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[0:00] Welcome back, listeners, to our tongue-in-cheek recap of what is still television's most realistic depiction of the theater industry. And yes, we are talking about Smash, the television show that chronicled the making of not one, but two Broadway musicals and all the drama that ensued along the way. We've been going back episode by episode to see how this supposed love letter to Broadway has held up over the past decade. In each episode, we're looking to find the answers to these three questions. Did it represent Broadway then? Does it represent Broadway now? And is this any good? So let's dive in and talk about Episode 9 of Season 2, The Parents. Aaron, give us the stats. The Parents premiered on April 2nd, 2013.

So happy belated April Fools? That's what I've always thought, what I've thought about this episode. It was written by Jordan Ardino and directed by Trisha Brock, both new to the Smash family. The viewership fell again this week, this time by 70,000 viewers for a total of 2.98 million. 2.98 million is still so many people. It is so many people. It's a lot of people. It's just a lot less than 11.96 million from the premiere of Season 1. Yeah, also true. We had only three featured songs this week, but they were all originals. From Hit List, we had Katherine McPhee's rendition of Broadway Here I Come and another Andrew McMahon original entitled Reach for Me, sung and swung by Krista Rodriguez. From Bombshell, Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman delivered the mother and daughter duet called Hang the Moon, performed by Megan Hilty and Bernadette Peters.

And what happened in The Parents, Mo? The role of Marilyn's mother, Gladys, has finally been cast. And rather than going with Patti LuPone, Eileen and Tom have gone with someone a little closer to home, Ivy's mother. The Broadway star, Leigh Conroy, is stepping out of retirement to play the role only she could play. But Ivy can only feign excitement about the casting, as her relationship with Leigh is filled with competition. Karen's dad is also in town on business, but it means he can stop by Hit List rehearsal and attend the theater's gala that evening. Since the gala is Hit List's introduction to the board members and theater patrons, Scott Nichols wants to add the Divas number to the gala performance to give it some punch.

In Bombshell rehearsal, Ivy and Leigh are dealing with the tension by being nice to each other, too nice in fact, that they aren't playing any of the stakes of the book scenes. That is, until they begin to tell disparaging stories about each other in front of the entire company. But in performing a heartfelt ballad called Hang the Moon, both pairs of Gladys and Marilyn, as well as Leigh and Ivy, seem to feel empathy for one another. The song makes Marilyn, Ivy, and Julia all cry. At the Manhattan Theatre Workshop's gala, Karen's rendition of Broadway Here I Come goes well, but it's Ana's gravity-defying performance of Reach for Me on silks that brings the house down. And when the arts editor of the New York Times commends Ana's performance, Scott Nichols wants to make her character bigger.

And who does he ask to help to work as a dramaturg to make it happen? But Bombshell writer Julia. Because she's not busy. She's not busy at all. And while Karen's dad isn't initially behind her leaving Bombshell, after her gala performance, he can see why she would both make the jump to Hit List and be interested in Jimmy. But Jimmy is having his own problems, including stealing from the gala's coat check to pay off a drug dealer.

[4:02] Mo: How'd you like this episode, Mo?

[4:18] I did not like this episode. I thought this episode was just blah. It wasn't great.

[4:25] Aaron: I'm there with you. I mean, even from the get, I was like, oh, what are we doing?

[4:29] Mo: Well, even the show doesn't seem that interested. It's like we're finally delving into Ana's story. And I am a Krista Rodriguez stan. I love Krista. I think she is an incredible performer in so many ways. And yet, somehow making the focus on Ana, I was like, oh, well, this isn't really the story we're telling. I guess I mean, Bernadette Peters was here too. And yet I couldn't invest because maybe because I was so disgusted by Leigh Conroy at that point.

[4:57] Aaron: She's not a very likable character, for sure, especially since we've had such a journey with Ivy and getting on board with her and how far she's come that the reintroduction of Leigh Conroy just made me sad for Ivy.

