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[0:00] Aaron Albano: You're listening to Smashed from The Ensemblist, the only podcast that shows you Broadway from the inside out. I'm Aaron Albano. And I'm Mo Brady.

[0:27] Mo Brady: Welcome back, listeners, to our tongue-in-cheek recap of what is still the Broadway community's favorite TV show, Smash. Yes, we are talking about the NBC series that aired from 2012 to 2013.

[0:39] Aaron Albano: Smash was also an incredible glimpse into the theater community in the early 2010s, as many of the show's characters were played by real Broadway performers with real Broadway cred.

[0:49] Mo Brady: But we decided to go back in time to see how the show has weathered what it got right and what it got very, very wrong. So let's dive in and talk about Season 1, Episode 4, The Cost of Art. Aaron, give us the stats.

[1:00] Aaron Albano: I would be delighted to, Mo. The Cost of Art premiered on February 27, 2012, and was the first episode in the series not written and directed by show creator Teresa Rebeck and Michael Mayer. The episode was written by David Marshall Grant and directed by Michael Morris. At premiere, the episode was viewed live by 6.6 million, but including DVR recording, was viewed by a total of 9.05 million viewers.

[1:26] Mo Brady: There was a lot of music in this episode. Two original songs, History is Made at Night, and I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl. Two snippets of original songs, the 20th Century Fox mambo from last episode, and a preview of Let's Be Bad from the next episode. And two covers, Bublé's I Haven't Met You Yet, and Adele's Rumor Has It.

[1:47] Aaron Albano: And what happened in this episode, Mo?

[1:49] Mo Brady: The workshop of Bombshell has begun. Michael Swift is in, Julia is avoiding Ellis, and all seems right in the world. We also meet two icons of the Smash universe, Linda, America's favorite stage manager, played by Ann Harada, and Bobby, the snarky chorus boy everyone loves to love, played by Wes Taylor. Ivy enters the rehearsal room to riotous, if somewhat random applause, from her castmates, and Derek gives us the rundown. The workshop is primarily for the ensemble, only some numbers will be staged, some costumes, but basically it's up to you to sell it.

[2:22] Mo Brady: However, Eileen Rand, our producer, doesn't have the $200,000 she needs to finance this workshop. Turns out, her soon-to-be ex-husband Jerry is keeping her from accessing all but $8,000, so she tries to sell a prized Degas sketch hanging in her office to make it happen. But even that is in Jerry's name. How dare Jerry.

[2:43] Aaron Albano: Karen keeps getting cut from numbers, thanks to sly comments from Ivy. Karen confides in Jessica, who, along with Sue and Bobby, take her shopping for LaDuca's new dance clothes and for an intervention, which is Chinese food, Marie Kondo-ing her closet and performing a dance routine from their snap-and-booty-shake "dance class."

[3:04] Mo Brady: Everyone else ends up at a party for movie star Lyle West at Derek's house, which of course has a casual grand piano, a drum set, and a saxophonist. Eileen has brought the Degas with her, which she offers in exchange for points, if the show is good. So there's an impromptu performance of Bombshell, which is enough for Lyle to chip in the $200,000. I will say, that was the slickest, like, producer negotiation I have ever seen.

[3:31] Aaron Albano: Well, she is Anjelica Huston.

[3:32] Mo Brady: Yes, she is.

[3:33] Aaron Albano: This wolf looks like he's ready to dine. Tell me, where can I sign on the dotted line?

[3:35] Mo Brady: Yeah, I've never met a wolf who didn't lie.

[3:39] Aaron Albano: Oh, yeah. Favorite performance by an ensemble member.

[3:51] Mo Brady: Okay, this was difficult because I was so mad at the ensemble this entire episode.

[3:56] Aaron Albano: Tell us all about it.

[3:57] Mo Brady: Oh, my gosh. Why were they so mean?

[3:59] Aaron Albano: They were so mean.

[4:01] Mo Brady: Because we're mean people. We all hate our jobs. Actually though, I was so mad. Some, literally they walk in, just the coldest shoulder to Karen, because for no reason, for no reason.

[4:14] Aaron Albano: And especially Ivy.

