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Our finale’s set list was comprised of three songs: one cover and two originals. Our cover featured the majority of our principal cast singing “Under Pressure” by Queen. For our originals we were treated to a very Pitch-Perfect-esque Tony Performance of the Hit List staple “Broadway Here I Come,” written by Joe Iconis and performed by the full Hit List Cast (sans Mara Davi), and as our finale ultimo, in-house team Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman took the series home with their original song “Big Finish” sung by our leading-lady duo, Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee.

After two seasons, the companies of Bombshell and Hit List are both “Under Pressure” as they march toward the Marquis Theatre - home of this year’s Tony Award ceremony. With only 12 hours until the big show, Tom and Julia are writing their possible acceptance speech, Derek is drinking to forget that he publicly admitted casting Daisy in exchange for sex, and Leigh and Ivy discuss how the other one has better chances of winning.

Jimmy is sabotaging himself by attempting to get out of attending the ceremony, until Julia has a “Come to Jesus” with him to get the balls to attend. Also, Derek is sabotaging himself by attempting to get out of attending the ceremony, until Ivy has a “Come to Jesus” with him to get the balls to attend. But both end up attending, which is good because they both end up accepting awards: Derek for choreographing Hit List and Jimmy on behalf of Kyle of Hit List’s book.

Gabe and Lexi are furious that they’ve been called in to perform at the Tony Awards to support Daisy, until Ivy reminds Karen and company that they can refuse to perform with her. When they do, producer Jerry counters by giving Daisy the chance to perform “Reach for Me” instead. But following her win for Best Featured Actor, Derek decides to make it right and take Daisy out of the Tony performance, putting in Karen, Jimmy and (surprise) Ana in an a cappella performance of “Broadway, Here I Come.”

After winning for Best Score, newly minted Tony winners Tom and Julia decide to stay together as a writing team. Ivy gives a touching ode to live theatre in her acceptance speech for Best Actress and while Hit List walks away with most of the initial awards, Eileen Rand’s Bombshell takes home the prize for Best Musical.

In its closing moments, the cast of Smash couples up - Ivy with Derek, Julia with Michael Swift, Eileen with her formerly imprisoned bartender, Karen with a prison-bound Jimmy- and the series finale ends with as much of a non-sequitur as it began: an out-of-time duet performance by our two divas giving the show a “Big Finish.”

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We had three featured songs this week, with our only original song being an excerpt of Hit List’s “Rewrite This Story” written by Pasek & Paul. Our two others included a cover of Traffic’s “Feelin’ Alright” sung by Megan Hilty, and “If You Want Me” from Once, performed by Krysta Rodriguez.

It’s just days until Tony Award nominations come out, and nobody’s feeling alright: Eileen wants more nominations than Hit List, Tom wants a win to cement his future as a director. Oh, and Ivy Lynn is puking in the bathroom between scenes because she’s pregnant. Jimmy is worried that Kyle won’t be recognized with a Tony nomination for Best Book, but Hit List’s producer Jerry says he’s worried about the wrong thing: Ana is filing a wrongful termination suit against Derek.

The Outer Critics Circle deems “Best Director” a tie between Derek and Tom, and Julia Huston wins “Best Book” for Bomshell. But Hit List walks away with the rest, including acting awards for Karen, Sam and Daisy. The win for Daisy lights a fire under Karen’s ass to protect her roommate, igniting her to storm into Daisy’s dressing room demanding she quit Hit List. But Daisy’s been working too hard for ten years to give up this opportunity.

At the Outer Critics Circle luncheon, Julia gives a touching tribute to Kyle, and Tom dedicates his joint win to Derek, but afterwards tensions fire as Jimmy interrupts the proceedings to give Julia a lecture in theatrical ethics. Burning the candle at both ends and with his voice failing, Karen encourages Jimmy to call out of that night’s show and watch the fruits of Kyle’s labor from the audience. Teary-eyed after sitting in the Barrymore, Jimmy realizes that theatre lovers will remember Kyle for his work onstage, not because he did or didn’t win a Tony.

The morning of the nominations are announced, everyone from the Bombshell and Hit List camps are crowded around their screens to watch them live. Bombshell gets 12 nominations, including those for Ivy, Leigh, Derek, Julia, Tom but Hit List gets 13 with nods for Karen, Daisy, Derek, Jimmy and Kyle. But all is not peachy, as Julia being dragged to court by her soon-to-be-ex-husband and Derek publicly acknowledges that he wrongly terminated Ana and gave the part to Daisy after sleeping with her.

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We had four original songs in the episode this week. Our two from Hit List included “Pretender,” written by Lucie Silvas and Michael Busbee, and “I’m Not Sorry,” written by Andrew McMahon. Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman penned our remaining two for the Houston/Levitt revue, which were the punny “Grin and Bare It,” performed by Megan Hilty, and “The Right Regrets,” sung by our now-defunct music team Christian Borle and Debra Messing.

Audiences are literally running to see Hit List on Broadway with Derek’s former assault-ee Daisy now understudying Ana but something about the show isn’t working uptown. Derek is worried that the problem is Ana’s performance as the Diva, so he tries putting Daisy on for the role. Jimmy wants a posthumous Tony Award for Kyle, so he and Julia get to work on finding a solution that brings some of the downtown magic Hit List had off-Broadway up to 46th Street.

The great Lindsay Mendez guest stars as the great Lindsay Mendez performing in a one-night concert of Huston and Levitt songs designed as a ploy for Tony nominations. You see, as Eileen knows “the Tonys are not just about a great show, but a great story.” And Bombshell’s story is that Tom and Julia are a great, yet so-far unawarded pair of song writers so she asks the semi-estranged duo to perform a duet at the concert.

Ivy and Karen make a Times Square promise that although award season is bound to get a little crazy, they promise to be adults about it. Ivy’s pill-popping past is catching up with her, so she has to start fixing her reputation from difficult diva to sweethearted star. But the player with more on the line is Derek, who is being blackmailed by a “Not Sorry” Daisy in exchange for taking over Ana’s role. 

Everyone who’s anyone shows up for the Huston-Levitt concert, including pre-icon Lin-Manuel Miranda playing a twitter-obsessed, Jonathan Groff-obsessed Lin-Manuel Miranda. That is, everyone except for Julia who is too busy reworking Kyle’s ideas into ways to save Hit List. Covering for Julia missing in action, Ivy throws caution to wind and doubles down on her bawdy reputation in a burlesque performance of “Grin and Bare It.” And in the 11th hour, Julia finally arrives to perform a nostalgic duet with Tom as they both decide to say goodbye to their writing partnership.

When Ivy is confronted by Ana about Derek, the leading lady takes on Karen saying”you play this naive, just-off-the-bus routine to get exactly what you want, but deep down you’re just as calculating as the next person.” In a parting shot, Ivy tells Karen that she’s glad Hit List made it to Broadway because now she can beat her fair and square for the awards. Also, she's pregnant.

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This week’s episode included five featured songs: two covers and three originals. The covers included Radiohead’s “High and Dry” performed by Jeremy Jordan, and Billy Joel’s “Vienna” serenaded by Christian Borle. We again heard an excerpt of Iconis’ “Broadway Here I Come” but the two full-length originals came from Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman: Bombshell’s “At Your Feet” and Hit List’s “The Love I Meant to Say.”

Sam Strickland’s put in rehearsal to replace Jimmy is in three hours, but Karen and Derek are screwing around on the couch - that is until Jimmy breaks onto Karen’s fire escape, catches the two in her apartment and runs off. Tom gets a call from his former one-night stand Kyle’s phone, but instead of a booty call it's the police letting him know that Kyle was killed in a car accident. 

Eileen Rand is ready to talk about a Tony campaign, and Bombshell is the show to beat. Ivy Lynn may be nominated twice: as Best Actress in Bombshell and Best Supporting Actress in Liaisons. But all that Tony talk is put on hold when the Bombshell company learns about Kyle’s death, with even Ivy calling in sick to be with Derek down at Manhattan Theatre Workshop.

