More than a decade after it debuted on NBC, Smash has finally arrived on Broadway. Fans of the ill-fated television series that ran for two seasons may not recognize the plot of this new musical mounting, though. Gone is the central conceit of two actresses (played by Megan Hilty and Katherine McPhee) competing for the role of Marilyn Monroe in the musical Bombshell, though many of the songs written for the show are staged in the Broadway production. In its place is a lead actress (Robyn Hurder) who causes chaos when she decides to attempt Method acting to better inhabit the iconic movie star.

Smash opened on April 10 at the Imperial Theatre under the direction of The Producers legend Susan Stroman. It features those aforementioned original songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, book by Rick Elice and Bob Martin and stars a who's-who of Broadway stalwarts, including Brooks Ashmanskas as Bombshell's director,...