Make It a Smash

Smash.
The TV Show.
I just wanted to share my opinion of this show because it got such bad reviews and was cancelled and I have no idea why. I guess it would be because the only people who appreciated it were those who appreciate Broadway itself.

For those of you who never heard of it, Smash was an NBC TV show all about Broadway. Season 1 focused on making a musical about Marilyn Monroe. The main characters included the producers, directors, actors, writers and everyone who takes part in the making of a musical. The second season followed these same people as they moved on to new shows and went through Broadway life.

What I loved about the show was that the actors weren't TV actors, they were all Broadway stars: Christian Borle of Legally Blonde the Musical, Megan Hilty of Wicked, Jeremy Jordan of Newsies, Krista Rodriguez of the Addams Family, and so many more, including big Hollywood names like Jack Davenport, Debra Messing, and Angelica Huston. I probably would have been disappointed if there weren't Broadway people in it.

There's nothing better than Broadway, but it's kind of hard to go to New York City to see a show whenever you're in the mood, not to mention how expensive the shows are, so it was kind of nice to get a weekly bit of Broadway. I think if people took the time to watch the show then they would grow to love the theater like I do.

So what makes the theater so spectacular? It's not like movies or TV or even books. When you watch a show, well you do just that, watch. But when you go to Broadway show, you are right there in the room with those people and as cliche as it sounds, it is almost as if you yourself are a part of the show. Also, Broadway performers have more talent than anyone else. They don't need autotuning, they don't need multiple takes, and they have so much passion and they just put it all out there on the stage.

You know when you watch a really good movie and it's just so inspirational and at the end you just feel so happy and want to go out and do good things? That's the feeling I get after EVERY Broadway show. That's what the theater does. For 3 hours you get to escape the world for a while and be a part of someone else's dream, and their dreams inspire your own.

It's great music, acting, drama: everything. So why was the show cancelled? As much as I hate conflict, I had to look up why people think it was cancelled.
The first reason I read was that it had too many plot lines: Karen and Ivy fighting for roles, Julia's dissolving marriage, Tom's first real relationship, Eileen's first time as a solo producer. So what? Isn't that life? No one ever has just one problem at a time. Every day we wake up with a whole day full of big changes. Maybe the viewers thought that the focus was on too many people, but it should have been. You can't throw all of these amazing Broadway people onto one show and expect the focus to be on one or two of them. They are all amazing and all should be seen.
Another reason I read was the changes in Season 2. The first season was all about Marilyn the musical and the songs were typical Broadway songs. In Season 2, the main character Karen starts working on a show that has a bit of a Pop vibe and viewers didn't like the change. THAT'S THEATER. It is constantly changing and that is what makes it so exciting. No show is the same, and if they were then they wouldn't be as good as they are. That's all there is to it.

In all honesty, I think the problem was that average TV watchers don't have the appreciation for the theater that it deserves. They complained about the constantly changing plots, the shifts in genre, and so on. But in doing so, they completely overlooked the magic behind the show itself: the music, the story, the love, the drama and the beauty that is Broadway musicals.

If you don't want to watch the show then fine, but go to Broadway. Go see it for yourself. It will change you, I promise that.