Daily Front Row

2012 January 31

Smashed!

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Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Anjelica Huston, Debra Messing
Billy Farrell Agency View Gallery

(NEW YORK) You'd have to be living under a (30) rock if you haven't heard about NBC's upcoming show, Smash, about the behind the scenes antics of creating a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe. The highly anticipated show (will it save NBC, as New York mag recently pondered? No pressure!) starts airing on February 6th, but New Yorkers hit the UES to get sneak peek at the first episode when NBC with The Cinema Society and Volvo hosted a swanky premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Art last Thursday night. Tickets for the soiree were going for $2,500 on Gilt for the chance to catch cast members Jack Davenport, Christian Borle, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Raza Jaffrey, Brian d’Arcy James, and Jaime Cepero in the flesh before they become household names. Lest we forget cast members with über-star power Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston. Did we mention that Steven Spielberg is the executive producer?

So, how is the show? It lives up to the hype! The actors are perfectly cast, the production values are outstanding, and there are enough musical numbers to rival that other show where middle aged-teens burst into song on Fox. Your Daily adored. There are also plenty of inside jokes to keep the most jaded Broadway baby entertained, including jabs at notorious New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel, who was in attendance and reveled in the cheering when he was mentioned negatively on the show.  

After the screening and two additional heavenly bonus musical numbers from upcoming episodes, guests (and this was not The Tony Awards, but could have been...) such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, Sally Field, Lauren Hutton, Tony Danza, Lucie Arnaz (that's right! Lucie Arnaz!), Lance Bass, Stacey Bendet, Tom Cavanagh, Bob Balaban, Neil Simon, Victor Garber, Ms. Streep's daughters Mamie and Grace Gummer, Nathan Lane, Kathy Najimy, Beau Bridges, Bebe Neuwirth, John Benjamin Hickey, Ivan Bart, Carol Kane, Dick Cavett, Fran Lebowitz, Roger Rees, Andrea Martin, Phylicia Rashad, James Lipton, Abigail Breslin, Carlos Leon, Aaron Carter, Marci Klein, Dylan Lauren, Dree Hemingway, Keira Chaplin, Michael Morris, Uma Thurman avec her daughter, creator Theresa Rebeck, producers Neil Meron, Craig Zadan, Marc Shaiman, and Scott Wittman hit the Met's magical Temple of Dendur for lobster, lamb, and spirits. Everywhere you turned you saw a boldfaced name. Another winner, courtesy of Cinema Society's Andrew Saffir! 

Little birdies reveal that the party went on well past midnight, when the museum's security had to eventually shoo people out the door. Who wants to end a night that puts Andrew McCarthy, Bernadette Peters, and Marcus Schenkenberg under the same roof? Smash, indeed.