In a series of flashbacks, Kyle’s friends remember their own favorite intimate moments with him: Julia in storyboarding Hit List, Tom in a boudoir serenade, Karen in an lobby chat during Bombshell’s opening, and Jimmy in brainstorming Hit List ideas along the East River. Finally with a justifiable reason to be sad, Jimmy uses a song from the show to memorialize “the love he meant to say” to his dear departed best friend.

With Gabe and the company of Hit List understandably shocked, Derek cancels the evening performance. But the Hit List fans show up anyway to honor Kyle’s memory, and a seated reading at music stands for a standing room only house turns Hit List into a phenomenon destined to move uptown to Broadway (funded by Eileen’s ex-husband, Jerry.) And as a parting gift, Julia gets the lights of the Lily Hayes theatre marquee dimmed in Kyle’s honor.

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We had a lot of music this episode, mainly from Hit List! Our one song from Bombshell was an excerpt of Shaiman and Whitman’s “20th Century Fox Mambo” performed by Megan Hilty (and Kathie Lee Gifford?), and our one cover was Jeff Buckley’s “The Last Goodbye,” sung by Andy Mientus. The remainder of our songs come from Hit List: we hear excerpts from Pasek and Paul’s “Rewrite this Story,” and Joe Iconis’ “Broadway Here I Come.” Two new songs were another by Joe Iconis called “The Goodbye Song,” and “Don’t Let Me Know,” written by Lucie Silvas and Jamie Alexander Hartman.

Without much competition for new musicals on Broadway this season, Bombshell is poised to make a splash at the Tony Awards in June. But with slow ticket sales, Eileen is going to have to pray for a miracle to keep Bombshell open til June. So she is whoring out Ivy for press events right and left, anything from the Today show to an appearance at the Brighton Beach Senior Center. 

Adding insult to injury, producers Daryl Roth and Kevin McCollum are duking it out with ten other producers ready to write a check to move Hit List to Broadway this season. But there may not be a show to move if Jimmy shows up late and high for photo calls. Derek attempts to solve the Jimmy problem by hiring former Bombshell ensemblist Sam Strickland to understudy him. 

Things are looking up for Julia, with the announcement her new non-musical version of Gatsby going to Manhattan Theatre Workshop next season. Now that Tom isn’t in line to direct the City of Angels revival, he wants Julia to create the show with him. The conflict comes to a head at one of Ivy’s many press events: Julia feels Tom told her under no uncertain terms he only wants to direct, while Tom believes Julia is only interested in being a writing partner when she gets her way.

With tonight seeming to become the most important night in Hit List’s life, Derek gives Jimmy an ultimatum: shape up or ship out. But Jimmy doesn’t take the threat seriously, showing up late onstage, making up choreography and causing an onstage accident that leaves Karen with a bleeding gash. The performance is the last straw for Derek, firing Jimmy on the spot. But the journey for Hit List may be dead in the water anyway, as every potential investor is scared off because the show isn’t financially viable enough to make it on Broadway.

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We only had two featured songs this week. We had a cover of Frank Sinatra’s That’s Life, sung by Marilyns past and present, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty, and we got the chance to revisit Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman’s tour-de-force finale, Don’t Forget Me, this time performed by the Bombshell victor herself, Megan Hilty.

The curtain comes down on Bombshell’s final preview and things are looking up for Ivy! That is until she dives into reading Broadway message boards, where she’s being touted as a “career chorus girl.” But backstage before the overture, Ivy’s mother and co-star tells her that her experience has made her into the star she is today. She brings the house down with a glorious performance ending with ‘Don’t Forget Me,” which leaves Karen visibly shook.

Even before opening, Julia is already pitching Tom ideas for their next show: a musical version of The Great Gatsby. But Tom may have found his own new project without her, directing a Broadway revival of City of Angels. When she confronts him about the rumor at the opening night party, he admits that all he wants to do right now is direct, not write another musical.

Downtown, Hit List has sold out the rest of its off-Broadway run. Eileen has invited the company to come uptown and see Bombshell’s opening, which makes Karen feel like she’s watching her ex-finance walk down the aisle. Jimmy implores her to go and that she’s got him in her corner. But it’s Jimmy that implodes at the opening night party, getting into a fist fight with his drug-dealing brother in the middle of the event.

The reviews are in and Variety calls Bombshell “The finest musical of the season.” But it’s the New York Times review that has everyone on edge and Ivy hiding in the restroom. The current Marilyn confides that she can’t get the former Marilyn out of her head, but the mutual admiration society is there in full force as Karen admits that she was watching Ivy play Marilyn. Ivy promises Karen that she’ll make it to Broadway herself soon enough, but off-handedly jokes for it “not to be this season.”

That promise may be going down the drain as Derek hatches a rumor that Hit List is heading to Broadway. It doesn’t stop the two leading ladies from dueting at the party on an impromptu version of “That’s Life.” But that’s not the most surprising pairing of the night, as Tom and Kyle end up leaving together while Ivy gives Derek blue balls. Surprises abound, as Eileen doubles down on their so-so New York Times review, declaring “Screw the Times! We’ll sweep the Tonys!”

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We had all original songs but nothing new this week. We were able to revisit excerpts from Bombshell’s Let Me Be Your Star, Our Little Secret, and Dig Deep, all written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, and a new acapella prologue version of Broadway Here I Come for Hit List, written by Joe Iconis.

Even though he isn’t an actor, director/liberrist Tom Levitt is having actors’ nightmares before Bombshell’s invited dress. The run-through is riddled with mistakes - a surprise nude scene for Ivy, the house did not come in for “Mr. & Mrs. Smith,” and poor Brian pulls a muscle - which means that Sam might be going on for him. Eileen recommends cancelling Bombshell’s first preview but Tom thinks it’s an invitation to the press to sharpen their knives. So Eileen gives him a challenge: fix all the problems by 3pm today or she’s going to cancel the performance.

Jimmy has been pulling all-nighters writing nine new songs for Hit List, a task which he is sure has been laid on him by Derek as retribution for Karen and Jimmy dating. Derek is finally reinspired to make changes to Hit List - adding reprises and a new framing device that tells the story in flashback. Jimmy is having a fit about the changes, but it’s hard to know whether that’s because of his ego, his all-nighters, or his coke habit. Kyle and Ana are hype about the rapid-changes Derek is making to Hit List, but Karen is convinced they are simply retribution for dating Jimmy.

Tom isn’t able to fix all of the problems of the invited dress in six hours, but lies to Eileen so she doesn’t cancel the first preview. But when Tom isn’t able to get the intermission down to 15 minutes, Julia pinch-hits with a new staging idea for the top of Act II that allows it to be staged in the audience instead of the stage. 

Even though Ivy’s nudity in the dress rehearsal was a mistake, it’s given the show a spike in both buzz and ticket sales. Eileen and Tom ask Ivy to keep the nudity, a decision she doesn’t make until she onstage for the first preview. When she finally decides to keep the nudity, it ends up making a show-stopping moment that is perfect for the scene.

But all is not good with Bombshell. After not being put on to cover an ailing ensemblist, Sam quits the show saying that his career is “going in the wrong direction.” And New York Times publishes an article saying the spirit of Marilyn Monroe is alive and well onstage, but in Hit List. The Grey Lady calls Hit List “edgy and occasionally brilliant, bound to take the theatre season by storm” and leading the way for Hit List to move uptown toward the Main Stem.

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We had three featured songs this week: two originals and one cover...and this time, no reprises!! The originals included a Pasek & Paul original called “Original,” boppily sung originally by Bombshell’s original Marilyn Katharine McPhee, and a Shaiman & Whitman piano-bar tune called “A Love Letter From The Times,” sung by the legend herself Liza Minnelli! (Oh, and Christian Borle too.) Our one cover was an underscore version of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony” sung by the birthday girl Ivy herself, Megan Hilty.

Bombshell is in tech rehearsal, and it’s very clear that Ivy has not forgiven Tom for casting her mother to play Gladys in the show. She seems to have poisoned the entire company against him. He can’t take back what he did, but he can remind her how much her loves her with a birthday surprise for the ages: dinner with Liza Minnelli. But Ivy already has her own surprise party planned, so now she has to balance two parties: one with Tom, and one that he can’t know about.

