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[0:00] Mo Brady: You're listening to Smashed from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Mo Brady.

[0:13] Aaron Albano: And I'm Aaron Albano.

[0:24] 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 still talking about Smash, the NBC series that chronicled the creation of a Broadway musical and all the drama that ensued along the way.

[0:40] Aaron Albano: Theater fans like us had a love-hate relationship with Smash when it aired. While we were excited to see the musical theater beamed into our homes week after week, the show wasn't landing with a wide audience.

[0:49] Mo Brady: So we're going back, episode by episode, to figure out why. We're diving into each episode to figure out why something as emotional as creating a Broadway musical could land flat with TV audiences.

[1:00] Aaron Albano: So let's dive in and talk about Season 1, Episode 13, Tech. Mo, give us the stats.

[1:06] Mo Brady: Happy to, Aaron. Tech premiered on April 30, 2012. It was written by Jason Grote and Lakshmi Sundaram and directed by Roxanne Dawson. Fun fact for any listeners who might also be Star Trek fans, Roxanne Dawson played Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres on Voyager.

[1:24] Aaron Albano: You're so happy about that.

[1:25] Mo Brady: I'm like the only person that applies to.

[1:28] Aaron Albano: Sadly, viewership dipped back down even despite the surge from the previous week, amounting to a mere 5.34 million.

[1:36] Mo Brady: Songs this week mainly featured non-Smash properties. We got an opening montage set to Cole Porter's "Another Open In Another Show," sung by Christian Borle, and a cover of Rose Royce's/Mary J. Blige's song "I'm Going Down," sung this time by Megan Hilty.

[1:52] Aaron Albano: The two other songs we heard were snippets from Tech that we heard in previous episodes, "History is Made at Night" and "The Twentieth Century Fox Mambo." And bring on that good good synopsis, Mo.

[2:02] Mo Brady: It's another opening of "Another Show" for the cast of Bombshell. The company makes the journey from New York to Boston for the show's pre-Broadway tryout. The ensemblists are joyously rolling their roller bags through Grand Central Station. Linda, the stage manager, is ushering costume racks into the dressing rooms. We are full of theater excitement, people.

[2:23] Aaron Albano: With the first preview only two days away, the show is not ready for an audience. Derek is on the verge of having a stroke, with the show's technical elements barely coming together.

[2:33] Mo Brady: The number one rule of Tech is nobody has any time. Derek doesn't have the time to tell Rebecca that her leading man has quit the show for a TV pilot. But when Julia hears that Eileen is thinking of bringing Michael Swift back, she gives Eileen an ultimatum.

[2:49] Aaron Albano: She could have Michael or her on the production, but not both.

[2:54] Mo Brady: Rebecca admits to Karen that she's nervous about performing Marilyn for an audience. For the first time, Derek seems to direct, telling Rebecca to use her star power in her performance. But he uses and abuses his own star power, giving her shoulder massages that lead to a dressing room make-out session.

[3:12] Aaron Albano: Ivy goes through her own emotional rollercoaster, starting with Derek saying he loves her before she gets the chance to stand in for Marilyn, to being relegated to changing Rebecca's gloves and listening to her and Derek make out from outside her dressing room.

[3:27] Mo Brady: Backstage during rehearsal, Jessica tells Karen, "No civilians during Tech. We're in the middle of a war. They don't get it."

[3:34] Aaron Albano: Dev decides to come up to Boston to visit Karen anyway, and while out at a romantic dinner, proposes to Karen. The following is a verbatim conversation between Dev and Karen as he pulls out the ring. And can I ask you to read the role of Dev?

[3:49] Mo Brady: Absolutely. I would be honored to.

[3:52] Aaron Albano: All right.

[3:53] Mo Brady: Will you marry me?

[3:55] Aaron Albano: Marry you?

[3:56] Mo Brady: Yeah, it's not at all that crazy, is it?

[3:59] Aaron Albano: Of course not. I just don't know what to say.

[4:02] Mo Brady: Say yes.

[4:04] Aaron Albano: I'm in Tech.

[4:06] Mo Brady: Is that the same thing as a yes?

[4:08] Aaron Albano: I'm sorry, Dev. I'm just under so much pressure. Tech is so crazy.

[4:14] Mo Brady: It's sounding more and more like a no.

[4:16] Aaron Albano: It's not a yes or a no. It's I'm in Tech.

[4:20] Mo Brady: And scene.

[4:24] Aaron Albano: Gosh, daytime Emmy goes to—

[4:38] Mo Brady: We're in Tech. What did you think of this episode, Aaron J. Albano?

[4:53] Aaron Albano: I'm on the fence because I think in terms of capturing the excitement, especially in the opening montage, the excitement of getting to a show and getting into the theater and all of those things felt like they rang true on top of the no time and just everything's moving at the speed of light. I thought that the episode felt really good. I do still think everything that you've been saying up to this point, we're like, why can't we just rely on the drama of putting on the show instead of putting on more and more drama on top of that? That still rings true because there was so much in this episode that had to do with the show. That was exciting enough.

[5:35] Mo Brady: I liked it. I did. First off, I loved that opening montage.

