Another Opening....Another Show!

A little over a year ago I won free lottery tickets to see a workshop of SMASH, which the producers were trying to fine tune before sending to Broadway for the 2025 theater season.

We loved it! I loved being in the know -- only a select number of people won tickets, the rest were industry people who know people. After the show we were handed iPad sized gadgets to answer some questions. Instead of watching the show and saying "I love it -- it was better than Cats!" I had to think about what I loved, and also what I didn't love.

It also made me super excited when I received a message that tickets were available. Without asking Don, I ordered two tickets for opening night of previews -- meaning we were in the first audience to see the show.

Waiting to enter the theater people were filming the lines to get reactions. Very meta considering the plot (which strays from the cult TV show from the early 2000s).

 

Inside we saw a Bombshell poster on each seat. Bombshell is the name of the show within the show the actors are building in front of our eyes. A larger version of the poster appears in the show. The poster is available for $20 from their merchandise website. It has been described as the most meta opening gift ever seen.

As the show was about to start, the stage manager came out and welcomed us. She warned they have not had a clean run through yet, meaning there is a chance they will stop the show to redo things (they did not), and that they have not yet rehearsed the intermission so anticipate it will be long enough to get two, three, or even four drinks (it was 30 minutes long).

As I wrote, this comedy about a musical is showing what goes into creating a musical. Every time they referenced the opening night audience, we went wild. We felt part of the show.

There was a standing ovation after what I thought was the last song before intermission, but was just a belting number, I think it was "Don't Forget Me." It was an hour after we started and I was ready for a break. The crowd in the lobby, though, convinced me to stay near my seat. Seems most everyone else wanted to buy a souvenir that night. Speaking of souvenirs, this was the first time we went to a show that there was not a lick of trash in the audience at the end of the night -- every playbill, poster, souvenir cup, and candy wrapper was meticulously scooped up at the end of the show.

The 2.5 hour show (with intermission) was 3 hours with the extra applause and extra long intermission. Don and I realized we only had an hour to get back to our car before our parking time expired! Fortunately we used a 24/7 lot in Jersey City, but we still had to walk from the theater to the 33rd Street PATH station, which we arrived at just as a train was leaving. Fortunately they were running about every 15 minutes. Though late, our car did not turn into a pumpkin.

Having been for opening night of previews, I suspect we'll do this again. The air was electric. The audience was engaged before the first drop of the baton. No cell phones went off. No whispering. No one got up mid show. They were all thrilled to be in the room where it was happening.

The reviews have been mixed. I can only think of one friend I would honestly recommend this to (Chris, a Broadway buff) because there are too many inside jokes. I know a lot about Broadway, and some went over my head. You stop feeling like an insider when jokes miss you.

An understudy went on, Chelle Denton, with four hours notice. She was quite impressive! Understudies don't have much rehearsal time until after they are out of previews. When I heard the announcement, I fully expected her on stage with a script. She had her lines memorized and added inflection and joking and really rocked it. Even the guys a few rows behind me were impressed by her going on opening night as an understudy. This was her Broadway debut.

I'd love to dish with someone who saw both the workshop and the full production. It mostly seemed the same to me -- including the warts I hoped they would iron out before charging people upwards of $54 a ticket.