[4:15] Mo Brady: No, because they are Team Ivy. Because how dare she almost get the job? Like come on. And I was like, guys, she won. Ivy won. And when every time, first off, I wrote, for someone who has 10 years experience in the ensemble, Ivy is a garbage professional being thrown off by literally everything. Like everything. I was like, you can tell it's more tactics than like her actually getting thrown off, which makes her even uglier, because you won. Calm down. So insecure. And so it was so infuriating.

[4:48] Aaron Albano: All right, you didn't answer my question.

[4:50] Mo Brady: Oh, go.

[4:51] Aaron Albano: Favorite performance.

[4:52] Mo Brady: Yeah, I just started going. Shoot. Sorry. Favorite moment by an ensemblist, maybe not even in an ensemble number, is when Savannah is getting read by Karen.

[5:00] Aaron Albano: Oh, yeah.

[5:03] Mo Brady: She's getting so read by Karen and she's just like gobsmacked because everything Karen says is right.

[5:09] Aaron Albano: Well, it changes the trajectory of Karen's experience.

[5:14] Mo Brady: And Jessica's.

[5:15] Aaron Albano: And our important Jessica.

[5:17] Mo Brady: Jessica. Oh, and also when they're in rehearsal and Ivy pulls her shenanigans, even Wes doesn't approve because there's one moment, oh, he points out, he's like, when they, when Ivy yells at the chorus, quote unquote, he's like the ensemble because he's had it already. And it's been, what, two minutes into rehearsal?

[5:39] Aaron Albano: Go.

[5:40] Mo Brady: This episode feels like we are hitting peak Smash. Like we like we're seeing the rivalries, we're seeing the energy that we're going to start seeing throughout this season. And part of that is really because of characters like Wes.

[5:53] Aaron Albano: I am a Wes Taylor stan, me and the SpongeBob fans. Like it's me.

[5:57] Mo Brady: I just think he's fantastic.

[6:00] Aaron Albano: He's great. He is like fully invested in this like negative over it energy.

[6:06] Mo Brady: Oh, for sure.

[6:07] Aaron Albano: And takes what's on this page and just runs and runs and runs and runs and runs. And you can see that there's very little on the page and that he's just making moments.

[6:16] Mo Brady: Oh, absolutely. And I think that's why Wes to me feels like such a presence in this episode. It's not because he has a bunch of lines. It's because he has a point of view and dives in.

[6:28] Aaron Albano: Oh, completely.

[6:29] Mo Brady: Which a good ensemble member does, which is ironic because the whole point of this episode is to, quote unquote, teach Karen how to be an ensemble member by pulling back, not trying as hard as you can, but just like falling in line and silencing yourself.

[6:47] Aaron Albano: They illustrate that, quote unquote, illustrate that.

[6:49] Mo Brady: We're going to get to that dance. We're going to get to that dance. I want to give another shout out for best ensemble performance to Leslie Odom Jr., who is also like being a real person that that's a really good actor like you that you just got a really good actor to say a few lines on camera and he just looks like a real human person in a real human situation.

[7:10] Aaron Albano: Absolutely.

[7:11] Mo Brady: Versus they're both doing great work. But Wes is like leaning into the melodrama of Smash.

[7:17] Aaron Albano: Sure.

[7:18] Mo Brady: Whereas Leslie's like, oh, that's exactly how a person would say those words when someone else said words to him.

[7:22] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[7:23] Mo Brady: Yeah. I'd buy that.

[7:26] Aaron Albano: Exactly.

[7:27] Mo Brady: Exactly. Things that scream 2012. Here's a question about things that do or do not scream 2012.

[7:32] Aaron Albano: Huh?

[7:33] Mo Brady: Derek uses feminine pronouns to describe Tom.

[7:35] Aaron Albano: Oh.

[7:36] Mo Brady: Is that something that like straight identifying people in the theater community did in 2012? Because now I feel like now I feel like being like, oh, she's just hungry or like that's just something I might say to someone.

[7:49] Aaron Albano: Yeah. I mean, that's definitely I mean, we're getting into a very different deep conversation.