At Hit List rehearsal, the company showcases a new song called “Original” for New York Times editor Richard Francis. He likes the number, a cautionary tale of a woman reinventing herself to become a star, but Francis is more fixated on what could be backstage drama: a director and ingenue ditching Broadway for off-Broadway arm in arm.

Julia is doctoring the script of Hit List and finds the biggest problem is The Diva, who she identifies as not really a character, but a trigger for Amanda who has no real agency of her own. In coaching Kyle on his script, she learns that he hasn’t really… ever… learned how to write a musical. But in a day of storyboarding with Julia and Scott Nichols, Kyle cracks the code at how to add some drama into Hit List.

Even though Liza Minnelli singing an original composition that Tom wrote during tech turns Ivy back into a Tom fan, she still doesn’t invite him to her birthday party. But when she leaves her keys at dinner, Tom walks in on a full company birthday party that he wasn’t invited to. Mama Ivy has to teach Tom that while they’re working, they can’t prioritize their friendship over their work.

Karen and Jimmy have been conoodling in the costume racks, but he still wants to keep their relationship on the DL - per Derek’s request. But Karen doesn’t know about their agreement, and when she tells Derek, it puts a riff back between him and Jimmy that affects their work in rehearsal. Karen has to remind Derek that he doesn’t own her, which gives Jimmy and Karen agency to start dating in public.

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We had only three featured songs this week, but they were all originals! From Hit List, we had Katharine McPhee’s rendition of “Broadway Here I Come,” and another Andrew McMahon original entitled, “Reach For Me” sung (and swung) by Krysta 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.

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! 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 that he can stop by Hit List rehearsal and attend the theatre’s gala that evening. Since the gala is Hit List’s introduction to the board members and theatre patrons, Scott Nichols wants to add the Diva’s number to the gala performance.

In 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 in 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 Mailyn, 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 the character bigger. And who does he ask to help work as dramaturg to make it happen but Bombshell writer Julia!

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.

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Karen’s Dad is also in town on business, but it means that he can stop by Hit List rehearsal and attend the theatre’s gala that evening. Since the gala is Hit List’s introduction to the board members and theatre patrons, Scott Nichols wants to add the Diva’s number to the gala performance.

In 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 in 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 Mailyn, Ivy and Julia all cry.

At the Manhattan Theatre Workshop’s gala, Karen’s rendition of “Broadway, Her 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 the character bigger. And who does he ask to help work as dramaturg to make it happen but Bombshell writer Julia!

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.

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We saw two full original songs and two excerpts this week, which means, no pop covers! Our in-home team of Shaiman and Whitman wrote Liaisons’ Ce N’Est Pas Ma Faute (It’s Not My Fault) sung by Sean Hayes, and Bombshell’s The National Pastime, sung and tapped by Katherine McPhee and the Bombshell ensemble. From Hit List we heard a reprise of Heart Shaped Wreckage from last week, and a new opening song called Rewrite This Story, written by Pasek & Paul.

Now that Derek is signed onto direct Hit List, Scott Nichols of Manhattan Theatre Workshop offers the theatre’s 80-seat underground space. He is afraid it doesn’t have much of an overwriting theme to appease his mainstage subscribers, but he will reconsider if stubborn Jimmy and agreeable Kyle are able to reinvent Hit List by Friday.

Taking over the direction of Bombshell is harder than Tom anticipated - it’s like Tom and Karen are speaking different languages. In the absence of any legal agreements about using Derek’s concepts in Bombshell, Tom is forced to reinvent the show. And in the absence of Derek’s choreography, Tom’s staging on numbers like “The National Pastime” turn Bombshell into a sugar-induced headache.

What the show also needs is to get rid of Jerry Rand as a producer. The silver bullet comes in the form of a contract Eileen signed with the Marilyn Monroe estate for the use of her journals - which heavily influenced Julia’s book. In a hostile takeover, the women of Bombshell force Jerry to sign over the show to Eileen.

At Liaisons, Ivy has cemented her talent as “The Terry Whisperer,” but she and Terry both hate this “meh” version of the show and make a pact that it might as well go down in a blaze of glory. With an over-the-top version of a Terry Falls-helmed number called “It’s Not My Fault,” Liaisons announces that it will close at the end of the week, making Ivy a free agent.

The musical chairs between Bombshell and Hit List come to a head at the opening night of Liasions, where everybody wants what they can’t have: Jerry and Karen want Derek to return Bombshell, while Derek wishes that he had a book writer like Julia and a star like Karen. It’s unclear what Jimmy wants, other than to not write a new opening number for his show. 

Karen starts the musical chairs in motion, acknowledging to Tom that she’s not his Marilyn - Ivy is. Derek also admits to Kyle and Jimmy that he believes in Hit List so much he will even direct the show in a 80-seat blackbox. But it turns out he doesn’t have to - when Jimmy writes Hit List a banger of a new opening called “Rewrite This Story.”

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We saw three songs and a reprise this week: one of which was a cover of “This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies, sung by the Hit List cast. The other two and a half were original songs from all three of our musicals! Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman delivered us a reprise of “Never Give All the Heart” from Bombshell, and a Glitter-and-Be-Gay inspired number from Liaisons called “A Letter From Cecile.” Lastly, from Hit List we got a new song called “Heart Shaped Wreckage,” written by Julian Emery, Jon Green, James Lawrence Irvin, and Lucie Silvas.

Hit List has booked a spot in the Winter Fringe after all! It’s only two presentations in shoebox, but Jimmy is convinced Hit List is good enough to outshine the venue. Which is good because the show gets picked up by Time Out and “a bunch of theatre people RSVP’d!” 

Back at Bombshell, Eileen has decided to produce the dynamic, technicolor fantasy that Tom and Jerry prefer, much to the schgrin of Julia and Derek. Karen is all lined up to star in Hit List, but Jerry can’t be “introducing Karen Cartwright” if she’s already been introduced at the Winter Fringe, which leaves Jimmy, Kyle and the rest of the Fringe crew understandingly ticked off about Karen’s backing out. 

At a coffee klatch in Madison Square Park, Ivy tells Derek that Terry Falls continues to derail Liaisons into a farce. But he replies that standing out as good in a bad show is a time-honored theatre tradition and to follow her instinct. She spices up the production’s press preview by adding her own brand of humor, but her good work threatens Terry Falls. Only in an 11th hour company meeting does Terry have the balls to invite the company to 

Bombshell’s new producer Jerry Rand continues to meddle with Julia’s script, suggesting they cut the intellectual downer of a song “Never Give All The Heart.” He and Eileen give Tom a challenge: change it into an uplifting song that makes them feel something in the next 24 hours. The composer puts a new spin on the song, making it a cautionary tale, empowered instead of wistful. But Tom’s direction puts Derek over the edge, quitting the show and storming out of rehearsal. And Eileen loves the work enough to crown Tom Bombshell’s new director.

Derek’s departure from Hit List frees up Karen to perform in the second night of Hit List at the fringe, as well as making him available to watch her in it. Derek is taken by the show and the performances of both Karen and Jimmy. Scott Nichols, artistic director at Manhattan Theatre Workshop says the show is actually the kind of project he is looking for. 

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We didn’t have a whole lot of music this week, despite hearing the read-throughs of two different shows. We saw a Bombshell fantasy Act 2 opener, complete with tap break, called “Public Relations” by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, and a snippet of Hit List’s “Caught in the Storm” by Pasek and Paul, Jeremy Jordan rendition. We also saw a fantasy sequence to a cover of “Some Boys” originally by Death Cab For Cutie. 

Bombshell has booked the Belasco! In a walkthrough of their new home, Tom imagines a new second act opener for Bombshell called “Public Relations” which looks remarkably like a song from Catch Me If You Can, down to the plane set and stewardess. Now finishing each other’s sandwiches, Julia and Peter stroll in late to the walkthrough late but thrilled with the new script draft they’ve created together. 

