Smash!

In my humble opinion I think one can tell that a movie, TV show or musical is really good when it moves you and gets you emotionally vested. Don't get me wrong I've seen a lot of movies, a lot of musicals and certainly a wide range of TV shows that I have enjoyed but most of them are just that enjoyably good not truly great pieces of work. Only a few fall into that truly great category for me. (Don't worry for all you "Glee" haters this is NOT about "Glee" - well not this time at least.)

The show I am talking about is "Smash" on NBC. It's the story of a musical being made and it's produced by Steven Spielberg so that should be your first clue that of course it's good! I don't want to give too much of the plot away because if anyone hasn't seen it I don't want to spoil it since I want to convince you all to watch it! Let me give you some broad strokes though... There are many characters which I would consider to be main characters... 

You have Tom & Julia who are musical writers (played by Debra Messing and Christian Borle) but you don't just see them as writers. You see how so many pieces of their life are affected by the work they do and they choices they make.

There are Ivy & Karen (played by Megan Hilty and Katharine McPhee) who battle for the lead role in the musical. Again you don't just see them sing and dance you live out many parts of their life with them. Their voices are SPECTACULAR!

Jack Davenport (who I have to admit is incredibly handsome!) plays Derek the Bad-Boy Director and in many ways is the most complex of all the characters. 

Anjelica Huston plays Eileen the Director of the musical who goes through more than a few trials and tribulations along the way.

Many other characters get added but I don't want to give too much away. What I will give away is that the writers of "Smash" do an impeccable job of character development so much so that you can't help but feel raw emotions for and towards the characters. You will feel empathetic for each of them at different times but then frustrated with them at others since this show is so multi-dimensional. 

What's the musical you ask? Well I will give that away (well the first one at least)  - it's called "Bombshell" and it's based on Marilyn Monroe's life. In many ways this musical becomes a character all in and of itself. 

The show is in it's Second Season but you can buy or borrow Season 1 and get caught up!

I know this "review" of sorts is all over the place and not terribly informative but I just don't want to give away anything fantastic from the show for anyone who hasn't seen it. I watch every episode anxiously waiting to see what happens because I am so enraptured by the story. I want you to have the same experience. 

I absolutely would go see these musicals if they were the real deal on Broadway especially if the Broadway show had this amazing cast! 

What made me write this blog today? Well I just finished watching the most recent episode (yes I know I am a few days late but given how hectic our lives our DVR is the only way I can see any shows that I want to be sure to catch!) and all I can say is WOW! This episode pulled together all the feelings and emotions that have been building in the show and put the viewer smack dab in the middle of them all. I don't want to give any major spoilers (in case some of you haven't seen it yet) but I will tell you that I spent most of the episode in a puddle of tears. 

Maybe it's the music in the show that helps people (okay well at least me) connect to the emotions of the show. There are few shows that have ever done this for me but another notable one is "Rent" so perhaps it's apropos that Jesse L. Martin has become a character in Season 2. (He was Tom Collins in the Original Broadway Cast of Rent.) There are also many parallels I could draw between the 2 shows but I'll save that for another blog.

Once you watch the show you will of course want to own the music too! (It's well played on my iPod I can tell you!)

Bottom line - you don't want to miss this show! Check it out - I can pretty much guarantee you will be hooked!

Yes I admit it... I am a GLEEK!

I have to admit - Glee is sort of like some other things that I have come to love... I initially was "anti" Glee (just like I was initially anti-facebook) but after giving it a try my attitude totally changed.

Since season 1 my friend TJ had repeatedly told me that I should watch Glee because he thought I would like all the singing and dancing (what can I say - I am a sucker for musicals!). I just didn't think I would be interested so I didn't watch. This past spring I was at my friend Annie's house where here husband was watching an episode. I sat down and watched the last few minutes of the episode and thought "Hey - maybe I can get into this after all." I came back to Houston and a few weeks later was at my friend Rebecca's house. She was giving me a tour of her new home and in her workout room I saw the Season 1 DVD set of Glee out. Rebecca raved about it and loaned me Season 1 (since she was already working on the first half of season 2). Little did I know...

I went home (Ken was in Afghanistan) and started watching.... before I knew it I looked at the clock and it was 2am!!! I simply could not stop watching I was so enamored with the show. I loved it all! The characters... the dialogue... especially the singing and dancing. I was HOOKED! Literally it only took me a few days to go through the whole first season. 22 episodes! There were a few times that I texted Rebecca and told her that she was evil for giving me the DVD set to watch since sleep was something that I was having a hard time making myself do since I wanted to watch the next episode as soon as I finished one! (Yes I know - it's a sickness and an addiction....)

Luckily Rebecca had the first half of season 2 on DVD as well (the second half of season 2 had not yet been released...) but she wasn't quite done so I had to wait a few days til I could borrow that. Those were a very LONG few days ;) Upon arrival of the first half of season 2 I absolutely devoured it. I find Season 2 to be even better than Season 1. I've found myself suddenly liking songs when they are sung by Glee that I didn't like before. Next stop for me - iTunes to buy some Glee music. (Did I mentioned addiction and obsession?!) I'll tell you what - The Warblers (okay really Blaine - played by Darren Criss) can sing to me ANYTIME!

When I finished the DVDs I realized that the rest of Season 2 was still going on Fox in "real time." Problem was I was about a half a dozen episodes behind from the DVDs to the current shows available on the Cable On Demand... What to do? What to do? Yay for the internet! Thank you Hulu for your 1 week free trial subscription. I signed up for about 2 days and proceeded to watch all the episodes that I was lacking on my laptop and then I was onto watching On Demand and then finally Real Time (okay well on my DVR at least 15 minutes after the show actually starts.)

What do I love about this show you ask? Well there are so many things! I love the music and the dancing but much more than that I have such an affinity for the characters. Rachel has to be my overall favorite - Lea Michele has an absolutely incredible voice and I love this character. I love the complexity of the character Kurt (Chris Colfer) and I think he and Blaine (Darrin Criss) are just beyond adorable together. I love that Ryan Murphy & Ian Brennan (writers and producers) aren't afraid to tackle taboo issues. Don't kid yourself - this show is NOT for young kids. They tackle some very adult issues that plague teenagers today. I guess part of the reason I love it too is that I was one of those picked on kids in middle school and even high school. I was not a cool kid - not even remotely! When Glee sang the song "Loser Like Me" during season 2 (Rebecca if you haven't seen that episode yet you need to go buy the second half of season 2 DVDs cuz that episode is AWESOME!) it really spoke to me. I had to laugh because it's so silly yet so poignant!

So I honestly have to say many thanks to TJ, Doug & Rebecca for showing me the way to Glee!

I have accepted my Gleekness and was so excited last week that it was the start of Season 3! Don't Stop Believing.....

And Rebecca - you, me, slushees and Glee karaoke soon!!
REBECCA IS THE AWESOMEST!