[5:41] Aaron Albano: I did, too. I thought that we used music in this episode really well.

[5:46] Mo Brady: Because it was you and me, Aaron. The orchestrations in that opening montage when they were like, "Oh, my God, you're a star." I was like, wait, this feels like a movie. This feels like what Smash should have always felt like. It hasn't necessarily felt like since the pilot.

[6:02] Aaron Albano: Absolutely. I feel like it was because that orchestration took me by surprise every time that showed up. It really carried me into the excitement that we were watching Karen feel getting to Boston.

[6:14] Mo Brady: I did hate all of the ensembles meeting up in Grand Central Station and literally dancing with their roller bags down the track.

[6:20] Aaron Albano: No, no. I was fine with it. The way that Manny Santos comes up and hugs Kat McPhee and it's like, "Oh, my gosh, we're here hugging in Grand Central." I was like, that's such NYC energy, like from Annie.

[6:39] Mo Brady: Yes, it was. It was big NYC energy. It was super musical theater excitement. But I think I was fine with it because I remember watching it in pure musical theater fashion as the excitement heightened and the emotion heightened. I was able to be swept into the disbelief a little more because at first when it was first starting, I had an eye roll for it. And then as it continued, I was like, "No, I'm buying in. No, I'm buying in. OK, I have the excitement that Manny has."

[7:07] Aaron Albano: You're such a musical theater queen. What did you think of the rest of the use of music in the episode?

[7:15] Mo Brady: I liked it. Aside from the opening montage, we didn't get a whole lot of music in the show as sort of a musical would use it. Most of the music we got was in context of the show where it sort of blurred that line was at the unwinding after party in the hotel.

[7:35] Aaron Albano: I loved the idea of having a sing-off between these two characters. It was like drama that has been brewing. We want to see them sing together. I totally believed that Wes Taylor as Bobby was like, "You guys are going to sing." It felt like a real reason for a song.

[7:55] Mo Brady: It felt like, yeah, absolutely. I think the context of the song was right and it's spot on and I was able to go there with it. And then the song happened, which in itself, first off, Megan Hilty is just so good.

[8:08] Aaron Albano: She's so good.

[8:09] Mo Brady: She was sitting on an air conditioner like giving it—

[8:12] Aaron Albano: This is the series that launched a thousand concert gigs.

[8:17] Mo Brady: So she delivered the song beautifully and telling the story of Ivy's sort of emotional dilemma right there, right now in that moment. But putting that journey in the middle of this sing-off felt so incorrect, right?

[8:37] Aaron Albano: The moment afterwards where they're all staring at her like, "Whoa," it's like, "Oh, you went deep." But then Bobby turns to Karen and is like, "Beat that, Iowa." And I'm like, "OK, so you were just watching the belting. You were not."

[8:54] Moe Brady: Like literally the cutaway is Tom being like I'm not a writer, except you kind of are.

[9:02] Aaron Albano: And if you have any legitimacy in this business whatsoever, you have better instincts than this.

[9:10] Moe Brady: What do you think of Sam's speech at the end? Now this is the one you're talking about on the porch of his parents' house after Tom and Sam go over to Sam's parents' house for dinner.

[9:20] Aaron Albano: Yeah, it was probably my most favorite ensemble moment of the entire episode, because his speech—I wrote down, hold on—he said, "None of it is up to you or my dad, Tom. Do you honestly think I've never thought of all this before? I made a decision to do what I love to do, and I accept everything that comes along with that. Whatever happens next, I accept it. That is what theater is. It is joy one day and it is gone the next. It's like a religion, and I don't apologize for wanting to be a part of that. And I don't wish for something more. I really don't."

[10:02] Moe Brady: I, listeners, we're recording this during quarantine week number one, and the way I was watching this, it was just hitting in so many of the feels because this is where we are right now. I was like, generally, this is sort of the mantra of all of us that enter this field. This is what we were here to do. This isn't...

[10:20] Aaron Albano: It was the perfect speech to combat all the people who are like, "But what about doctor? What about lawyer? What about all those other jobs that frankly do not bring us life or love or passion?" And it's this speech that it's like, "Yo, this is what we do this for. It's here and then it's gone."

[10:35] Moe Brady: And like we're looking around right now. Theater is gone.

[10:39] Aaron Albano: And all of us are now like, "What do we do?" But this is what we're here for. This is what we signed up to do. This is what we love.

[10:50] Moe Brady: And it's not like we're all... doesn't make you want to become a doctor.

[10:53] Aaron Albano: Exactly. That speech hit me real well.

[10:58] Moe Brady: Well, let's be doubly grateful they put it in the mouth of Leslie Odom Jr. because that too, he's taken some of the moments of this series that could be kind of stereotypical and breathe so much life into them.

[11:14] Aaron Albano: Oh, you know, someone else could have said, "Theater is a religion, and I don't apologize for wanting to be a part of that." It wouldn't have hit us in the same way.

[11:22] Moe Brady: No, no, the speech was beautifully delivered and had the same resonance, if not more resonance now than it did in 2012.

