Minicap: Smash

Last night’s episode revolved around the workshop being performed for a live audience in the hopes of drumming up enough financial support to actually take it to Broadway. Things did not go as well as hoped however, partly because the boiler in the rehearsal building was broken, making the studio beyond uncomfortably hot, and partly because… well, frankly, because Marilyn: the Musical kind of sucks. Our intrepid band of musical theater enthusiasts refuse to go down without a fight, however, and the show will go on. As far as specific characters are concerned, here are the highlights:

Katren: follows up on the head-hunting from her Bar Mitzvah performance and has to choose between a meeting with the man who could make her an overnight recorded artist pop music sensation and the Marilyn workshop. She chooses the workshop.

Ivy: Appears to be over her vocal issues, thanks to the prednisone, but remains emotionally volatile and insecure. This is in no way helped by the presence of her mother (Very Special Guest Star Bernadette Peters) who was a Broadway star in her own right years ago and constantly rubs Ivy’s face in her own former success. It isn’t the origin story I was expecting for Ivy, but it certainly does explain an awful lot about why Ivy is the way she is. Ivy also flubs several dance steps throughout the public workshop; I think we’re supposed to attribute those to nerves, but I’m wondering if it’s a side effect of her medication, especially now that she’s taking sleeping pills as well as prednisone.

Not-Grace: Is still seeing Michael, but after his family turns up unexpectedly at a rehearsal, she gets hit with a big ol’ case of the guilties, which is compounded when she realizes that somehow Leo knows about what is going on between her and Michael. She tells Michael that they are over, leading to some off-book but pretty good dialogue between the characters of Joe and Marilyn.

Not-Will: Finds out about Michael and Not-Grace, blames the disastrous results of the public workshop on Michael’s performance, and talks everyone into firing Michael. He is also still seeing the stuffy lawyer, but when he finds out that Super-Straight-Seeming-Sam is actually gay, the seeds of a crush begin to sprout. To which I say: Yay!

Ellis the Hot Assistant: Spies on Michael and Not-Grace making out, rats them out to Eileenica, and then helps Eileenica find a plumber who can fix the boiler in the rehearsal building.

Eileenica: Has the hots for the bartender at the dive bar that she and Ellis hang out at, but whether she really likes him or his $7 martinis is unclear at this point.

Derek: Makes up with Ivy, then commits what is apparently a huge directorial no-no when he tells her to get her act together during intermission at the workshop.

I am still getting caught up on my Smash recaps, but the full ‘cap is coming, honest!

Songs: Colbie Caillat’s “Brighter Than the Sun” (Katren, in the recording studio); “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Bernadette Peters, at a rehearsal); medly of songs from Marilyn (Ivy, in the workshop, and Katren, in her own imagination); Smash original “On Lexington and 52nd Street” (Michael, in the workshop).