But the other “Smash’’? The one that tries to capture the qualities that make theater special and explain why so many talented people devote their lives to it in the face of long odds and short money? The one that sheds some light on the inner workings of a weirdly compelling industry - the business of show - and on the creative process and quirky personalities at the heart of it all?
Ah, now we’re talking. That “Smash’’ deserves a callback.
So which “Smash’’ will prevail? A lot depends on series creator and executive producer Theresa Rebeck, a highly regarded playwright who wrote the first three episodes. (They were directed by Michael Mayer, who won a Tony Award for “Spring Awakening’’ and helmed the scorching Broadway production of “American Idiot’’ that came to Boston a couple of weeks ago.)
If Rebeck can resist pressure from ratings-starved NBC and try to keep “Smash’’ authentically rooted (or as authentic as network television can get) in the idiosyncratic particulars of musical theater, the show may deliver on its promise.
It provides a juicy showcase for the one and only Anjelica Huston (as an imposing but financially beleaguered producer) and gives the appealing Debra Messing a welcome return ticket to prime time, as a songwriter drawn back to Broadway while enmeshed in the struggle to adopt a baby.
Yet there are unsettling signals that “Smash’’ is not immune to the temptation to drift into predictable, generic, who-slept-with-whom story lines, or, like the aforementioned “Glee,’’ to use dialogue as not much more than a bridge to the next snappy production number.
Originally the brainchild of Steven Spielberg (who is an executive producer), “Smash’’ revolves around the attempt to create a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe - and to find the right performer to play her.