[11:30] Aaron Albano: All right. Speaking of parents, I always try to watch this show kind of with my own eyes, but also imagining my dad, who has a great knowledge of theater, but isn't in theater.

[11:43] Moe Brady: Right. Okay.

[11:44] Aaron Albano: So I always want to be like, "What wouldn't Dad understand?" And one thing I felt like they didn't really talk about is a 10 out of 12.

[11:50] Moe Brady: Sure.

[11:51] Aaron Albano: What is a 10 out of 12, Aaron?

[11:53] Moe Brady: A 10 out of 12 is a rehearsal that theoretically goes for 12 hours. Ten hours out of the 12 hours is sort of the long version of the phrase. Instead of an eight-hour day like normal working, this allowance for 10 out of 12 is an extension of the day so we can put the show on its feet.

[12:17] Aaron Albano: They're really the longest days in the creation of a show.

[12:20] Moe Brady: Yeah. And because you might be working on a five-second transition for hours on end, you can really lose track of time in your sort of sense of reality.

[12:30] Aaron Albano: Absolutely.

[12:31] Moe Brady: So 10 out of 12 is sort of code words for...

[12:34] Aaron Albano: Longer days than normal.

[12:35] Moe Brady: Yeah. Not even the craziest time, but like the time in which your relationship to reality is distanced.

[12:44] Aaron Albano: It becomes manic. It becomes laser-focused in what you're doing, and you don't have really time or energy for anything else.

[12:52] Moe Brady: Okay. I want to ask you your opinion about a question that this show is asking quite prominently in this episode.

[13:02] Aaron Albano: Over and over again?

[13:03] Moe Brady: Okay.

[13:04] Aaron Albano: Sure.

[13:05] Moe Brady: Do relationships with civilians work? Can you crazy theater folk be in a relationship with a normal person?

[13:14] Aaron Albano: What do you think?

[13:15] Moe Brady: Yes. You can.

[13:16] Aaron Albano: You obviously can. They exist.

[13:18] Moe Brady: People do it all the time. Like every other relationship in the known world, relationships have their struggle.

[13:28] Aaron Albano: Tom?

[13:29] Moe Brady: Tom can't. Tom and the lawyer that he was in a relationship with, whose name we don't remember?

[13:36] Aaron Albano: These people cannot.

[13:38] Moe Brady: But that's what's tough about this show. Because it's the first and at the time the only, it was sort of held up as this standard at which we can hold the people in our business. Instead of it being just like a study of this group of people as people, this was looked at as a sort of generalization about our entire industry.

[13:52] Aaron Albano: Right.

[13:53] Moe Brady: And that's where I think this does not retain water. Because relationships with civilians can exist. But as we're seeing in the central relationship between a civilian and a non-civilian, I've been off of the Dev train for a minute.

[14:06] Aaron Albano: But this is where I literally was like yelling at my screen being like, "What are you doing?" In that like talk by the river, by the lake?

[14:15] Moe Brady: What's up in Boston? Is it the ocean?

[14:18] Aaron Albano: I don't even know.

[14:19] Moe Brady: It's like a bay.

[14:20] Aaron Albano: Maybe it's a bay.

[14:21] Moe Brady: It's a cape.

[14:22] Aaron Albano: I don't know. Whatever it is that they're walking by. When he like lets it slip out that he thinks this is a stupid show.

[14:29] Moe Brady: I was like, there it is. You don't take her seriously.

[14:32] Aaron Albano: Despite what you said in the pilot. Either the show changed your character or this is a reveal that you didn't really think that. Because you only thought that because you were on top.

[14:44] Moe Brady: And the second you are no longer on top, your entire perception changes. And you think your girlfriend's work is not as worthy as yours.

[14:54] Aaron Albano: And I was like, it's not about being with a civilian versus a non-civilian. You need someone who is healthy. And you need someone who can respect you and what you do and honestly do that.

[15:06] Moe Brady: I think if you can find that, civilian or non-civilian, you're good to go.

[15:12] Aaron Albano: I don't know. The problem with Dev and Karen is not that he is a civilian and she is an actress. The problem is that he does not see them as equals.

[15:22] Moe Brady: And that is brought to light in this episode, and it is garbage.

[15:28] Aaron Albano: To keep up to date with next week's recap, be sure to watch episode 14 of Smash titled Previews. You can find Smash episodes on either the NBC app or at NBC.com.

[15:40] Moe Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by me, Aaron Albano.

[15:43] Aaron Albano: And me, Moe Brady.

[15:45] Moe Brady: There are two great ways you can be helping The Ensemblist right now. One is by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

[15:51] Aaron Albano: And the second is by becoming a Patreon member. You can do that at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist.

[15:57] Moe Brady: You can subscribe to The Ensemblist on Apple Podcasts, follow us on Spotify, or listen to all of our episodes on bpn.fm.

[16:05] Aaron Albano: And be sure to follow us on Instagram because that's where we share everything we're doing.

[16:10] Moe Brady: And man, oh man, we need some escapist content right now.

[16:14] Aaron Albano: Yes, we do.

[16:16] Moe Brady: All right. Thanks for listening, guys. Until next time.