[5:12] Mo: I think what you're getting at is that the ancillary characters were sort of the leads of this episode. So it felt like superfluous to the trajectory of Smash because the main characters of this episode were Dylan Baker as Karen's dad, who is a great actor.

[5:26] Aaron: Yes. Very, very wonderful performer.

[5:29] Mo: Absolutely. Ana and Leigh Conroy.

[5:31] Aaron: Right. Those were like kind of the three big characters of this episode. And we were like, oh.

[5:35] Mo: And maybe it's also because you've been saying forever that Smash can't trust the drama of the show itself and has to rely on or wants to rely on the drama of outside stuff. But the fact that the show is called The Parents, like talk about drama that has nothing to do with the shows at all.

[5:50] Aaron: Maybe that's why I couldn't. I just couldn't. I just couldn't.

[5:58] Mo: Okay. Well, in addition, I think we should mention that one of the reasons that I didn't love this episode was because chorus shaming was back.

[6:06] Aaron: Oh, my gosh. From our favorite. I was so upset.

[6:09] Mo: Why does Sam have to say this? It didn't like pay off in the end. You know, it wasn't like Sam. Okay. So Sam says about probably a third of the way through the episode, I wish I was starring on Broadway instead of in the ensemble, not even in the ensemble, a cover for the ensemble. Like I'm so upset, just so angry and so bitter.

[6:29] Aaron: I mean, and I get be bitter to your ex-boyfriend for like dangling a carrot in front of your face. But to then say that like we just had like a speech from him, one of his last appearances on Smash and in season one where he's like, this is what I love to do. This is what I want to do. Performing is my passion.

[6:49] Mo: One of the best. Yeah. And then we get here where no one's safe, not even Sam, not even Sam. And so he's swinging the show now.

[7:01] Aaron: I thought the swings were cast.

[7:03] Mo: What happened? I don't think he's in the show.

[7:05] Aaron: I think he's like.

[7:07] Mo: So I'm pretty sure walking because he's chilling in the rehearsal space.

[7:11] Aaron: He's in the rehearsal room.

[7:12] Mo: Yeah. He's in the rehearsal room.

[7:15] Aaron: Yeah. He's at like another table because Julia told us in the last episode, even the swings are higher. Apparently, someone got fired because I honestly thought he was just walking Ivy to rehearsal.

[7:24] Mo: I didn't see him in the rehearsal room.

[7:27] Aaron: I thought he was too. And then he like was there for the Leigh Conroy.

[7:31] Mo: Oh, right.

[7:32] Aaron: And then. Yes, yes, yes.

[7:34] Mo: Yeah. And then he was in the room, like sitting on stairs talking to Tom about how bad of a move that was.

[7:42] Aaron: Oh, you're so right.

[7:45] Mo: I was wrong. Yeah.

[7:46] Aaron: He's swinging the show. And then when they're running one of the numbers, Sam is like sitting at the swing table with apparently the other swing that's in the show.

[7:56] Mo: Can we talk about how it doesn't feel like we're in production for anything?

[8:03] Aaron: Yeah. Let's talk about that.

[8:04] Mo: It is the week before tech.

[8:06] Aaron: It's the week before tech for a Broadway musical, a new Broadway musical.

[8:10] Mo: Yeah. I had so many questions when Julia dropped that bomb. I was like, OK, if this is the week before tech. So take us back, Aaron, to your illustrious Broadway career before theater stopped happening. What is typically happening in a Broadway rehearsal process the week before tech?

[8:28] Aaron: Well, the week before tech, I would say we're putting the show together at that point, like we're running the show every day. We're just so we could get like the stamina to get it in and everybody can see the entire like all of the different departments of the production to see the show on its feet, to see what wigs need to do and what costumes need to handle and lighting needs to focus on.

[8:51] Mo: Right. And another thing that I think about is like press previews, like the idea that like this is the time where you come and you bring in Playbill and Broadway World and they all bring in their cameras and you do like three numbers for them.

[9:12] Aaron: Oh, for sure. And you're like, hey, everybody, the show's going to happen. Get a glimpse of what it's going to look like.

