Brady: Including people who've been on tour for a year and a half.

[7:44] Aaron Albano: Yeah, and it's definitely become like a very local haunt for Broadway old and new.

[7:50] Mo Brady: Because I was like, I feel like Glass House Tavern was not the place to go in like 2012.

[7:55] Aaron Albano: Oh, I went there in 2012.

[7:58] Mo Brady: Oh yeah? Was Bourbon Street still a thing?

[8:01] Aaron Albano: Bourbon Street was a thing.

[8:03] Mo Brady: I feel like that was the haunt. Other than like vintage.

[8:07] Aaron Albano: Oh gosh, well, see you at vintage.

[8:09] Mo Brady: See you at vintage.

[8:11] Aaron Albano: The Orange Juice Commercial Auditions happen at RIP, the old Telsey and Company.

[8:15] Mo Brady: The old Telsey offices.

[8:17] Aaron Albano: What were the old Telsey offices?

[8:19] Mo Brady: The old Telsey offices were on 43rd Street. There were a lot of show posters around the office that Telsey had cast over the past years and decades.

[8:29] Aaron Albano: And then like these five rehearsal spaces.

[8:31] Mo Brady: Audition rehearsal spaces, for sure. I remember all of us always hating singing there because the walls were paper thin so we could all hear each other all the time.

[8:41] Aaron Albano: Whenever we were sitting on those leather ottomans. You could hear other people make choices and you could be like, oh, that's a good choice. I'm going to try to incorporate that.

[8:48] Mo Brady: Unfortunately, or fortunately, Telsey and Company moved to 1501 Broadway.

[8:55] Aaron Albano: And now the space is one of many, many, many, many, many, many WeWorks.

[9:00] Mo Brady: Okay, here's the location. I'm not going to ask you a question. I'm just going to go on a diatribe. You ready?

[9:06] Aaron Albano: Go. I can't wait.

[9:08] Mo Brady: I am a geography person. I travel the world in a north, south, west, east. If you ask me what direction I'm facing, I can almost always tell you what direction I'm facing.

[9:17] Aaron Albano: That's just how I orient myself in the world.

[9:19] Mo Brady: Like in life or just in the theater district?

[9:21] Aaron Albano: In life.

[9:23] Mo Brady: When I know a location on television and it's being manipulated, this is wrong. I'm going to use this as fun party knowledge. This is the craziest, most unrealistic version of Times Square I've ever seen. Let me explain. They walk out of the Shubert Theatre stage door, which is between 44th and 45th Street. First off, rather than heading west towards all of the bars and away from Times Square, Ivy goes east into Times Square. That's a character choice. However, from 44th and 45th Street, she magically travels to the corner of 48th and Broadway. That's where her and Karen have the, you're nobody, there are millions of people like you. That is absolutely true. Right across the street from the Roxy's or something.

She then heads south to a liquor store, which could be anywhere, sure. But the next time we see them in Times Square, they are walking north on Broadway between 45th and 46th Street, heading towards the TKTS booth. Oh my God, this is so good. Oh my goodness. I'm just angry at the location scout. Because you could have that, you could have that fight anywhere. Let's be real. You could have that fight in Shubert Alley. Should we talk about all the things that are crazy and wrong about Ivy Lynn going into Times Square mid-show? Are we going to get into this? How long do we have? The internet is infinite.

[10:51] Mo Brady: I could have hours with this entire sequence, because we can just start with Dennis being in costume out in Shubert Alley to chill in. Right, that's not even part of the drama, but Dennis is in costume on his cell phone. In costume and Mike just hanging out outside during the show. Was he smoking? No, he's not smoking. I feel like he was checking his phone. You would never check your phone outside of the theater, because you would need to be on Wi-Fi. The signal is terrible inside Broadway theaters, and so the only way to get a signal is to be connected to Wi-Fi. Yeah, but I guess with your motor razor, you got to go outside in Shubert Alley. Because then he's like, oh, you should just go in and give it to the assistant stage manager, who's in the middle of a show.

I'm like, hey, how about you take the sunglasses to your assistant stage manager, or better yet, go leave them on Ivy's dressing room table? Leave them at the stage door. That's what you would do. You would leave them at the stage door. That is what a person would do. I was like, no, just let her go in and watch the show. Just this stranger who no one knows.

[12:00] Mo Brady: Okay, so you would never be allowed in the theater during a performance backstage. You would never be allowed on stage. And the fact that the only thing that happens is the stage manager shushes her, or is like, be quiet. There's a performance going on right there. Why? Why? So that Karen can see Ivy doing... being a mess? I don't know. ASM would be like, who are you? And get out, we're doing a show right now. There's Dennis's problem, and ASM's problem. Let's get into Ivy. Because not only has she had multiple shows where she is checked out and running them up, which I'm like, I'm sure you should have been noted by now about, hey, pull up because you're acting a fool. You are collecting a check that someone got fired to give you this check.