Despite multiple sexual misconduct allegations, Derek has friends in high enough places to get Hit List a spot in the “Winter Fringe Festival.” But with the Festival in just two weeks, Karen and Ana rally Bobby, Jessica and the rest of their ensemblist cohorts join for a read through where they learn that while Jimmy's music is great, Kyle’s dialogue and the characters… aren’t. But after their failed reading, Jimmy, Kyle, Ana and Karen crack the code that could turn into a success: scrap the book scenes and make the show sung through. 

A week into rehearsal for the Broadway revival of Liaisons, Ivy finally meets her co-star Terry Falls. But Terry doesn’t even know his stage left from his stage right, turning “a real drama into Spamalot!” However, Ivy will have none of it - refusing to stoop to conquer and teaching Terry how to act in the process. 

Ahead of a reading of the new Bombshell script, Julia hears rumors that Peter has purposefully upended other shows by feeding the writers ideas bad enough to be fired. But despite those rumors, the reading goes off swimmingly with all parties impressed by the rewrites. So much so that Derek halts his plans to take Hit List to the fringe after all. 

It’s an artistic triumph, but their new producer Jerry Rand says it’s not commercial enough to be a financial hit. With a hung jury of creatives, Jerry, Derek, Tom and Julia leave it up to Eileen to make the decision about which Marilyn musical to bring to Broadway: a sexy, provocative insightful musical or a lush, dazzling spectacle...

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We had five featured songs in this episode, with only one pop cover this week! Yay! That cover was Billy Joel’s “Everybody Loves You Now” sung by Andy Mientus and Jennifer Hudson. The only other non-original song was “I Got Love” from the musical Purlie, featured both in its original arrangement and it’s more Derek Wills-Esque risqué arrangement. Lastly we had three Shaiman/Whitman originals, “I’m Not Lost,” “Chest of Broken Hearts,” and the titular song itself, “I Can’t Let Go.”

Veronica Moore has got love for her new one-night-only concert, but with a song list of her greatest hits, Derek is afraid the showcase is just “another good girl role for Broadway’s Sweetheart.” As if by kismet, Kyle and Jimmy are looking to get noticed by trying out their material somewhere that counts. That place just happens to be Veronica’s concert, when Derek challenges the duo to present him with a new song for her to debut. 

As the concert’s music director, Tom tells Kyle and Jimmy that while their trunk songs are good, they aren’t right for the concert. Kyle says that they’ll write “Something Ronnie and Derek, Broadway and them” in the next 24 hours (the same time it took Sondheim to write “Send in the Clowns.” But then Veronica’s “Momager” threatens to fire Derek for making the concert too adult, he succumbs and tells Kyle and Jimmy that their services are no longer needed. 

One of the concert’s back-up dancers goes MIA as - “and I quote - ‘my boyfriend requested that I no longer work with Derek.’” Ivy Lynn pinch hits as it turns out she was a swing when Veronica was Audrey in Little Shop. And in the biggest surprise of all, Karen is actually OK with working with Ivy. 

Julia feels hoodwinked when Peter the dramaturg invites her to his NYU class, only to have his students critique her Bombshell script. But after confronting him about his games, they end up day drinking on a weekday and cracking the code to fixing her Bombshell script. 

Ivy ends up becoming mother hen to the concert: inspiring both Ronnie and Derek to listen to their guts when it comes to the song list. And that final song list ends up including a new song by Jimmy and Kyle after all: a soaring ballad called “I Can’t Let Go.”

One last coda: Bombshell is freed of its legal troubles and OK’ed to move to Broadway but under one condition: Eileen isn’t allowed to produce it any more. Somehow, that pesky Ellis still ruins everything! 

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We saw new material from both of our up-and-coming shows this episode! We were treated to a brand-new song from Bombshell, called “Our Little Secret” written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, and a preview of a song from currently-unnamed-show-soon-to-be-known-as Hit List, called “Good For You” written by Drew Gasparini. The episode also featured Megan Hilty singing a cover of Robyn’s ”Dancing On My Own,” as well as snippets of The Wiz’s “Soon As I Get Home” sung by Jennifer Hudson, and Katherine McPhee’s mini-rendition of “They Just Keep Moving The Line.”

Eileen demands that Tom and Julia meet with a dramaturg named Peter Gilman to make the quick fixes she thinks the show needs. Tom thinks Peter could be a shepherd for their play, but Julia is afraid dramaturgs are parasites especially when he reads her for focusing on DiMaggio instead of putting the sex appeal into Marilyn herself. 

Derek knows that new musicals take years to develop, but needs something now, something big. So he’s burning the candle from three ends: staging a Bombshell number for producers, scheming with Veronica Moore to get his job back at The Wiz and agreeing to meet Kyle and Jimmy about the plot that goes around their great songs. 

Ivy talks Smash’s real casting director Bernie Telsey into letting her audition for a revival of Liaisons, but feels like she has little chance of booking up again “real names” like Jen Damiano and Jessie Mueller. When she stops by Bombshell rehearsal to ask Derek for advice, she realizes that she needs to start “dancing on her own.” Tom helps her to realize the Liaisons role is more like Marilyn than she imagined, but the boost helps her win the part. 

Inspired or in spite of Peter Gillman, Julia writes a non-PG number for Marilyn and JFK called “Our Little Secret.” It loses Derek a job on The Wiz but Eileen calls it the perfect direction for Bombshell. 

Jimmy is his usual angry-white-man self, seemingly pissed off at every opportunity Karen and Kyle provide him to share their show with the world. When they finally meet, Jimmy describes the story of their show: a young man who hates the world but has a treasure trove of mind blowing music. Stealing his songs to catapult her to fame, a female fling gets addicted to the fame his music provides - and he lets her even though his love will destroy him. Derek is intrigued enough to pound beers with the team, and they begin their work on the new musical...

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We had three featured songs in this episode: one cover of the Eurythmics’ “Would I Lie To You?” And two original songs by two different musical theatre composers: the first by then-up-and-comer duo team Pasek & Paul called “Caught in the Storm” sung by Katherine McPhee, and the second by our home team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman called “They Just Keep Moving the Line” sung by Megan Hilty.

Eileen summons her bruised songwriting team to attend the American Theatre Wing gala, but Julia can barely get out the door let alone put on cocktail attire. But Julia heard from Mary Testa who heard from Jackie Hoffman who heard from Cheyenne Jackson who heard from Harvey Fierstein that she and Julia would be presenting at the gala (a lie that Tom made you on the street). 

In addition to Bombshell being put on ice, Derek gets fired from The Wiz - not only because he shagged a couple of actresses but the five dancers are accusing him of sexual harassment. One of them, Daisy, serves Derek the T in front of Schnippers, saying “You don’t get it. You’re a big shot Director. You’re in a position of power from the mind you wake up in the morning and you don’t treat that power with respect.” Derek second guesses his serial seducing in a dream sequence set to the Eurythmics' “Would I Lie To You?”

Ivy is considering leaving the business, as she’s going in for parts that she would have passed on two years ago. But running into a drunken Derek on a stoop, he leaves her with one nugget of wisdom: “You weren’t my Marilyn, but what do I know?”

Karen Cartwright hunts down the young and unknown composing team. Half of the team, a twink named Kyle, is eager to collab with Karen. But while his songwriting partner Jimmy is cute enough to go to Greenpoint for, he is anything but agreeable. Even her attempts to wow Jimmy with an impromptu performance of one of his songs drives him away. Jimmy retorts that he doesn’t need help to make it big, but decides the next day that he’ll give it a go with Karen for Kyle’s sake. 

The American Theatre Wing gala becomes an embarrassment for the Bombshell crew, when Tom gets caught in his lie about presenting and Eileen is asked to leave by the League president. But she decides to leave the industry with a parting shot to remember: an announcement that Bombshell is coming to Broadway this season followed by Ivy Lynn giving a stunning rendition of a never-before-heard tune called “They Just Keep Moving The Line.”

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The premiere featured 6 songs: three original songs by our original team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, which were the good ol’ “Let Me Be Your Star,” a new song from Bombshell called “Cut, Print...Moving On,” and a new song from a different musical altogether, called “Mama Makes Three” from the show Beautiful (no, not that Beautiful) starring JHud. The two covers in this episode were the titular song “On Broadway” by the Drifters, and “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House. Most notably though, the Season 2 premiere marks the introduction of composer Joe Iconis, who wrote the song “Broadway, Here I Come!” Iconis was the first of many musical theatre composers who were able to feature their work throughout the second season of Smash.

