SMASH: An Inside Look at NBC Universal’s Press Day

As part of a recent press day held in Pasadena by the folks at NBC Universal, a number of reality and scripted dramas paid a visit to the Langham Huntington Hotel and Spa to discuss their respective series with the press. NiceGirlsTV was fortunate to be a part of that event, covering the multitude of programming by the studio.

One of the shows to be featured on that beautiful Southern California April afternoon was the Marilyn Monroe inspired musical drama Smash with cast members Katharine McPhee, who plays Karen Cartwright, and Megan Hilty, who plays Ivy Lynn, in attendance.

Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty (Photo By Rueben)

The press was first presented with a musical clip from an upcoming episode that features Karen and Ivy performing a new number from “Bombshell” on stage before a packed audience for a trial run of the new play.

Once that sneak peek was completed, the press was invited to ask questions of the cast members. The following is an excerpt of that “conversation”:

Question: In your careers, have you (ever) met anyone like Derek Wills (the talented, but sometimes hot-tempered director of “Bombshell” played by actor Jack Davenport)?

Megan: {Laughs} I can say that I have…been very lucky to work with a lot of really amazingly supportive directors.

Katharine: (Unlike Megan) I haven’t worked with many theatre directors, but I worked with one director… it was a non-Broadway show. And he did, in fact, yell at me in front of the entire cast. It was incredibly humiliating, but it was sort of unwarranted and everyone was taken aback by his outrage toward me so I definitely know it can happen.

Question: How long is the arc for Uma Thurman (who plays the “big movie star” Rebecca Duvall brought in to play Marilyn in “Bombshell”)?

Megan and Karen (nearly in sync with each other): She will be in five.

Question: What can you spoil about the clip we just saw?

Megan: It’s fantastic. We had so much fun doing it. We actually worked on it for about an hour (before filming). What can we say about it (looking to Katharine)?

Katharine: Well I think we can say that (they) added another number to the show (at the) last minute (because they wanted) to give Karen and Ivy a solo.

Katharine McPhee (Photo by NBC)

Question to Megan: What has the show done for you (being) on the billboards and posters?

Megan: It’s been everything I ever wanted in one job. I get to represent my community (the theatre) on television. I get to sing, I get to dance and I get to play this amazing character; and to have a poster in Times Square, it’s great. It’s been the most wonderful and most rewarding job I’ve ever had.

Question: Have either of you been paying attention to how people are responding to Karen and Ivy? Are you surprised by the passion (of the) responses to the characters?

Katharine: Yeah, it’s kind of fun. I’m not really one to go on blogs, but we (pointing to Megan) do have our own twitter profiles so we get a lot of tapes that (fans) put us in together.

Megan: It’s kind of fun when people stop us on the street. They have no qualms about telling us exactly how they feel about the show and our characters. It’s so great because, to me, that means they are invested in the stories and our characters. I love hearing their opinions.

Question to Megan: What has been the reaction of your community? Have they been accepting of your bridging the gap between Broadway and television?

Megan: I think the theatre community has fully embraced this show because not only is it celebrating the community but it’s (also) employing everybody in the community as well {laughs}. Everyone is really excited about it. And, it’s great that we air on Monday nights because that’s the dark night on Broadway. There are no shows so everyone is free to watch it; and they love it: at least that is what they say to my face {laughs}.

Megan Hilty (Photo by NBC)

Question: Can (either of) you talk about whether (the show) ends on a cliffhanger and if (you) have been told anything about season two?

Megan: It doesn’t end on a cliffhanger it ends on MANY cliffhangers. Every single character has a thrilling moment.

Katharine: I can’t wait to find out what happens to all of the characters. We wrapped 2 ½ weeks ago and we have not seen anything so all we’ve heard are wonderful things from our executives.

Question: When do you go back to start season two?

Katharine: We go back in mid-July.

Question: Do (you both) have any plans until then?

Katharine: I’ll be in Los Angeles for the next few months, working on music.

Megan: I (will be doing) a stage production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in New York. I just can’t stay away from Marilyn and I got my first record deal so I’ll be working on that (too).

Question: What (do you) like and not like about your characters? How much are you like your characters?

Megan: As an actor, at least from my standpoint, I cannot NOT like my character; I have to love her. It is very easy for me because I think she’s fantastic. She’s deeply flawed and just like any other human being…she makes mistakes and she may have behaved badly but she also has a very good heart. She is very ambitious and she knows what she wants and she knows what she is willing to sacrifice to get it. I admire that.

Katharine: I second what Megan says. I definitely think that Karen needs to grow some balls at some point. She needs to take the reins and start taking some power back and not let people walk all over her.

Question: Have either of you ever asked to sing a song as part of Karen or Ivy’s thought process?

Katharine: No, we haven’t, but…sometimes I’ll ask if I can have one song over another, but there hasn’t been a time where I’ve asked for a song to be put in a specific place.

Megan: So, it’s kind of like a well-written musical where the music numbers further the plot so that is up to our wonderful writing staff to figure out where those go.

Needless to say, both actresses are proud of their work on Smash and they are looking forward, as much as fans, to the remaining episode of the debut season.

The next new episode of Smash will air tonight on NBC at 10/9c.