Cheers & Jeers: Smash — Song of Bernadette
Bernadette Peters and Megan Hilty
Cheers to Bernadette Peters for bringing Smash exactly what it needs: a true diva.
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NBC's theatrical drama has been seriously lacking Broadway-level razzle-dazzle, but the two-time Tony winner (who mostly recently lit up the Great White Way in Sondheim's A Little Night Music and Follies) blew the doors off the rehearsal studio of Marilyn: The Musical. As Leigh Conroy, the stage-legend mama of Ivy (Megan Hilty), she belted out "Everything's Coming Up Roses" — and everything did.
It wasn't just Peters' musical skills that brought Smash to a new level; she also pulled off tricky, overwritten scenes of dialogue about her long-strained relationship with her TV daughter (did they really need to hammer home the point that Marilyn Monroe's mother was disapproving, too?). Blessedly, Peters will return for the season finale. After this show-stopping performance, she more than deserves an encore.
What did you think of this week's Smash?
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