Smash Reviews
The New York Times- Highly Recommended
"..."Smash," which opened on Thursday at the Imperial Theater, is more of a who'll-do-it, and when the big song comes, it's a killer. But the effect is the same: It's the great musical comedy no one saw coming."
New York Post- Not Recommended
"...It's hard to judge whose decisions are more misguided: those of the back-stabbing, wacky creators of "Bombshell," the fictional musical comedy about Marilyn Monroe we see implode, or the very real minds (Robert Greenblatt, Steven Spielberg, Susan Stroman) behind the disaster that is "Smash.""
Chicago Tribune- Not Recommended
"...That quality of surprise, crucial to the best episodes of the TV show, is missing from the new live musical staging, which opened Thursday night at the Imperial Theatre and, especially given the level of talent involved here, will be deeply disappointing even for die-hard fans of the source material."
New York City Theater- Somewhat Recommended
"..."Smash" the musical has opened tonight on Broadway, with the same premise as the TV series - a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Bombshell," a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe - and almost two dozen of the same familiar, tuneful musical numbers from the series: Same songwriting team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and, critically, much the same staging by Emmy-winning choreographer Joshua Bergasse - ably aided by the design team."
StageZine- Recommended
"...The NBC TV series "Smash" aired for two seasons in 2012 and 2013. Now, the Tony Award-winning team of book writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice, composer Marc Shaiman, lyricist Scott Wittman and director Susan Stroman have adapted the TV series into a splashy, fun, flawed yet sublime Broadway musical, Smash."
The Observer- Recommended
"...The writers deserve special praise for the clever and consistent use of diegesis. (Theater kids, pardon while I explain.) Surprisingly not a skin condition, diegesis is when music happens in a scene within the reality of the scene, not imposed as a formal break. Character switches on the radio and pop tune plays: that's diegetic music."