Video: In Rehearsals with the the Cast of SMASH

Rehearsals are wonderful

Rehearsals are filled with excitement and just laughter. So I think the world's going to need Smash

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. One of the most eagerly awaited new musicals this spring is Smash

It begins performances on March 11th at the Imperial Theater, and we drop by the rehearsal room to meet the company

Well, it takes place in contemporary times, and it's a creative team trying to put on a musical

So we all have lived this, so it has an accessibility to it

And it's very, very funny. And I think right now we need a lot of funny

There's a lot of dance in this show, so I get to really, you know, flex my muscles and have fun

And we have a great cast, great ensembles. And, you know, the creative team is just like, you know, one incredible, you know, force after another, you know, working with Stro

You know, Mark and Scott, Rick and Bob. It's like, and everybody's just bringing everything they have to this

So it's been really exciting, so collaborative, really nice. The thing about rehearsals that really wasn't on the TV show

which was the humor and the joy and the fun and the laughter. Well, it's happening in the show here and also in the rehearsals

We have a very, very funny group of people. And so they're always surprisingly on it and funny all the time

So I've enjoyed that immensely. What's great about it is we can entertain each other

You know, it makes it much less of a sort of mental nightmare, burying yourself in isolation

It's a privilege to be in the room with these people. It's a privilege to be in a room with Robin Herder, who does everything

You know, in the tradition, talk about golden age people. I mean, you know, there she is

So you know every day it hard not to wake up and you know one can be so used to waking up with a feeling of dread but it great to wake up with a feeling of oh great like I get to go to work today

It's wonderful. I'm just excited to be able to, I get to do it all

I mean, I don't know another role that's been like this. It's so much

I'm just screaming so much and dancing so much and changing so much

and changing so much. It's just, it's a lot. It's everything, I've been asking for this for my entire career, you know

being like little Robin dancer. And I'm like, but I can do this and I can do that. And I want to show people I can

And this is just such a gift to be able to do this

Complete opposite. Couldn't be less interested. No, you know, it's, I have been lucky enough to work with the creative team on different

projects, you know, separately. And now they're all, all of them, who I consider to be the best in the business

are all sitting there in front of us, you know, at the creative team table. Every day I'm sort of like, what

Well, I get to originate a role on Broadway. I've never done that

And it's like, it's what I've been waiting for. And it's what I, people have asked me for years what my dream role is

And I was like, I'm not sure it's been written yet. And then I got this call

And I actually got this call on my final week. of the Frozen tour right before my final sound check, so I had already cried my way through

let it go. And then I got a call from my manager, and she said, you're going to be Karen on

Smash on Broadway. And I was like, and I was crying so hard that my dresser was like, is this a good

thing? And I go, it's really good. It's really good. I just don't know how to control anything

right now So it I so grateful and I going to do it justice I going to do I working really really hard So it an honor I always been in the ensemble and always had the ability to do roles within that and try to you know stand out and honor to the shows that I been in

But to get to do my first principal role and originator role is so awesome. I'm so grateful for Stro who I did my Broadway debut with her in Bullets Over Broadway

And I just worked with Mark and Scott in Some Like It Hot, which is kind of how I got into this. They knew the role

and they said, oh, you know, I think Casey would be perfect for this. And Stro said, you know what, yeah, let's bring him in to do the reading

And then my agent's called and we're like, okay, you're going to do the workshop. And then after that, it was, well, we're negotiating for Broadway

And I was like, I cannot believe this is my life right now. Well, it's always a joy to start a new musical and to get to create something that people haven't seen

And I think the greatest joy is, like, this company of actors that we have, I keep kind of saying that we're in, we're like in a play and there's a musical behind us

And, like, to be able to, like, work on a play together with people you trust and can really

like throw your weight against is my favorite thing to do. It's why I love this business

Yeah. And the new stuff is the joy. Like the new people and what people do with the new material

It's like a very loose room. I mean, Brooks is like comedy king. So just like to experience all that

the kind of laughter and like the wild, you know, every day, something different new pages all the time

which is fun and exciting and people trying new things all the days. It's great. So

Well, for me, being in a musical is all. always a treat and a challenge because I'm so jealous. I can't dance. I can't sing. And it's so nice

to be part of it. And then in this family, try to get a few laughs in, but you know, we'll see

For me, this is just so fun. It's my first time originating a role on Broadway. So I'm just so

excited to be in the room with these amazing people and learn from them and see how the creatives cut things and add things It just been such an exciting dream for me I beyond excited Are you kidding me This has been on the docket for quite some

years now and I'm really happy to see it come into fruition. It's beyond words for me, honestly

To have this be my Broadway debut is surreal. It's so exciting. I feel so grateful to be here

It's really amazing. From a musical standpoint, from like here on, what happens, what, what do you do with the show

Well, now we just keep adding layers and layers and layers, right? So we've been adding the vocal layers

We've been adding all the incidental music and the, and all of the dance music and all of that

And, you know, we've been hearing it on piano and drums, and now we get to hear it with the whole orchestra. And then we could, you know, so it's really just about putting all the finishing touches, you know

And as you know, in the theater, like, the last, you know, chunk is like 75 things get put on to, you know, what you've been working on

So it's just a thrill to get to actually feel it all come together in those final moments

Not a week has gone by or a month where somebody said, oh, I love Smash

I wish it was still on. I miss it. What's happening? And is it ever going to come to Broadway

And so it was like this constant, constant remembrance of the show all the time

And it took us a while because we didn't want to get it wrong

So we thought over the years many different ways to do it and with whom to do it

And I think all that time brought us to this perfect group of people to put this show together

It's the TV show in essence, but it's also very different and very fresh and new

So you don't need to have seen the TV show to love the Broadway musical

but if you do love the TV show, I think you're going to love this version of the show as well