And she is just crapping all over this job. Norbert Leo Butz has to break character and yell at her to get off the freaking stage. And then she runs out of the stage door in full costume, in full wig, in full mic. How many dollars do you think Ivy Lynn is wearing out of this? I mean, I'm sure the wings alone. I'm just like, I'm sorry, the swing needs your mic. Because clearly, you're not, you're called out the rest of the show.

[13:23] Mo Brady: Okay, the kind of craziest thing is that no one follows her. The second craziest thing is that she goes home and falls asleep in her costume wig and mic. No one found her eventually. Let's say that she had time to sort of lose herself in Times Square singing Rihanna. At some point, wouldn't you go back and like, I don't know, grab your keys, grab your stuff? Yeah, no, apparently not. We just left all of our personal belongings at the theater to pick up tomorrow. But somehow we got our phone because we were texting both Sam and Tom. I didn't catch that. That is somewhere along the line. We had our phone in our costume. Yeah. And obviously, Tom and Sam know where she is or that she's safe. Like wardrobe head can't leave the building until you give them their wings back.

Can you please come here? Props, wardrobe and sound can't leave. Could you imagine what that performance report said that night that I'm like, if she's not fired, I quit the business. After that tirade to get real talk, you know, every theater would be like, did you hear what happened at Heaven on Earth today? Even before the age of social media, everyone would know. Bobby is like screaming it from the mountaintops. He went straight to Barracuda and said, guess what happened?

[14:42] Mo Brady: Okay, so you and I, consummate theater professionals have major problems with this scene. The series moves on. Anything else that we'd like to discuss? Well, I will say the scene between Karen and Ivy at 48th Street, it was very ripe. I wrote Karen truth bombs versus Ivy's worldview. First, Karen says it is your time. You're on Broadway. You're Marilyn Monroe, to which Ivy like talks back and is like, I was Marilyn Monroe for five minutes. And then Karen says, well, I had never even got to do her even once. So maybe you should stop complaining about how lousy your life is. I said, yes, because you were you just walked back into your Broadway show, got someone else fired. You also got that credit.

Like the thing about Broadway credits is nobody knows whether you are a vacation swing for a week or you did the entire 12-year run. All you say in your credits is Broadway. The world doesn't know. And so you can put like workshops. I was like, workshops? I played. I played Marilyn like that's a thing. Yeah, like that would be on your resume. When Ivy is good enough for Lee Conroy's daughter.

[15:49] Mo Brady: But here's what's interesting. When Ivy then retorts, she says, you were weak. You were naive. You didn't want it enough. You didn't fight hard enough. You didn't put enough on the line. And I'm just like, you went nuts with all of this, that damage, abuse, both self-inflicted and the creative team, her mother, all of these things. She almost uses as a badge of honor to hold over Karen. Like she's like, you've not gone through all of this. I deserve this more than you because I've gone through more. And I'm just like, whoa. Karen gives her the ultimate truth bomb though. I could have slept with him. I could have slept with him too. But not because he didn't ask or something like that. It was heavy.

And you watch, God bless Megan Hilty. I hate her character, but I love her dearly. Like you watch her go through it when she realizes that. Wouldn't you though? Wouldn't you? That felt like a great argument. Can you imagine that 15 minutes later, she would have given her $20 for booze in a liquor store. And then they'd be singing a Rihanna song in Times Square. Like that's like, like just let it go. Like, like let Ivy storm off. And then you go. Karen should have bounced. Like after she said all of those offensive things, especially Ivy's retort to Karen's ultimate truth bomb is she's like, please, my mother has said worse things to me. Ivy's gonna have like all of the shit storm. Like Bobby's got to tell everyone in two seconds. Like, you don't need to like, follow her and make sure she's okay. That's the craziest thing.

[17:20] Mo Brady: All right. Special thanks to Aaron Albano for joining us for this mini series. You are welcome. Meanwhile, to stay part of our ongoing smash analysis, be sure to watch the next episode under study before the next recap. You can find all episodes of smash either on the NBC app or at NBC.com. Or if you are or going to be traveling abroad like me soon, feel free to buy a first season smash DVD on Amazon $7 folks. And the residuals go back to you, Aaron. That's the best part. I'm, I'm nervous on when we actually get to that episode. Yeah. Oh my gosh, we are going to read you so bad. Well, you'll get your comeuppance on second season. So the Ensemblist was produced today by me, Mo Brady. You can help others find out about the Ensemblist by leaving us a rating and review on Apple podcasts.

You can also download episodes wherever you get your podcasts or at broadwaypodcastnetwork.com. Follow the Ensemblist on Instagram to see the latest posts from our website where we share the stories of talented artists working in Broadway ensembles. Thanks for listening guys. Until next time.