[9:19] Mo: Right. Oh, yeah. You're not casting leading roles.

[9:23] Aaron: We were not casting a leading lady and a swing. Or if we were, wouldn't that have been great drama to know about? Wouldn't that have been the drama of Smash was the fact that we don't have one of our leading ladies and we still need to hire a swing? Like that could have been the drama of the show, not, you know, parental drama.

[9:46] Mo: Well, plus, I'm just like, if we're focused on this new mom scene that now we get to watch, what's the rest of the ensemble doing? Just like sitting in the back watching the show.

[9:54] Aaron: Yeah, the fact that I think of musicals typically having like three rehearsal rooms, basically there's like a main rehearsal room where everything gets put together. And then there's like another room that's probably almost as big. But that could be like a room for choreography brush up or for table work, sort of like the secondary staging room.

[10:19] Mo: And then a music room that's primarily for like sitting around, maybe some fittings because they need to do some fittings or some shoe fittings or whatever.

[10:32] Aaron: But my favorite thing is because I've been thinking about this since Derek signed those contracts to let them use his choreography. I was like, that was a while ago. And if Derek's not in the room anymore because he's busy with Hit List, is anyone maintaining the choreography of the show?

[10:51] Mo: In which case, shouldn't like if the ensemble isn't being used, shouldn't they be in another room like running the numbers, especially if we have a new swing that needs to learn the numbers?

[11:02] Aaron: Oh, yeah, for sure. Like the ensemble would never they would never let the ensemble just like sit there and twiddle their thumbs and like Bobby and Jessica watch the whole thing.

[11:11] Mo: They would be working you to the bone, especially this late in the game, especially the week before tech. I'm like, what are you doing?

[11:18] Aaron: It's yeah. And so that's where I was just like, I don't I don't know what's happening.

[11:25] Aaron Albano: Speaking of lack of drama in the right places, let's talk about Ivy and Lee as Marilyn and Gladys.

[11:32] Mo Brady: What did you think about the ambush of Ivy-Lynn?

[11:35] Aaron Albano: That was so rude. That was so rude. I mean, maybe some of it's Ivy's fault for not answering.

[11:41] Mo Brady: Oh, right. She's missed all of these phone calls from her mom.

[11:45] Aaron Albano: From her mother. But hey, when Ivy and Sam dropped that, Lee didn't even come to the opening of Liaisons, I was already not on board with Lee Conroy.

[11:58] Mo Brady: No, that seems so rough. That's ugly. That is ugly.

[12:03] Aaron Albano: Wouldn't you even feign excitement? Yeah, it's hard to justify that for any reason other than jealousy. Do you think that the plan from Eileen and Tom was that Lee was going to tell her?

[12:20] Mo Brady: Do you think the reason that they didn't tell her in advance was because Lee was going to tell her? That to me feels a little excusable. The idea that maybe Eileen and Tom and Lee had said, all right, what's the best way to go about this? Lee, how about you talk to your daughter?

[12:40] Aaron Albano: I mean, if that's an excuse, I can excuse Eileen for that. I cannot excuse Tom for that, because Tom should know better. Because again, at the end of the day, what Tom was worried about last episode was that he and Ivy are very close and he doesn't want to ruin that friendship. So he should know, and he does at the end of last episode, that this is going to be a thing.

[13:08] Mo Brady: And then Julia's like, have you told her yet? And he basically is like, I'm kind of scared too. So I don't excuse. I don't excuse Tom. Tom should have told her. Tom should have told her.

[13:20] Aaron Albano: And Ivy says so at the end of the episode. Here's what's ugly though. What do you think about Tom trying to use this drama to help his show?

[13:33] Mo Brady: No, Tom is a bad director. I think Tom is an inexperienced director that doesn't have any tactics really working with actors. So the idea that he's pitting the real drama of Lee and Ivy to manipulate the drama of Gladys and of Marilyn, that just, I don't know. It's ugly. It's so ugly.

[13:54] Aaron Albano: It feels like sloppy direction. At the very least, pull Ivy aside and be like, okay, this is an awkward situation, but at least involve her in the process of what you're trying to do.

