A show that starts off well but becomes increasingly tiresome. Season One is interesting as Julia (Debra Messing) and Tom (Christian Borle) are inspired to undertake a musical about Marilyn Monroe and gather a cast of others, including the aggressive, womanizing director, Derek (Jack Davenport) around them to bring it to light. A second theme concerns the rivalry between Ivy (Megan Hilty), who's been striving on Broadway for years, and Karen (Katharine McPhee), the girl from nowhere whose brilliant singing and stage presence calvanizes all who encounter her. Among the other themes is the hostile end of marriage rival-producer hostilities between Eileen (Anjeica Huston) and Jerry (Michael Cristofer). Season Two introduces new themes and a raft of new characters. Bombshell is on its way to Broadway and the Tonys, Karen's love relationship with the appealing Dev (Raza Jaffrey) is on the rocks and other cast members deal with various other love and family crises. A second show begins to emerge--Hit List--written by two yound underdogs, Kyle (Andy Mientus) and Jimmy (Jeremy Jordan), the latter of whom becomes Karen's new love interest. The competition heats up, with the series culminating on Tony Awards night.
From the beginning the Karen theme undermines the show. Katherine McPhee can sing loudly but doesn't project anything near the brilliance needed to make her story of nowhere to Tony nominee feasible. And she is too weak an actor to convey the nuances of character and emotion. In Season One, this is somewhat disguised by her relationship with Dev. But by Season Two, she has become a kind of all-American Polyanna Redemption Missionary, intend on saving others (particularly the cynical Derek and awful Jimmy) from themselves. How on earth she managed to be starred ahead of Chrisian Borle, and even Megan Hilty, is beyond me. Jimmy is a horrible character who we are eventually supposed to come to understand and respect. Jeremy Jordan plays hime in a couple of monotones--monotone outrage, primarily, with occasional shifts to mono-sorry. The final episode is marked by a truly saccharine resolution of his and Karen's love affair.
As the final scene between them emphasizes, they were given some pretty poor material to play with. But, unlike the many of the other actors, neither of them has the skill to rise above their scripts.
For those who are not au fait with how it all works, the weaknesses of the show are partially overcome by the interesting issues of casting, pulling a musical together, the kinds of shenanigans associated with media attention and, sometimes, the music and choreography. And, along the way, we learn some things about Marilyn Monroe, although those could have been more fully drawn out, particularly in Season One, when Julia, Tom and Derek struggle to find focus.
All up, worth a look but not a second look.