After closing the pre-Broadway run of Bombshell, Producer Eileen Rand assembles her growing team to announce her goal of booking a Broadway theatre by the end of the week. She’s also planning a soirée for potential investors and invites Karen to pick her three back up singers (Her selections do not include the libertine Ivy Lynn, who Karen is still angry with for sleeping with her ex-boyfriend.)

Derek takes Karen to see his former leading lady Veronica Moore tear the roof off of the St. James in a musical called Beautiful. However, this is not the Carole King biomusical but a rousing gospel show. After the performance, Veronica tells Karen “Someone’s always waiting to take you down, honey. But if the work is good, they won’t be able to.”

Disdain for Ivy seems to be growing within the production; While other pre-Broadway ensemblists gave received offers for Broadway, Ms. Lynn is still waiting to hear. At rehearsal for the producer soirée, Ivy asks Julia advice. The lyricist tells her, “Maybe you apologized to Karen, but you were apologizing for the wrong thing.” 

On their way to the event, composer Tom congratulates his boyfriend Sam on getting offered the General in The Book of Mormon tour. Sam says he would rather stay with his ten lines in Bombshell in order to be close to Tom. But as they canoodle down Central Park West they spot Julia’s husband caressing a coworker, effectively the final straw in ending her dissolving marriage. 

Covering for a truant Jordan Roth at the investor event, Veronica and Karen duet on an impromptu rendition of “On Broadway.” Afterwards, Derek tells Ivy that she won’t be joining the Bombshell cast on Broadway. However, the real drama happens after the performance, when Eileen tells Karen and the creative team that Bombshell is being investigated. While the government is looking into how Eileen received the financing, Bombshell is effectively on hold for the foreseeable future. 

The next day, Derek commiserates with Karen about how they’re both out of work, telling her “call me if you hear about something else.” But later that night while nursing a drink at a Restaurant Row piano bar, Karen meets a team of musical theatre songwriters who may just be Derek’s “something else.”

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We think that we, having been on the show and thus invested in it seven years ago, can now look at the show objectively and see how it resonates with us differently than it may have then.

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No covers this week! Instead, rounding out the season was all music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Just like last week, we had various snippets of the Bombshell songs, but most notably were a fully-staged production number (complete with Ivy cutaways) of “I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl,” and the thrilling last-minute finale of Don’t Forget Me, sung by season 1’s understudy-turned-leading lady Karen Cartwright.

It’s 15 minutes til places and the theatre is buzzing. Tom and Julia are feverishly finishing rewrites to give to their new Marilyn. But who is it? Karen or Ivy?

We are transported twelve hours earlier, where Derek, Eileen, Tom and Julia are arguing about how to move forward now that Rebecca has left the production. But in Derek’s mind he continues to see Karen as his Marilyn, so he makes the decision to put Ms. Cartwright on as Ms. Monroe. 

The day is spent putting Karen into the show, altering costumes and updating her on rewrites. And as the rehearsal progresses, Karen proves herself adept at the part. But even while she is being put in there are whispers that Ivy already knows most of the show, most notably from Ms. Lynn herself. 

When Ivy confronts Derek about why it wasn’t her, he finally admits to her that he’s always seen Karen as Marilyn in her head. She’s not the only one who is #TeamIvy; Even Eileen is pushing Derek to put Ivy on. When Karen learns that Ivy and Dev hooked up she takes her wig off and goes missing. Ivy goes as far as getting into Marilyn’s costumes but Derek gets Karen to channel her personal angst into the role and get back into rehearsal. 

And with that we are back at the evening preview with Karen shining as Marilyn Monroe, debuting Tom and Julia’s new ending to the show, a stirring ballad called “Don’t Forget Me.”

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Since this episode included Bombshell’s first preview, we heard snippets of all our favorites by Shaiman and Whitman: Let Me Be Your Star, The 20th Century Fox Mambo, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking, and a reprise (finale?) of Secondhand White Baby Grand. One newcomer to the original Smash catalog was (get ready for it) the titular song of Smash! sung in its entirety by Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee. Two covers in this episode were Kurt Weill’s September Song, sung by Anjelica Huston, and Donnie McClurkin’s Stand, sung by Leslie Odom Jr. and Katherine McPhee.

The first preview of Bombshell and while Derek doesn’t want to jinx it he thinks the show is in pretty good shape! But Bobby the Soothsayer tells us: ““You go out of town and all hell breaks loose.”

He’s right, as Derek and Rebecca continue to canoodle, even after Karen tells her that Derek is seeing Ivy. Michael Swift is back in the show, arriving at the theatre only to be greeted by Julia’s entire family. But despite the backstage drama, the show goes on.

In a never-before-seen number, Ivy and Karen lead the female ensemblists in a number that feels wildly reminiscent of 9 to 5 (down to use of a mustachioed Marc Kurdish.) All in all, the show goes well but ends to crickets instead of wild applause. 

What’s the problem? Ellis hits the nail of the wig-prepped head, saying “It’s Rebecca. She’s good and all but she’s not landing any of the numbers.”

When Ivy finally confronts Derek about his dressing room antics, he tells her “Rebecca needs my attention, and I’m giving it to her. Is there any other approach?” (Spoiler alert: there is.)

After accepting Dev’s second take at a marriage proposal, Karen comforts Rebecca about the first preview audience’s poor response to the show. But as she is confiding in Karen, Rebecca has an allergic reaction to her smoothie and gets sent to the hospital. 

With previews for the weekend cancelled, but the creative team is plotting about their game plan if Rebecca doesn’t recover in time. The understudy, Karen, hasn’t had any time on stage, but Ivy knows the whole show. Yet, neither gets the chance when it is announced that Rebecca recovered. 

And yet while the drama seems high, it all seems to absolve by Sunday morning when Sam gets the entire Smash family goes to church! Wrongs are absolved, sins are forgiven and Karen unexpectedly leads a gospel number. But after the service, Rebecca calls Karen to say that even though she’s not going back into the show and that the production will have to crown a new Marilyn after all! 

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Songs this week mainly featured non-Smash properties: we got an opening montage set to Cole Porter’s “Another Op’nin’, Another Show” sung by Christian Borle, and a cover of Rose Royce’s/Mary J. Blige’s song, “I’m Goin’ Down,” sung this time by Megan Hilty. The other two songs we heard were snippets from tech that we heard in previous episodes: “History is Made at Night” and “The 20th Century Fox Mambo.”

It’s “another openin’ of another show” for the company of Bombshell. The company makes the journey from New York to Boston for the show’s pre-Broadway tryout. The Ensemblists are joyously rolling their roller bags through Grand Central Station, Linda the stage manager is ushering costume racks into the dressing rooms. 

With the first preview two days away, the show is… not ready for an audience. Derek is on the verge of having a stroke, with the show’s technical elements barely coming together. 

The number one rule of tech is: nobody has any time! Derek doesn’t have time to tell Rebecca that her leading man has quit the show for a TV pilot. But when she hears that Eileen is thinking of bringing Michael Swift back, Julia gives an ultimatum: she can have Michael or her on the production but not both. 

Rebecca admits to Karen that she’s nervous about performing Marilyn for an audience. For the first time Derek seems to direct, telling Rebecca to “use her star power” in her performance. But he uses and abuses his own star power, giving her shoulder massages that lead to a dressing room make out session. 

Ivy goes through her own emotional rollercoaster, starting with Derek saying he loves her before standing in for Marilyn, to being relegated to changing Rebecca’s gloves and listening to her and Derek make out from outside her dressing room.

Jessica says “No civilians during tech. We’re in the middle of a war. They don’t get it.” Dev comes up anyway, and while out at a romantic dinner admits proposes to Karen. The following is the verbatim conversation between Dev and Karen after he pulls out the ring:

DEV: “Will you marry me?”

KAREN: “Marry you?”

DEV: “Yeah, it’s not all that crazy, is it?”