[7:52] Mo Brady: About a male identifying person.

[7:54] Aaron Albano: Yeah. Like that's a really interesting, if not appropriate for a straight man to clock a homosexual man. And especially someone they do not they clearly do not have a good relationship.

[8:07] Mo Brady: Right. What's interesting is that because as we start to see in future episodes, maybe that was a term of endearment that got carried over and now is used against him. I don't know.

[8:15] Aaron Albano: No, I thought it was weird.

[8:17] Mo Brady: It was.

[8:18] Aaron Albano: What does it mean that I didn't even clock it?

[8:20] Mo Brady: I don't know. But that. Yeah. I don't think that's that's that's 2012. That might even be not 2012, maybe 2015.

[8:28] Aaron Albano: The other big R.I.P. for me was Twink Nick Jonas.

[8:32] Mo Brady: My God, I wrote pre-body Nick Jonas.

[8:34] Aaron Albano: I wrote pre-daddy Nick Jonas.

[8:36] Mo Brady: Yeah. That was straight up 2012 where like we didn't use because that was what? How to Succeed in Business, Nick Jonas.

[8:43] Aaron Albano: Yeah. That was How to Succeed with 2011.

[8:46] Mo Brady: So yeah. So that would have been. Yeah. It was. How to apply for a job. Nick Jonas.

[8:51] Aaron Albano: Yeah. It was Brotherhood of Man.

[8:55] Mo Brady: So the other big R.I.P. for me was that Sam is reading a Sports Illustrated magazine. First of all, a magazine, a magazine that was really the thing. And then the amount of heavy handedness in which they are telling us that Sam likes sports.

[9:09] Aaron Albano: Oh, yeah.

[9:10] Mo Brady: It's so insane. So it's a big reveal that, oh, spoiler alert, he's gay. Like, can't be gay. No one could have seen it because he likes sports. Just these stereotypes. There's 2012.

[9:22] Aaron Albano: All right. Let's do some Obama fact checks. You ready?

[9:25] Mo Brady: Oh, gosh. I love that you call these Obama fact checks.

[9:31] Mo Brady: Tom and Ivy have lunch in Times Square. So let's assume that they're rehearsing New 42, Open Jar, even Pearl Studios, and they go take their lunch break at those red metal tables.

[9:43] Mo Brady: In Duffy Square. Have you ever eaten lunch in Times Square?

[9:50] Aaron Albano: Absolutely not.

[9:50] Mo Brady: No, and why not?

[9:52] Aaron Albano: A. Too many tourists. B. It's gross. See, there's so many just fake Elmos trying to take your picture.

[10:01] Mo Brady: And this was, I don't think people who don't come into Times Square as often as we do realize, but this was the time where there were a lot of Elmos.

[10:10] Aaron Albano: Oh yeah?

[10:11] Mo Brady: There's actually fewer of them now that, you know, they're cordoned off to certain areas of Times Square, and there's just actually been less. Like think about the time when you would see like four Olafs and now you only see one.

[10:21] Aaron Albano: Okay, fair.

[10:22] Mo Brady: Right? It's, it's actually better. And this is like kind of peak Elmo time, or you just go to the lunchroom.

[10:28] Aaron Albano: Or just go to lunchroom or PAX, but there's no room for cameras in there.

[10:31] Mo Brady: No. Too many mirrors. Oh, the biggest fact check to me was that Karen pops down to City Hall to talk to Dev about Ivy pushing him out on her lunch break. Can you imagine getting from Midtown to City Hall and back on a lunch break?

[10:46] Aaron Albano: That was a lunch break?

[10:47] Mo Brady: Yeah, maybe she—

[10:48] Aaron Albano: I didn't even catch that.

[10:49] Mo Brady: Yeah, maybe she took a car.

[10:50] Aaron Albano: She did. Even still.

[10:52] Mo Brady: She took a helicopter.

[10:53] Aaron Albano: There's absolutely no way in the best Uber with no—like it would—no, absolutely not.

[11:00] Mo Brady: Absolutely not. We had cell phones in 2012. She just could have called.

