‘Bombshell’ concert stream will reunite cast of ‘Smash’

NEW YORK — The cast of “Bombshell,” the fictional Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe, is coming together again to aid those confronting the coronavirus.

Actors including Katharine McPhee, Debra Messing and Megan Hilty will reunite May 20 to present a stream of the one-night-only 2015 Broadway concert of the musical within the TV show “Smash,” The Associated Press has learned. It will be seen on People.com, PeopleTV and the magazine’s Facebook page and Twitter.

“I do remember how exciting it was that night,” said McPhee, who went on to star in “Waitress” on Broadway. “I have great memories of just being so elated to be there.”

The evening will be introduced by two-time Academy Award winner Renée Zellweger and will involve memories, stories and comments from the original cast.

In addition to McPhee, Messing and Hilty, the reuniting — and self-isolating — cast includes Christian Borle, Jaime Cepero, Will Chase, Brian d’Arcy James, Jack Davenport, Ann Harada, Jeremy Jordan, Andy Mientus, Leslie Odom Jr., Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor.

“It’s really just an insight for all the people who love the show and gives them a chance to kind of relive it with us and hear stories that perhaps they never knew,” said McPhee, who was working on the Netflix comedy “Country Comfort” when the pandemic hit.

In the series, Hilty and McPhee played feuding actresses hoping to play Monroe on Broadway. Messing and Borle were the book-and-song writing team, Davenport was the quick-to-scream director, and Huston was the feisty lead producer. Original songs were written by the songwriting team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

“Smash” ended its TV run in 2013 and the cast reunited for a one-night only “Bombshell In Concert” at the Minskoff Theater in front of 1,600 people two years later, which became one of the most successful fundraisers ever for The Actors Fund. The stream of that concert also will encourage viewers to donate to the organization.

In the past seven weeks, the Fund has distributed more than $10.1 million in emergency financial assistance — more than five times it normally provides in a year.

“I think people are going to be really excited when they realize that it’s going to be open to everybody who ever wanted to see it,” said McPhee. “It just felt so exciting to be reliving something that we all loved and cherished so much.”

“Smash,” with first-rate songs and a studded cast, is looked back on fondly by many Broadway fans. “I think it was a little ahead of its time,” McPhee said. “It was just something that was so different.”

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Mark Kennedy is at http://twitter.com/KennedyTwits

Mark Kennedy, The Associated Press