The NBC musical-drama show Smash ended about seven years ago in May 2013 after two seasons. Over the years, the series has developed a bit of a cult following. Fans just aren’t ready to let it go. Playbill already did a Smash rewatch and live-tweet every night for the first month of this quarantine and now People in collaboration with The Actor’s Fund gave the people what they wanted (no, not season 3), more Smash content. This time it was a livestream of the one-night-only Bombshell concert that was recorded back in June 2015.

The cast performed songs from Bombshell, the fictional musical in the show about Marilyn Monroe, including everyone’s favourite, “Let Me Be Your Star”, “Twentieth Century Fox Mambo”, “The National Pastime” and “Let’s Be Bad.” And like any good musical, they also included songs that just make you cry like “Secondhand White Baby Grand” and the grand finale “Don’t Forget Me.” The cast sang songs that their characters wouldn’t necessarily sing but it gave everyone a chance to participate. Jeremy Jordan, who played Jimmy Collins in season 2, had nothing to do with Bombshell in the show but still sang “Cut, Print…Moving On” and Ann Harada, who played the stage manager Linda, gave a truly iconic performance of “I‘ve Never Met a Wolf Who Didn’t Love to Howl.” And who sang Marilyn’s songs? Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee, who played Ivy Lynn and Karen Cartwright respectively, the two who battled it out for the role of Marilyn, took turns. In the end, both Ivy and Karen got to be Marilyn. Hilty and McPhee dazzled and awed the audience with their impressive vocals and stunning gowns. Since there was no official book, between songs, cast members read real stories from Marilyn Monroe herself to connect the songs and add some context.

At intermission of the show, the cast of Smash reunited live on Zoom for a conversation moderated by Difficult People’s Julie Klausner. Cast members in attendance included Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Jack Davenport, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, Krysta Rodriguez, Leslie Odom Jr., Will Chase, Ann Harada, Wesley Taylor, Brian d’Arcy James, Raza Jaffrey, and Jamie Cepero. The cast spoke very lovingly about their time on the show. They also revealed some of what went on behind the scenes during the candid conversation. 

• McPhee recalled the original script had a lot more nudity and it was being developed during Bob Greenblatt’s time at Showtime. Imagine Smash as a Showtime show. Messing added that the show got watered down when it was picked up by NBC.
• Jack Davenport, who played Derek Wills who is a director and choreographer, can’t choreograph or dance or sing. There was only one scene where Derek was demonstrating dancing and that was enough. From then on Derek choreographed from behind the table, shouting and scowling. Rodriguez said she has worked with choreographers like that before.
• Megan Hilty told us about her many botched dance auditions. She said she is a “singer who moves well.”
• Jordan admitted that the hate-viewing aspect of the show was hard to deal with, especially since they were ultimately trying to do something positive.
• Christian Borle said that Leslie Odom Jr. is a great kisser, to which Leslie replied: “I had to bring something to the table so I brought my ability to kiss.”
• Brian d’Arcy James said he wishes he got the chance to sing (his character doesn’t sing on the show) because everyone else did
• Will Chase told a story about how he told Leslie to take the part in a TV pilot instead of this tiny little show called Hamilton. He told Leslie six months off (between Hamilton at the Public Theatre and Hamilton on Broadway) with no money would be the biggest mistake of his life. Oh but little did they know what was coming.
• McPhee and Hilty admitted it was hard to be mean to one another on the show when they genuinely really liked each other off-screen

It was a fun night and cool to hear about all the stuff that went on behind the scenes of a show that fans love so much. The only thing fans want now, other than season 3, is Bombshell on a Broadway stage in real life.