[14:05] Mo Brady: Yeah. Julia has that line that says, directors have a variety of methods to get what they want. If you're not getting the performance you want, find another way.

[14:15] Aaron Albano: This to me, I feel like in every episode of Smash, there's like a, and here's how Broadway works, right? Somebody says like one thing that has like a relationship to actual theater making.

[14:30] Mo Brady: Like a pop of an industry wisdom.

[14:33] Aaron Albano: Yes, exactly. And so this was our pop of industry wisdom. Because also like directors use a variety of methods to get what they want.

[14:42] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[14:42] Aaron Albano: Everyone uses a variety of methods to do many things.

[14:46] Mo Brady: Oh, fair. That's real. Yeah.

[14:48] Aaron Albano: That's a non statement.

[14:50] Mo Brady: Yeah. And this was not the way. This was not the way.

[14:53] Aaron Albano: All right. Let's shift and let's talk about Reach for Me.

[14:57] Mo Brady: Okay. Another hit from Something Corporate. How'd you like the song?

[15:01] Aaron Albano: I did not like this song.

[15:03] Mo Brady: You did not like the song?

[15:04] Aaron Albano: Okay.

[15:05] Mo Brady: No.

[15:05] Aaron Albano: I didn't hate the song. I mean, as a song, I didn't mind it. So the song, the song, I guess is fine. It's a downer, right? Like it sort of is like, it didn't go anywhere for me.

[15:16] Mo Brady: No.

[15:16] Aaron Albano: Which is weird because it was also an aerial number. So it obviously went somewhere.

[15:21] Mo Brady: I mean, theoretically.

[15:23] Aaron Albano: The fact that this number was added to the gala the morning of, is that how galas are put together? Like, definitely. Sure. Like, absolutely. Like, oh, dang, we're going to add a number to the gala. Why not? Not an aerial number.

[15:38] Mo Brady: Not a number you have to block that morning. You do pre-existing songs. I mean, they even say, like, can you put this together in time? And Derek's like, sure. I'm just like, no, you can't. Especially when it's not, when aerial, when it requires a new costume and aerial performers.

[15:55] Aaron Albano: No, no. And who were these other? Oh, anti-gravity. That's what they called them. Anti-gravity has come up with something really great. They like justified the fact that there was like a whole new troupe of people coming to perform that we've never met before, that are going to crawl all over pianos and then fly through the air.

[16:10] Mo Brady: Like, well, and that's my question too. I'm like, if they made this for the gala, is it? How are they going to do it in the show?

[16:18] Aaron Albano: That's what I'm saying. I'm like, is this even in the show? Do you have aerial work in your show? Like, will there be aerial work in your show?

[16:27] Mo Brady: The ceiling in that repurposed church space that they're doing the gala in with the picnic tables is twice as high as the ceiling in the theater that they were putting Hit List together in at Manhattan Theater Workshop. So, like, I'm not sure. I mean, I know because I was in that room. There was no fly space in that room. So, it's like, Emma, I'm like, how do you do aerial if you don't have fly space? Or if your ceiling is only 20 feet tall? Like, then when you're doing your silks, you're just like at eye level with everyone, four feet above the floor.

[17:05] Aaron Albano: I mean, because at the end of the day, the gala is just another press event for the show. It's actually like a very important press event because they're trying to get donors to give money to the theater. But if you're advertising this as the show, you should be doing something that you are capable of doing in the show.

[17:21] Mo Brady: Capable of doing in the show, right?

[17:26] Aaron Albano: Yeah. It's like all of these patrons are now going to go to Hit List and be like, wait, where's the aerial number? Where's the aerial number?

[17:30] Mo Brady: Unless there is an aerial number, but I don't think that's true, at least not at the level of the show that it is currently. Spoiler alert, there is no aerial number.

[17:43] Aaron Albano: There you go.

[17:45] Mo Brady: Seven year spoiler alert, there is no aerial number in Hit List.

