Smash is set to premiere Monday night, and while it may mean the death of camp, it’s also the life of speculation about which real-life analogues match up with the characters on the show. We have a few guesses!
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Anjelica Huston plays the role of Daryl Roth
The queen of Broadway producing is the queen of Broadway producing is the queen of Broadway producing.
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Megan Hilty plays the role of Sutton Foster
Potentially plucked from the chorus line to play the lead in a franchise-y musical, Ms. Hilty’s character is reminiscent of the lady taken from years of understudying to a Tony-winning role.
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Katharine McPhee plays the role of youtube.com
Honestly, the fact that this actress--a waitress discovered out of nowhere--is never shot recording her own dimly-lit, bedroom-set YouTube cover of “On My Own” in an attempt to get famous is a failure of imagination.
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Jack Davenport plays the role of Bob Fosse
So weird that a heterosexual male director would be a total nightmare to work with, and all that jazz!
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Michael Riedel plays the role of Michael Riedel
Michael Riedel, referenced heavily in the pilot as the bête noire of the show’s writers, is to play himself in a future episode of the show. Meta!
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"Marilyn: The Musical" plays the role of "Marilyn: An American Fable"
Frank Rich wrote of this show, which included 16 producers and 10 songwriters, “if you mistakenly look up from the Playbill to watch the show itself, you may wonder whether those 26 persons were ever in the same rehearsal room - or even the same city - at the same time.” Songwriting-by-committee was the order of the day on Broadway when Marilyn came alive, rather than the auteurist fantasy of “Smash.” The lead actress, Mr. Rich said, “mimics Monroe's voice effectively - until she takes to delivering her Act II songs in a standard Broadway belt.” This is a legitimate hazard for “Smash,” too—given the songs we’ve heard in the premiere, the Broadway voice may overtake Marilyn’s!
