Smash Musical Bombshell Set for Live Stage Show

UNIVERSAL CITY: Universal Stage Productions is developing the Marilyn Monroe-inspired musical Bombshell, born from the NBC series Smash, as a live theater show.

Earlier this month, the Actors Fund hosted a benefit that featured the music of Bombshell. Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, who served as executive producers of the series Smash and also produced the Actors Fund Bombshell concert, will be lead producers on the new stage show. Steven Spielberg, who was executive producer on Smash as well, will be involved in the stage production of Bombshell. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, also executive producers of the series, will continue on Bombshell, with Shaiman serving as composer and co-lyricist and Wittman as co-lyricist.

“There is a still a lot of love for Smash and a rabid fan base out there, and we’re thrilled to be able to keep the dream alive as we work towards bringing Bombshell to theater audiences,” said Robert Greenblatt, the chairman of NBC Entertainment. “Smash was ambitious because every episode was a complicated musical for television and we also built the foundation of the musical-within-the-musical about Marilyn’s endlessly fascinating and tumultuous life. Over the course of two seasons an entire ‘Bombshell’ score was written to service Smash story lines, and now that show will have a chance to stand on its own.”

“We are so thrilled that Smash isn’t over and that Bombshell gets to live on,” said Zadan. “The Emmy-nominated songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, including the iconic ‘Let Me Be Your Star,’ are every bit the caliber of their Tony- and Grammy-winning Broadway work. The Actors Fund benefit reinforced how alive this material is on stage and how much the audience wants to see the Marilyn Monroe musical in its entirety.”

Added Meron: “As life imitates art, Joshua Bergasse, our brilliant Emmy-winning choreographer from Smash, actually made his Broadway debut this season as a choreographer and was nominated for a Tony Award. Now he will get the chance to reimagine his exhilarating Bombshell dances for the theater.”

“Whether watching the Smash cast at the benefit at the Minskoff Theatre or hearing teenagers across the world on YouTube, it’s been thrilling for us to hear our songs so embraced and performed so phenomenally,” said Shaiman and Wittman. “We can’t wait to see what happens next.”