KAREN: “Of course not, I just don’t know what to say.”

DEV: “Say yes.”

KAREN: “I’m in tech.”

DEV: “...is that the same thing as a yes?”

KAREN: “I’m sorry, Dev. I’m just under so much pressure now. Tech is so crazy.”

DEV: “It’s sounding more and more like a no.”

KAREN: “It’s not a yes or a no. It’s I’m in tech.”

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There were three featured songs this episode, which may have been my favorite episode soundtrack of the season. One cover of “Run” by Snow Patrol, and two original songs: the Bollywood-inspired original “A Thousand and One Nights” and shadow Marilyn’s ballad of “Secondhand White Baby-Grand,” both written by Marc Shaiman and Scot Whitman.

Derek calls Karen into rehearsal early to ask her to continue looking over the leading lady material, saying “I think you’d make a brilliant Marilyn.” Rebecca invites Karen to go out together in order for Ms. Duvall to “check out the competition.” When Karen slays Snow Patrol’s “Run,” Rebecca tells her “You are not an understudy, you are a star!” 

But Rebecca Duvall continues to give notes on the Bombshell script and score, including to ut one of the show’s only romantic duets “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” When Tom and Julia write a new song called “Second Hand White Baby Brand,” Rebecca says it should be given to one of Marilyn’s “shadow selves”: Karen! Rebecca continues to ingratiate herself with the company, making smoothies with Linda the stage manager, and becoming BFFs with Karen - taking her clubbing and giving her designer clothing.

Everyone’s having dinner dates: Ivy at drinks with Sam and Tom, Eileen and her bartender boyfriend out at BAM, and Karen out to Indian food with Dev and Rebecca, who end up passive-aggressively arguing about what Karen wants her future to look like. In her mind, Karen transports herself to multicultural Bollywood where Dev and Karen challenge each other to prove their love is longer than “A Thousand And One Nights.”

The number features 30 dancers including current Broadway performers Ericka Hunter, Nina Lafarga, Nathan Lucrezio and Katie Webber. The fantasy sequence is performed in an Indian wedding venue as scores of multicultural dancers in tunics and saris pitch their thumbs and middle fingers together and push flexed hands towards the corners of the room. In curtained corners of the hall, Rebecca, Tom, Eileen, Julia and the rest of our leading players pose in tableaus that reflect the song’s quandaries.  

Back in reality, Julia’s missing son turns out to be sleeping on a friends’ floor, but the search for him causes Julia and her husband to come back together. Her son’s return also brings Tom and Sam together, cementing their budding relationship with a sweet and subtle kiss.

Ivy watches Ellis relegated to making Rebecca Duvall’s smoothies, and concocts a plan to get both Rebecca and Karen in trouble by feeding them misinformation about the rehearsal schedule. When Rebecca returns 15 minutes late from a 10 minute break, Derek lambasts her. But when Karen doesn’t return to rehearsal at all, Derek gives Karen’s new song to Ivy. 

Ivy crushes her first run of “Second Hand Baby Grand,” which includes staging that rolls Rebecca Duvall upstage as Ivy’s Shadow Self takes downstage center. But the moment the company applauds Ivy for her spectacular performance, Rebecca tells the room that she thinks Marilyn should sing the song.

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This episode had three featured songs total, though one could argue that that spoken-word version of “Let Me Be Your Star” should count for half! Wow. The other two were one original song by Shaiman and Whitman called “Dig Deep,” and a cover of “Our Day Will Come” by Ruby & the Romantics.

Everyone in the Bombshell rehearsal room is abuzz about movie star Rebecca Duvall, especially her new understudy Karen Cartwright. But as the company sits in her first sing through of “Let Me Be Your Star,” they realize she’s not a vocalist like Karen or Ivy Lynn. You see, “Everyone said she could sing,” but nobody on Bombshell bothered to check first hand. Eileen asks Derek, Tom and Julia to come up with “constructive solutions.” Derek advocates for bringing Ivy back into the show, just in case they need her. 

All that Karen can wonder is what Ivy’s return means for her. But once Rebecca showcases her ineptitude, Ivy and Karen begin to conspire together. Ivy teases Karen, prodding her that “you’re counting the minutes until she implodes, and if you’re not you’re in the wrong business.”

Rebecca Duvall confides in Derek that she wishes Bombshell could delve into the story of Marilyn with “a little less singing and dancing.” The writers try adding in a short scene for her at the Actors Studio, but she is still perplexed by the idea that a character would break into song. Eileen advocates for Rebecca, demanding a new “extra long scene” for her Marilyn. 

Eileen imparts an old adage to assistant Ellis, “Keep your friends close, celebrities closer, and their assistants even closer still.” For Eileen, this includes Rebecca Duvall and her many, many, many ideas for script revisions. But in a late night work session with the creative team, Rebecca turns out to be surprisingly candid about her own limitations, asking for keys to be lowered and ballads to be cut. Based on the collegial session, there’s a new jazzy version of “Dig Deep” added that references Stanislavsky, childhood drama and Sigmund Freud.

At a screening of Rebecca Duvall’s new movie, Ivy and Karen talk about their hot-headed boyfriends and catch each other sneaking out of the boring movie. They share a laugh followed by Ivy announcing “She’s annoying. She stole our part. We hate her. Let’s go drinking.” After a few, Ivy tells Karen “When Rebecca Duvall goes down, everything’s up for grabs. You’re going to have to pry that part of my cold dead hands.”

In other news, Julia and her separated husband Frank come together to get their son to improve in calculus. Ellis gets caught trying to pull one over on Rebecca Duvall’s assistant. And Tom’s date with “chorus crush” Sam stops short of physical intimacy because “he’s old-fashioned and believes in God.”

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Songs this week featured one cover of Kelly Clarkson’s “Breakaway” and two original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman: a sort of reprise of Marilyn’s very first song in the series, but this time Katherine McPhee singing “Never Give All the Heart,” and a new song featuring stand-in Christian Borle called “Don’t Say Yes Until I Finish Talking.”

The episode opens with a room of cast, creatives and investors waiting to start a reading of the Bombshell script. Waiting, that is, on Hollywood star Rebecca Duvall - who misses playing Marilyn in the reading because she’s stuck in Cuba. In Rebecca’s absence, Tom, Julia and Derek come to Karen telling her that “they want her to understudy Marilyn.”

Many of her ensemblist cohorts giggle with Karen excitedly, but Bobby and Sam note that “she’s never going to hack it - especially after Ivy breaks her kneecaps.” Ivy is furious that Karen has been given the job, even when Derek tells her that her outburst at Heaven on Earth means he can’t “even hire her for the chorus.”

Derek verbally assaults Karen in rehearsal, which causes Bobby and Jessica and place bets on whether Karen will cry. Later at her apartment, Ivy shows a moment of kindness and advises Derek that “the only directors that were ever successful with Marilyn were the ones who babied her.” She continues her rebranding campaign, joining Karen and the ensemblists of Bombshell for appletinis after rehearsal and bringing her once-rival a pair of Monroe-inspired sunglasses. 

Back in rehearsal, Derek calls the cast to run “the Zanuck number” about Darryl R. Zanuck, producer of All About Eve and The Grapes of Wrath. When Derek asks “Where is Zanuck?,” Tom replies “You don’t want to know, but I’m standing in today.” The steam room-inspired number is performed full out by Manuel Herrera, Curtis Holbrook, Keith Kuhl, Spencer Liff, Leslie Odom, Jr., J. Manuel Santos, Phillip Spaeth and Wesley Taylor, One run through seems to be good enough, as Derek gives no notes and quickly moves on to Karen to guide her with kindness.

When Rebecca Duvall’s return is imminent, Derek shows up at Karen’s apartment to thank her for her good work. Not only that - he apologizes to Karen for his behavior back in the pilot episode. When Karen’s boyfriend Dev sees Derek walking out of their building, the two men get into a sidewalk fist fight. Dev floats the idea that she quit the show to avoid Derek. She argues back, telling Dev “Marilyn is everything I came to this city to do - everything that I want to be.” She goes to rehearsal the next day, covering the role of Marilyn until Rebecca Duvall shows (played by real life star Uma Thurman!)

