The backstage TV drama “Smash” (which sadly did not live up to it’s title) centered around the production of a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe. The creators did their homework because it was mentioned several times in the pilot that a Marilyn musical had already been done. In fact it had been done twice, one on each side of the pond in the early eighties.
The West End musical Marilyn was a serious EVITA style epic that dealt with the dark side of Marylin’s fame and early death. The Broadway Marilyn: An American Fable was a pretty silly affair with Marilyn being backed up by a Greek chorus called “destiny”. Though Allyson Reed received good notices for playing the screen goddess (Scott Bakula was also present, making his Broadway debut as Joe DiMaggio), she was forced to utter such lines as “you’re Arthur Miller, how can you be so boring?”
During the shows long and troubled rehearsal period nearly a dozen writers contributed to the show (almost always a sign of trouble) while director-choreographer Kenny Ortega was fired but retained his credit. Marilyn: An American Fable folded after seventeen performances.
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