[11:03] Aaron Albano: Maybe she went out to like the courthouse in Queens.

[11:05] Mo Brady: Maybe she had the afternoon off. Maybe there was a break in the schedule. Maybe she got kicked out of too many numbers that she didn't have rehearsal anymore. Let's dive into the intervention.

[11:17] Aaron Albano: Let's go. Thoughts on Karen's intervention with Bobby, Sue, and Jessica?

[11:23] Mo Brady: A, I'm happy that it happened because it was propelled by my favorite speech of the entire show so far. I wrote it—I literally wrote it down. Like the whole thing.

[11:34] Aaron Albano: Oh, and then the words mic drop it afterwards.

[11:36] Mo Brady: Yes, it's ama—because it's so good. It's amazing. She literally says, this is after she's crying and Savannah—I keep calling her Savannah and not Jessica. Is that bad? Jessica walks up and is like, what's wrong? And she's like—and she says, she—she's trying to get me fired. And you guys are like, she's a hick. She's from Iowa. I am just as good as any of you guys. I am the same as you. You were all beginners too. And I'm good. I could have done that. I could have slept with him. And I didn't. And I wouldn't. And that doesn't make me stupid or lame or untalented. She shouldn't be trying to get me fired. And you should be trying to help me. That's like honestly a great speech.

[12:14] Aaron Albano: It is the best speech. And she is gooped. What do you say after that?

[12:20] Mo Brady: Yeah. Especially with, you should be trying to help me. It was the, you were all beginners too. That I'm just like, yes, you were. We all were. Calm down, everybody.

[12:31] Aaron Albano: Right. Let's go back. Let's go back to that one thing that people remember that you did, Newsies. And think like, there were lots of beginners in that company and you were old and tired and jaded.

[12:43] Mo Brady: Thank you. But did you take that out?

[12:45] Aaron Albano: I feel attacked right now.

[12:46] Mo Brady: Did you take that out on the people making their debuts in that cast?

[12:49] Aaron Albano: I, no. Because A, at the end of the day, and what I think, what we know that this show is not setting up is that a company is or should be a family. And at the end of the day, when all the auditions are over and even at a workshop level, you are all coming together to make this show. And that's what this nasty, nasty rivalry that Ivy has made up in her head and carries her friends with her about. They all forget this and it's gross. And that's why I was so upset watching the first half of this episode. Thank God, Jessica Savannah has her come to Jesus moment.

[13:32] Mo Brady: Wise.

[13:33] Aaron Albano: Gets, yes, good job. When Savannah gets wise and then helps her and then, which brings us to the intervention and they go over and Wes is still jaded over it, but he comes, which is a perfect detail to the exact ensemble member that he's playing, just shows up, but.

[13:52] Mo Brady: Is going to project.

[13:53] Aaron Albano: Presents the most jaded about showing up. Like.

[13:57] Mo Brady: I also love the idea that they don't have anything to do at night.

[14:02] Aaron Albano: Well, I'm like, wait, did all of you guys quit Heaven on Earth to do this workshop?

[14:07] Mo Brady: Oh, I didn't get the feeling that they were in Heaven on Earth.

[14:10] Aaron Albano: Oh, Savannah.

[14:11] Mo Brady: Savannah's in Heaven on Earth.

[14:12] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[14:13] Mo Brady: Ivy's in Heaven on Earth.

[14:14] Aaron Albano: Yeah.

[14:14] Mo Brady: Phillip's in Heaven on Earth. They're all in Heaven on Earth.

[14:16] Aaron Albano: Oh, it must be a Monday.

[14:18] Mo Brady: Oh, no, because they—

[14:20] Aaron Albano: I guess Lyle West has his birthdays on Mondays.

[14:23] Mo Brady: But there are like, like the amount of post show events that Ivy goes to. I'm like, girl, this is a workshop. Do you just quit?

[14:30] Aaron Albano: You're rehearsing 10 to six and then you're going to the theater. I was like, did you just quit your Broadway minimum job to collect $200 a week that apparently is not funded because Eileen can't find her money?