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Featured Songs? Again, no Bombshell music, unless you count the snippet of the “Arthur Miller Medley” that Brian d’Arcy James sang at the piano, but we did get an original song by Shaiman and Whitman from Heaven on Earth, called “The Higher you Get, the Farther you Fall.” We also get a Times Square cover of “Cheers (Drink to That)” by Rihanna.

Everybody seems to be moving on after Bombshell workshop. Karen is picking up serving shifts and booking orange juice commercials. Ivy is back in Heaven on Earth, probably forever. But she is definitely not enjoying it, as she rolls her eyes and marks her way through performances and taking prescription pills on the side.

Julia’s husband Frank finds sheet music to a song she wrote about former flame Michael Swift. She admits to her affair but Frank storms out, telling her “sorry doesn’t cut it.” Frank confronts Michael, who tells Frank this isn’t the first time they had had an affair. Frank leaves him punched and lying on the sidewalk in front of New York Theatre Workshop, and walks out on Julia and their son Leo. 

Out at a Glasshouse Tavern-type doppelganger, the Marilyn cast laments the production’s need to court a star. Jessica leads the charge, stating “Chasing a star is lame. It’s a musical. It’s a new American musical. Why can’t the songs be the star?” Ivy takes it one step further, digging at Karen that “she walks in with the Midwestern moonface and lands everything.”

Tom, Julia and Derek discuss stars to replace Ivy in the role of Marilyn, as well as a title for the musical about her. But unknown to Derek, Eileen is also meeting with potential new directors of the Marilyn musical, where she is spotted by New York Post columnist Michael Reidel. Derek fumes when he reads Reidel’s column, but agrees to stay on the project as long as Eileen “finds him a star.” Ellis ends up connecting Eileen with an unseen movie star named Rebecca Duvall.

After taking a mysterious prescription at her dressing room station, Ivy takes the Heaven on Earth stage under the influence, falling center stage and getting yelled at by Norbert Leo Butz to “get off the freaking stage.” 

In what is the official jumping the shark of Smash, Ivy Lynn storming out of the Shubert Theatre in costume, wig and mic into Times Square. When Karen, who just happens to there to drop off Ivy’s misplaced sunglasses, follows her out Ivy lashes out at her, Ivy yells “You’re nothing special. There are thousands of girls just like you, millions of girls just like you.”

Karen then follows Ivy into a liquor store, giving her $20 for a bottle of booze and drinking in public on their way into Duffy Square. They then sing an impromptu duet accompanied by a busker on an electronic keyboard, a drummer on five gallon buckets and two guitarists. Tom and Sam end up at an all-night diner until 5am, on what may or may not be a date. But on the bright side, the episode ends with a title for the new Marilyn musical: Bombshell.

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This is the first episode where there is zero music by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman, which makes sense since the workshop’s over. Instead, we have the original song “Touch Me” written by Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and Bonnie McKee, and two covers of Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” and Sly and the Family Stone’s “Dance to the Music.”

After the Bombshell workshop, everyone is asking if the musical is dead. Well, Ivy is at least - driving herself crazy on a stationary bicycle. In addition, Derek and Ivy are taking a bit of a break so her inside track on the progression of Bombshell is moot.

Derek meets with Karen to tell her that “they” are talking to a new songwriter, a new approach and a new song “and they need her to sing it.” The catch? Tom and Julia can not know. But they do know! Because assistant Ellis and producer Eileen are now BFFs and Ellis now seems to have a full time gig as a professional snoop.

Karen is concerned about aligning herself with Derek but agrees to meet him at a dockside in Queens. The dockside ends up being a Brooklyn warehouse where Ryan Tedder of One Republic is working on, which involves Karen singing “‘touch me’ to a bunch of dancers.”

Sam and the ensemblists of Bombshell *finally* get Ivy out of the gym by taking to Brooklyn Bowl. Bobby the soothsayer laments “they pay us nothing for those things and then as soon as it’s over no one calls and then we end up prowling around trying to figure out what’s going on. We did all that work for free, basically, and then we have no rights to even ask a question.” The result is what is perhaps the most realistic exchange of the television series thus far:

Jessica: “I hate the theatre.”

Bobby: “I hate the theatre.”

Ivy: “I love the theatre.”

Which turns into a bowling lane dance party, jumping off of the furniture, and grapevining down the bowling lane.

Ivy catches Ellis on one of his snooping missions, where he lets on the Karen and Derek are working together. She replies, “Oh if they’re going to replace me with a star that’s bad enough but Karen Cartwright is a nobody.” Bobby meets up with Karen under the guise of catching up since the workshop, but what he’s really doing over beers is getting the dirt on Karen’s secret project. 

The secret project ends up being a choreographed performance of “Touch Me” a Marilyn-inspired techno song staged on a rotating bed with satin sheets. Needless to say it doesn’t go over well with Tom and Julia, with both of them feeling betrayed by Derek and Eileen going behind their backs. But when the creative team finally comes together, Eileen tells them that the Marilyn musical now needs a star to move forward.

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Being the workshop presentation, we basically saw excerpts of all the original music from Bombshell by Shaiman and Whitman that we have seen thus far, but we also saw a new original song called “On Lexington and 52nd Street” in its entirety which closed out the presentation. We also saw a cover of Colbie Caillat’s “Brighter Than the Sun,” but the tour de force number we got to see was “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy.

Investors are coming in tomorrow to watch the workshop presentation of Bombshell. The flame is hot between Julia Houston and Michael Swift, canoodling in the hallways outside the rehearsal room.

Ivy Lynn arrives at rehearsal with her mother, Leigh Conroy, who just happens to be a veteran Broadway star in her own right. With only a day before the presentation, rehearsal pauses so that Ms. Conroy can wow the company of Bombshell with an impromptu rendition of “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.” Moments later, rehearsal pauses yet again when Michael Swift’s wife and son barge into rehearsal, causing Julia to storm out of rehearsal and leave rehearsal. Again: the day before the presentation.

With all of the personal drama combined with the rehearsal building seemingly crumbling under their feet, Derek Wells wonders if the project is cursed. But Eileen Rand promises him that Bombshell will be a hit “because Marilyn deserved it.”

Leigh Conroy won a Tony without drugs but it doesn’t look like Ivy Lynn will be able to claim the same accomplishment, taking sleeping pills the night before the presentation. She confides in Tom Hewitt that “her mother is doing everything she can to undermine her, and Karen Cartwright is being handed everything on a plate.” 

The workshop begins with Ivy singing to a swelling imaginary orchestra, but it’s Karen who see dreaming of performing the role of Marilyn. With highlights of the fantasy sequences we’ve seen from the TV series’ first six episodes, we watch both the workshop and the watching of the workshop. Everyone seems to be a bit off of their game, with Ivy falling in a lift, Karen falling off of a platform, and Michael Swift falling head over heels in love with Julia.

Amidst the drama, Karen Cartwright records a demo for Bobby Raskin across the street and wins over yet another potential critic with vocals. The next morning at 6am, she gets woken up by a call that Raskin wants to meet her but she skips it to perform in the workshop. The rest of the ensemble questions her decision but she says “she wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

After the workshop, Ivy confronts her mother by drawing a comparison between herself and Marilyn: both were sad and drug-addicted women whose mothers didn’t love them. Leigh tells her that she knows how difficult this business can be, and that even though wishes Ivy would be something else with her life, her day will come because she truly is talented. The team also contemplates the future of Bombshell - and whether Ivy Lynn or Michael Swift will be a part of that future at all...

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The featured songs in this episode included two covers — Shake it Out by Florence & The Machine and Who You Are by Jessie J — and one original song by Shaiman and Whitman called “History is Made at Night.” Oh yeah, and Karen massacres “Hava Nagila,” if we wanna count that.

Changes to the script and score are being made during the workshop of Bombshell, with scenes and songs being moved. Our director Derek Wills isn’t happy with the state of the script, but he’s less happy with his leading lady losing her voice. Ivy Lynn’s voice is inflamed but not infected. While she’s on vocal rest, Bombshell’s creative team begins to contemplate asking Karen Cartwright to take on the part of the workshop’s presentations. 

