The Great White Way

OK, is everyone sitting down? I have something very important to say. I like the new TV show Smash. I don't watch Glee but this show has me hooked. The musical drama about the musical theater is very good. The cast includes Broadway veteran Megan Hilty (9 to 5, Wicked ), along with Academy Award winner Angelica Houston ( Prizzi's Honor ), Emmy Award winner Debra Messing ( Will & Grace ), American Idol season five runner up, Katherine McPhee, Christian Borle and Jack Davenport.
Hilty and McPhee play the two actresses vying for the lead role in a new musical based on Marilyn Monroe. Messing and Borle are the writers, Houston is the money behind the production, so all that is left is the shows director. Jack Davenport fills that role spectacularly. Davenport has been in the Pirates of the Caribbean films with Johnny Depp. I first saw him in the BBC sitcom Coupling (the British version of Friends ) a few years ago and he was great. In Smash, he is outstanding. He portrays a bit of a slimy type trying to bed both of the young actresses before they are cast in their roles, (what did Mel Brooks say in History of the World, "it's good to be the King"). The show is on Monday nights on NBC and you should try to catch it as soon as you can before the storyline goes too far.
Now I have been a fan of musical theater for a long time. I wish I had been part of those great shows that Guilderland High School put on when I was there but I did get to see both Mike and Jack on stage at Saratoga High School, in five or six different shows. I saw my first Broadway show a long time ago, it was A Chorus Line, and it was fantastic. After that I saw Evita during the first year with Patty LuPone (Life Goes On ) and Mandy Patinkin (Criminal Minds ). I also got to see Kevin Kline before he was a movie star with Angela Landsbury (Murder She Wrote ) and Linda Ronstadt in The Pirates of Penzance. There is something special about seeing live actors on stage instead of a film. You have to use your own imagination a little more, but the outcome is some much better. So laugh if you want but don't call me after ten on Monday nights