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Theater geeks unite: Smash, the stage adaptation of the cult-favorite eponymous NBC TV show about a number of young Broadway actors working on a fictional musical about Marilyn Monroe, will open at the Imperial Theater at 249 West 45th Street by Eighth Avenue on April 10, 2025. Preview performances will begin on March 11, 2025.
Legendary director Steven Spielberg, who actually originated the idea for the TV show and served as an executive producer on it, will be the lead producer on the Broadway musical, his very first project of this kind.
“Smash is near and dear to my heart, and it was always my hope that a musical inspired by the show would eventually come to the stage,” Spielberg said in a statement when the show was first announced. “We now have an incredible creative team, and I’m looking forward to completing the Smash journey which began with my producing partners over ten years ago.”
The production will be directed by five-time Tony award-winning director Susan Stroman (The Producers), featuring a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who actually wrote over two dozen songs for the NBC series.
According to previous reports, a lot of those tunes, including the beloved “Let Me Be Your Star,” will be used in the theater production as well, alongside new material.
Plot-wise, the musical will chronicle the “hilarious behind-the-scenes rollercoaster ride about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical called Bombshell, with all the iconic songs, kick-ass choreography, and backstage pandemonium that make Broadway the beloved institution it is today,” reads a press release.
Fans of the TV show should note that the book writers have come up with an entirely different story for Broadway, featuring a vast majority of new characters. One personality making a comeback, though, is Ivy Lynn. Played by the wonderful Megan Hilty on TV, the role will be taken on by Tony-nominated Robyn Hurder on the stage.
The small screen iteration of Smash, critically acclaimed albeit enjoying a very niche audience mostly comprised of New Yorkers and theater aficionados, ran on NBC for two seasons but has been part and parcel of the city's cultural conversations for the past decade.
Back in 2015, for example, the cast—which was led by Debra Messing, Katharine McPhee, Hilty and Anjelica Houston, among other live theater big weights—performed a benefit concert at the Minskoff Theatre and tickets for it sold out in a mere 15 minutes. We suspect the Broadway production will draw just as much attention once it premieres—so you might want to snag tickets for it once the general sale opens on October 25 at 10am right here.