Back by popular demand, Linda Buchwald (@PataphysicalSci) and I have teamed up to bring you our take on what’s keepin’ it real and what’s faking it each week on SMASH. Follow the 'caps here, or on Linda's site!
When SMASH first started, there was a lot of debate as to where the real world theater line and the fake world theater line would be drawn. Back then, the line was pretty blurry. But theater superfans could easily make adjustments in our heads. Heaven on Earth is at the Shubert, meaning Memphis (and now Matilda) doesn’t exist? Sure. Christian Borle doesn’t exist, but Peter and the Starcatcher still happened? Okay, we can make that adjustment. Catch Me If You Can posters hang in almost every producer office and rehearsal studio around? Doubtful, but we’ll get past it.
Yet deep into this SMASH’s second season, it’s much harder to see where the line is drawn. (We pick apart those fake possible Tony nominees below). And that problem didn’t become clearer than in this week’s episode, “The Phenomenon,” where we learned Hit List bookwriter, Kyle Bishop, had in fact died after last week’s car accident. Suddenly, there was a major outpour from the theater community about Kyle’s brilliance, and a debate about whether or not to go on with Hit List’s evening performance, and talk of a Broadway transfer after all. And yet, NO ONE MENTIONED JONATHAN LARSON ONCE! NOT EVEN ONCE!
It’s not like they haven’t referenced RENT on SMASH before. Give credit where credit is due, yo!
And sure, Kyle’s death may not follow Jonathan Larson’s story exactly (Larson died of an aortic dissection on RENT’s opening night, not for forgetting to look both ways before crossing the street, a la Bishop). But shit if the after effect wasn’t pretty damn dead on. Down to the eventual staged concert performance. And to have Jesse L. Martin playing the Artistic Director of a New York Theatre Workshop-like theater, with a RENT poster hanging behind him, who NEVER ONCE MENTIONS IT? Bananas.
(We won’t even talk about Daphne Rubin-Vega here because Agnes is kind of the best character on the show and can really do no wrong in our eyes).
But the biggest problem with “The Phenomenon” was that it tried to make Kyle Bishop just that: a phenomenon. Unfortunately, we never really cared about Kyle enough for that to resonate. Sure, Kyle’s a sweet guy. But were you ever really rooting for his character? Kyle was a doormat, who couldn’t have an idea of his own without checking with 100 people first. He was a terrible bookwriter. He cheated on his boyfriend. Heck, for as much as we rooted for Kyle, even we have to admit we weren’t really moved by his death. We’ll miss Andy Mientus, of course. But cute fanboy Kyle Bishop? Yeah, bye.
Let’s see how the rest of the episode worked itself out...
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Thursday, May 16, 2013 at 9:00AM