When Derek informs Ivy about this possibility, she takes her first dose of prednisone to help her ailing voice. However, she finds that it gives her night sweats and headaches. Even though she’s “not in good shape,” she still attends rehearsal to prevent Karen from getting a chance at the part. This makes her even more unwell, with side effects including the strangest musical sequence on the series to date. 

Karen is daunted by the task of learning the role of Marilyn in a week, but yet she feels like “she can do this!” That confidence is bolstered when she crushes it as the entertainment at the Northport Bar Mitzvah, catching the eye of someone named Bobby Raskin.

Our lyricist Julia Houston can’t concentrate on making any edits to the show though because she’s too distracted by her recent smoochfest with her leading man, Michael Swift. But in the process of begging him not to flirt with her, she ends up topless with him in a rehearsal room. Composer Tom Levitt is still trying to decide whether the boring but capable lawyer he’s dating is enough for him. 

Eileen Rand is still on the hunt for $7 million in capital, but the workshop is being attended by “Nathan Lane AND the Nederlanders.” But the buzz is good enough for her to lease an apartment on the 87th floor in the Lower East Side that costs $10,000 a month AND buy Ellis multiple $7 martinis. 

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As performers in the Bombshell workshop are warming up for the start of a rehearsal day, Derek uses Karen to work on a new sequence for the bridge sequence. Ivy walks in and clearly startled asks “am I late?”

Eileen is anxious about the script developments, interrupting Tom in a date with a handsome lawyer who he’s just not that into. But it’s really Julia who is stalling over dinner at Westway Diner with Michael Swift.  

Eileen uses sneaky Ellis to spy on Julia’s progress. Derek is pissed about everything going well, even pitting Ivy against Karen by asking Cartwright to perform a tricky vocal passage in front of a full company rehearsal. 

In their private rehearsal, Karen graciously apologizes for the awkward situation, which Ivy labels “taking singing lessons from a chorus girl.” Ivy has a lot on her plate but she’s handling it, which she shows both the audience in the rehearsal room and watching on TV with a fully-staged fantasy version of “Let’s Be Bad.”

After the rehearsal, Sam confines in Ivy that “This company has too many drama queens as it is.” We find out Sam is gay, even though he likes sports (!) 

Afterwards, drunk Ivy confronts Derek at his apartment about why he can’t support her more. Derek tells her he wishes that people “didn’t have those annoying feelings,” to which Ivy yells back “THEATRE IS ABOUT FEELINGS!” Derek the Nightmare gives her a pseudo-apology, which is more than enough for Ivy to spend the night! 

Also, Julia’s son gets arrested because she’s out with Michael Swift, who woos her with a front stoop serenade. And Karen learns how to be sexy to help her boyfriend Dev get a leg up in the running for the mayor’s new press secretary.

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There was a lot of music in this episode: Two original songs (History is Made at Night and I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl), two snippets of original songs (20th Century Fox Mambo from last ep, and preview of Let’s Be Bad from the next episode), and two covers (Buble’s Haven't Met you Yet and Adele’s Rumor Has It). 

The workshop of Bombshell has begun! Michael Swift is in, Julia is avoiding Ellis, and all seems right in the world. We also meet two icons of the Smash Universe. Linda, America's Favorite Stage Manager, played by Ann Harada, and Bobby, the snarky chorus boy everyone loves to loves, played by Wes Taylor. 

Ivy enters the rehearsal room to riot, if somewhat random applause from her castmates and Derek gives us the rundown: the workshop is primarily for the ensemble, only some numbers will be staged, some costumes but “basically it’s up to you to sell it.”

However, Eileen Rand doesn’t have the $200,000 she needs to finance this workshop. Turns out her soon-to-be-ex-husband Jerry is keeping her from accessing all but $8,000. So she tries to sell a prized Degas sketch hanging in her office to make it happen, but even that it is Jerry’s name. 

Karen keeps getting cut from numbers, thanks to sly comments from Ivy. She confides in Jessica, who along with Sue and Bobby, take shipping for LaDuca, new dance clothes and an “intervention.” Which is Chinese food, Marie Kando-ing her closet and performing a dance from routine from their snap and booty shake “dance class.” 

Everyone ends up at a party for Lyle West at Derek’s house, which of course has a casual grand piano, a drum set and a saxophonist. Eileen has brought the Degas with her which she offers in exchange for points - IF the show is any good. So there’s an impromptu performance of Bombshell which is enough for Lyle to chip in the $200k.

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It’s only three weeks until rehearsals begin for the workshop of the new Broadway-bound musical Bombshell. However, other than a great idea (that may or may not have been stolen from composer Tom Hewitt’s assistant Ellis) the writing team only have eight songs and half a book ready to go. 

Up and upcoming ensemblist Ivy Lynn wonders if the only reason Derek gave her the part for the workshop is because she slept with them. He doesn’t seem to give her any reason to think otherwise, spending his energy on courting Karen for a role in the ensemble. 

Meanwhile, the creative team hunts for the rest of the workshop’s cast. They think they’ve found their leading man Joe DiMaggio in Michael Swift, played by Will Chase. Since he is offer only, Eileen and Derek scout him out at an off- off- Broadway Show. But it turns out Michael Swift has a past with our lyricist Julia Houston - they had an affair five years ago! 

Karen’s parents are worried about her (still) but she stands up to them, saying “being in the chorus of a workshop is so much bigger than many people get to do.”

Dennis tells Tom that Derek and Ivy are dating. Julia confides in Tom about her affair, which Ellis overhears. But Ellis is making his own mistakes, stealing Julia’s notebook of ideas for Bombshell as well as sleeping with his friend/roommate/girlfriend Condola Rashad.

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The episode begins with the Bombshell creative team mulling over they are #TeamIvy or #TeamKaren. Tom and Julia are playing with the show’s structure, moving songs around, as director Derek takes Karen and Ivy through dance auditions. Tom tells Ivy “I would have just given it to you.”

Karen stays late for a work session, missing an important business dinner of her boyfriend, Dev. Ivy takes the challenge of competition for the role head on, reading biographies, watching movies, practicing Marilyn’s lip placement and eventually having sex with the director.

In the final auditions, Karen performs a full staging “20th Century Fox Mambo” surrounded by ensemblists.. Derek justifies it by telling Eileen, Tom and Julia “Oh guys? The song was so good that we just went ahead and staged the whole thing.” 

Karen is green, but she’s certainly trained. Ivy was completely spontaneous and sexy. Ivy comes out on top, as the orchestra swells, she cries. But Eileen and Derek agree to keep their eye on Karen Cartwright.

Also, Dev works at City Hall and Julia pursues adopting a baby from China that her son Leo does but her husband Frank doesn’t. But nobody does.

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We fade in on a girl with a hunger for fame and a face and a name to remember. That face is Katharine McPhee and that name is Karen Cartwright. She’s singing “Somewhere Over The Rainbow” in an audition.

A team of writers Tom Levitt and Julia Houston are tipped off to a subject for a new musical by their assistant Ellis. Ellis says “I think (Marilyn Monroe) would make a good musical.” Julia is intrigued by Marilyn as a subject, saying “There’s just something about (Marilyn). How much she loved and wanted to be loved.” So the team gets to work on a demo, bringing in Ivy Smith to record the song.

Ivy is currently an ensemblist in Tom Levitt’s Broadway production Heaven on Earth, but she confides to him that “You know I love the show. I love you.” Tom: “The ensemble not so much.” Ivy: “I just want a part.”

After THREE commercial breaks, we meet Anjelica Houston as Eileen Rand, who wants the project and wants to connect them with a hot-tempered director Derek Wills. They all agree to set aside their differences, in part due to a specularly staged number on spec called “The National Pastime.” 

Karen turns a remarkable audition for Marilyn, singing Smash’s first pop cover: “Beautiful” by Christina Aguleria. Derek is intrigued enough to invite Karen over to his apartment under the pretence of a private coaching session. She keeps Derek at arm’s length , and the episode ends with both Karen and Ivy vying to “Let Me Be Your Star.”

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