I don't have the heart to trash Smash.

Just saw the first episode of Smash a soap opera about the making of a musical about Marilyn Monroe. It wasn't bad so much as it was kind of stupid. Once again star Debra Messing is paired with a gay man. This time it's her musical collaborator who is a walking cliche of fruity affectations and even has a cute assistant who for some unfathomable reason participates in all the major meetings and auditions. Debra also has a husband who wants her to quit show biz for a year so they can adopt a child. But she is passionate about making a musical about Marilyn,though she and all the partners seem to know nothing about Ms. Monroe. See if you can follow this. One of the musical numbers has Marilyn asking a group of chorus boy ballplayers right out of Damn Yankees about the national pastime because she has just met Joe DiMaggio. This would an okay theme for a song, except it's Marilyn in a red dress singing a la "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" which would be her super-glamorous movie persona not the charming, modest, natural and sweet girl that Joltin' Joe fell in love with. Don't these "creatives" know the difference? Even if they understood Marilyn, which they don't, they would know she can be imitated and musicalized. She was too unique, too special, too enigmatic and, in many ways, two different people. Add to that that none of the music sounds like the 50s or 60s, the era of Marilyn. It all has that professional but cold Disneyesque sound of today's instant Broadway spectaculars. Have you noticed that this whole post sounds awkward and disconnected? It is, because there's so much to say and I don't have the right thread. That's the same problem with Smash. It's all over the place. It goes from realistic to singing-in-the-streets exaggerated. . And despite a talented cast, the writing is cliche-ridden and predictable. I supposed it could be a success. I doubt it. If I were to write a musical about Marilyn, I would just include the songs she sang, the clothes she wore, and include all the facts that most people don't know about her, Like that she was generous, didn't care about money, was far brighter than anyone knew, and would have left a great body of work if the studios hadn't squeezed her into tight dresses and never let her prove what a versatile actress she was. But I wouldn't write a musical about Marilyn because she can't be recreated. But movie makers keep trying. If you want to see a great backstage story about creating a musical, watch 42nd Street. And if you want to see why we're still fascinated with Marilyn Monroe five decades after her death, go see any one of her movies or look through any of the photo books that prove that no woman was more loved by cameras than Marilyn.