[14:43] Mo Brady: You're right, right, right. I was like, did all of you guys just stop working because of this workshop? Who knows what they're what they're supposed to be doing that night. But instead, they all let's say they all called out to have this intervention and tell her tell her about this elite dance class that they all have that you need like a recommendation to get.

[15:05] Aaron Albano: I only know of one elite dance class in the city, and that's the Fossey Project.

[15:10] Mo Brady: Yeah, that's like the Fossey Project.

[15:13] Aaron Albano: Yeah, that's the only dance class I've ever heard that you have to be invited to come to.

[15:16] Mo Brady: Yeah, and even so, and it is not booty shaking and snapping.

[15:21] Aaron Albano: Pose to Adele's Rumor Has It.

[15:24] Mo Brady: That's a great Broadway Dance Center class. I've taken that class.

[15:27] Aaron Albano: I've loved that class.

[15:28] Mo Brady: That class made me feel like a great artist.

[15:30] Aaron Albano: Maybe it's a class to teach you how to dance within your like three by five square right next to someone else.

[15:35] Mo Brady: Yeah.

[15:37] Aaron Albano: So just on the offset, you go to like an open bar. I love how Bobby spills the tea on Karen. While eating Chinese food, he says the following.

[15:45] Mo Brady: Her dancing is actually fierce. It's not like all trained and perfect, but it's watchable. I'm watching her and usually I like to watch myself in the mirror.

[15:54] Aaron Albano: We know that guy.

[15:55] Mo Brady: Yeah, we totally know the guy.

[15:57] Aaron Albano: It's Wes Taylor. Because a part of me is like, was this in the script? Or did you just like riff and they kept it in? Because it's spot on.

[16:07] Mo Brady: There was one part that I was like, we watched Ivy being garbage the whole episode, but at the end, and this is where I always turn on a dime with Ivy, because it's all this show and it's all this protection of herself that is coming off so disgustingly to Karen. But then at the end of the episode where she's talking to Derek. She's talking about him flirting with another woman, putting his hand on the small of another woman's back at this part.

[16:40] Aaron Albano: Oh, yes, yes, that's what's happening.

[16:41] Mo Brady: And she says, I just want to feel safe. And he says, then go back to the chorus. There's nothing safe about being a star. Which on one hand, like, yes, some more chorus shaming. But at the end of the day, the premise of that sentence, that's not wrong. And it's so complicated, my relationship with Ivy.

[17:03] Aaron Albano: It's so complicated, my perspective on Ivy, because you were watching this woman get what she's always wanted and we're watching her not be ready for it.

[17:13] Mo Brady: Does that make sense? She's floundering because she's wanted this her whole life. She's devoted everything and she's in over her head. She hasn't done the work in herself for what is demanded of her. And so she's taking it out on the only person she feels like she has power over.

[17:33] Aaron Albano: This is such good table work.

[17:34] Mo Brady: Do you think they did this table work?

[17:36] Aaron Albano: I don't know.

[17:36] Mo Brady: I have no idea.

[17:49] Aaron Albano: All right. Well, special thanks to Aaron Albano for joining us for this miniseries. You can learn more about him and how to connect with him online by visiting our website, theensemblist.com.

[18:05] Mo Brady: Are you enjoying the Smash miniseries?

[18:10] Aaron Albano: Yes, I am.

[18:11] Mo Brady: If you are, let us know on any of our social media platforms.

[18:14] Aaron Albano: Oh, like Instagram?

[18:16] Mo Brady: Exactly, Mo.

[18:18] Aaron Albano: This isn't Mo.

[18:19] Mo Brady: This is someone else.

[18:20] Aaron Albano: This is a listener. Recapping and analyzing episodes of Smash was a crazy idea that we had, so we're considering these first few episodes a trial run. If you're having as much fun as we are, let us know and we will keep going.

[18:33] Mo Brady: The Ensemblist was produced today by me, Mo Brady. You can help others find out about The Ensemblist by leaving us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts. You can also download episodes wherever you get your podcasts or at theensemblist.com. Follow The Ensemblist on Instagram to see the latest posts from our website, where we share stories of talented artists working in Broadway ensembles. Thanks for listening, guys. Until next time!