[17:51] Aaron Albano: There we go. I wonder if it's also because of the shuffle around the musical chairs, if you will, of everybody moving from show to show to show, now both shows sort of don't have enough for me to invest in creatively. Does that make sense?

[18:10] Mo Brady: I'm in Bombshell. I'm still invested because of Ivy, but Tom, I question now. Julia's halfway out the door, especially with this episode where she's about to go help Hit List out. Eileen's doing her best. I've been on the journey with Derek. I've been on the journey with Karen, but I'm not invested enough in Jimmy. I'm not invested enough in Kyle to really care about the work that they're doing. And so are our main characters spread too thin, and therefore our investment is suffering?

[18:46] Aaron Albano: Interesting. I never thought about it that way, but I would agree.

[18:53] Mo Brady: Because when I think about Smash Season 2, I think about that beautiful graphic of all of the people that are cut. There's really sharp vertical lines, and you can see them peering out from behind wings or curtains. It sort of has this feel. And when I look at that graphic, I think, gosh, there's a lot of characters in Season 2 of Smash. But then here we are. We're halfway through the season, and there's a significant number of characters we don't know anything about.

[19:26] Aaron Albano: Well, yeah. And I can tell at this point, I'm really supposed to care about Jimmy and the hardship that he's gone through. Maybe it's because of the journey that we've had with him from the beginning of Season 2 to now, but I'm watching him struggle with this friend slash old dealer, and I can't feel sympathy for him. I give zero fucks about that.

[19:52] Mo Brady: Yeah. And then Kyle's been around for the same amount of time, and I'm like, oh, you're still here? Cool.

[19:59] Aaron Albano: Yeah. Jimmy has one note, right? Jimmy as written has one note. He's bad boy, right? He's like, anti-establishment, super genius composer who doesn't want to play by the rules, right? Kyle has no notes. None. Tell me a thing about Kyle. He's sleeping with the stage manager?

[20:25] Mo Brady: The lighting designer.

[20:27] Aaron Albano: Lighting designer? Okay.

[20:28] Mo Brady: Yeah. That's neither here nor there.

[20:31] Aaron Albano: That's all I know.

[20:31] Mo Brady: Yeah. Even Ana, who I think is also poorly written, I get why she's here, right? We sort of know, okay, she's going to play the diva. We're introducing her slowly, and then she's going to become more of a force as the season goes on, right? I am so not clear about why this character of Kyle needs to exist at this point.

[20:53] Aaron Albano: Yeah. It's at this point, we're on what? Episode nine? It was fun to be like, why is he even here for the first six episodes, but now we're getting to the meat of it where I'm just like-

[21:05] Mo Brady: It feels like a waste of-

[21:07] Aaron Albano: Joking aside, why are you here? I had fun teasing you before, but now I'm like, I know you're trying to get me to invest in you, but I can't do it because there's not enough there.

[21:19] Mo Brady: You haven't done anything.

[21:20] Aaron Albano: Yeah. It's too bad.

[21:24] Mo Brady: This is where Smash is spreading itself thin. And like you said at the beginning of the season, it was so strong top of the season, I think we're at the bottom of the bell curve, or if not there, we're getting there right now.

[21:36] Aaron Albano: Well, you know why. It's because I show up in the next episode.

[21:44] Mo Brady: It's hitting the dregs, and then they were like, you know what we'll save? You know what we need? Morgan Brady. That's what we need.

[22:00] Aaron Albano: To keep up to date with next week's recap, be sure to watch season two, episode 10 of Smash called The Surprise Party. You can find Smash episodes on either the NBC app or on NBC.com.

[22:11] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by me, Aaron Albano.

[22:15] Aaron Albano: And me, Mo 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, and the second is by becoming a Patreon member at patreon.com slash The Ensemblist.

[22:28] Mo Brady: Please follow The Ensemblist wherever you listen to podcasts on Spotify, on Apple Podcasts, or at bpn.fm, the home of Broadway Podcast Network.

[22:36] Aaron Albano: You can also follow us on Instagram. Thanks for listening, guys.

[22:39] Mo Brady: Until next time.