By: Valerie Milano, Pasadena, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/14/12

Katharine McPhee at 2012 Winter TCA Tour Smash

 NBC is looking to create some buzz about the upcoming series, “Smash” about a theater group assembled to create a Broadway musical based on Marilyn Monroe’s life. The series explores the personal lives of the actors in the show. The music includes cover songs and original work written for the show by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Robert Greenblatt of NBC told HT “a week before the show premieres on January 23rd, it will start streaming online via NBC.com and Hulu up until the premiere”. The pilot was screened in 10 cities Wednesday, including Los Angeles.

 Steven Spielberg is involved in the project as executive producer. “The truth is that I have always had this interest in theater. But what goes on behind all of that, before the curtain even goes up, is something that’s altogether different, and it’s that creative process that really fascinated me, you know, the competition, the creativity, the fights, the arguments, the dreams, the egos, disappointments, the energy, would make a very, very compelling story. And I thought it would make a compelling story on a weekly basis, one that a television series could probably most effectively tell and one that I think audiences will be able to relate to whether or not they ever had seen a Broadway show, because this is really about the drama of the characters.”

 The cast includes Brian d’Arcy James, Anjelica Huston as the show’s producer, Jaime Cepero,  Jack Davenport as the director, Megan Hilty, Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Raza Jaffrey and Katharine McPhee, winning the role of Marilyn in the musical against Uma Thurman who makes an appearance in the 5^th episode.

 Journalists at TCA winter press tour asked Huston about her involvement in the weekly television series: “Because it’s beautifully written. It’s a fantastic cast of actors, a phenomenal team of people behind the scenes. We’re working with the best of the best. I’d be a fool not to participate.” She explained.

 Julia Huston, the musical’s co-writer is played by Debra Messing who is excited to be involved in her role as well. “T was one of the things that was most exciting me about the character when I read the pilot and what I related to. Here is a woman who is very passionate about her creative life and needs that part of her life fulfilled, but also really is a proud mother and wants that home life and wants that balance. And I love that nothing is simple.”

Hilty as Ivy Lynn, agreed that the story of Marliyn is perfect for presenting what happens in the theater. She summed it up saying, “Her story is one of tragedy, heartbreak, glamour, love, and all things that make for great drama, all things that people want to watch and are intrigued by, which is why we’re still talking about her today.”