B'way Update: Smash to the Stage, Roundabout and CSC Seasons

The TV series Smash
serves as the inspiration for a new musical
set for 2024-25

It hardly seems possible, but there are already plans being hatched for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 Broadway and Off-Broadway seasons. Two theater companies, Roundabout Theater Company and CSC, have announced their schedules for 2023-24 and the long-awaited stage version of the TV series Smash has been announced for the 2024-25. 

The producers of Smash who include Steven Spielberg intend to open the show two seasons hence. The book by Ric Elice (Jersey Boys) and Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone) will differ somewhat from the 2012-13 NBC series upon which it is based. The basic premise of a behind-the-scenes look at the making of a musical based on the turbulent life of Marilyn Monroe will remain intact. Some characters will return, others will not. The producers report the story will be funnier than the series which employed a series of melodramatic plot twists as we follow Bombshell, the Monroe tuner, from inception to out-of-town try-out to opening night to the Tony Awards. Five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman (The Producers, Contact) will direct. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Some Like It Hot) will provide the score which will include songs written for the series as well as new ones. Joshua Bergasse returns as choreographer.