I’d like to kick things off on
here with one of my new favourite shows, Smash. My love for musical theatre is
not exactly a secret, but I was still a little apprehensive about the show. A lot of what I was hearing was along the
lines of “this would never exist without Glee.”, and being a very disillusioned
Glee fan I took that to be a bad thing. I eventually came around and gave the
first episode a go, and I’m so glad I did. Glee on its best day does not have a
patch on this show so far, and they’re so completely different (except for all
the singing) that I can’t help but wonder where all those comparisons were
coming from to begin with. This a show that I’ll be reviewing each episode, as
it’s really piqued my interest, but to do that I’ve got some catching up to do.
So, where better to start than the start!
I’ll admit it, when this episode
opened on ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ I was pretty instantly turned off.
Fortunately, the show didn’t hang around in letting you see what was really
going on, and then things started to get interesting pretty quickly. In the
first 10 minutes alone we’re introduced to a large chunk of the cast and we
even get a taste of some of the dynamics that start to emerge more fully later
on. It’s extremely well handled, with great writing, and a fantastic cast
really helping to make sure that nothing feels rushed.
The jam-packed opening greatly
benefits the rest of the episode, allowing for more focus on Marilyn: The
Musical itself. And what a musical (albeit a fictional one) it is! A small
snippet of ‘Never Give All The Heart’ acts as an introduction to the musical
itself, and it does the job admirably. It’s performed incredibly by Megan Hilty
and is a tantalising hint at the wit that shines in some of the original songs
seen later on. A little Anjelica Huston later and we get our first big number,
‘The National Pastime’. Honestly, as soon as I saw this scene I was wondering
where I could buy tickets for this not-even-real musical. It’s just fantastic,
it’s a very clever song, it’s funny, and it’s oh so catchy. I’ve been wandering
around singing “have you ever seen a shape that is so perfectly round?” for
weeks now! The scene itself is also put together with real style, with the
fantasy segments showing everyone in costume adding a bit of colour and camp to
proceedings.
"'Cause a baseball diamond is a girl's best friend."
Special mention must go to Jack
Davenport as Derek Wills, instantly unlikable but never quite loathsome, and
even a little bit sexy; he really gets the character right and steals every
scene he’s in during this episode. As auditions begin for Marilyn (already?!)
we finally see Karen slot herself into place as a frontrunner for the role,
though I personally felt ‘Beautiful’ was a really strange song choice for the
scene. Perhaps it’s just that I’ve never liked the song anyway, but it felt out
of place. Coming straight after Ivy’s stunning performance of ‘The National
Pastime’ I thought the choice of song didn’t really make the race for the lead role
that follows very believable. Karen doesn’t really feel like a Marilyn at this
point, whereas Ivy is just so obviously Marilyn that you can’t help but wonder
how Karen got a callback. Some seedy hijinks from Derek ensue as he tries to see
a little more of Karen’s… acting ability, in a somewhat predictable (though not
for Karen apparently) twist. This scene could have been cheesy, the Director
abusing his power to get with the ladies is not exactly a fresh concept, but
Jack Davenport and Katharine McPhee both played it very well. This scene in
particular, and the episode itself, feel real somehow. It seems silly to say,
because clearly it’s not, but that is exactly what this show has got over Glee.
Just when it seemed that ‘The
National Pastime’ was the highlight of the episode we get an astounding finale
in the shape of ‘Let Me Be Your Star’. Marc Shaiman and Scott Witman are doing
really stellar work here, the original songs are of such a high quality that
I’m surprised Marilyn: The Musical isn’t already happening. The song sets up
the core conflict between our two leading ladies, while obviously remaining
Marilyn-centric, and really closes the episode out on a high note. This is most
definitely one of the strongest pilot episodes I’ve ever seen, so much so that
I was instantly recommending it to anyone and everyone, and left eagerly
awaiting more. The rest of the series has an extremely high standard to try and
meet, but from what I’ve seen in this episode I think it’s going to be a real
joy to watch.
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