Music Review----THE MUSIC OF SMASH

I must admit that the television show SMASH has become a guilty pleasure.  What I had hoped would be a fabulous and realistic look at putting a Broadway Show together has instead become a not very good and totally ridiculous soap opera.  However, soap operas can be entertaining and SMASH is absolutely that.  I will never get over the sight of Angelica Huston threatening to pepper spray a rehearsal intruder....classic!  It was inevitable that in following the path led by GLEE, there would be a soundtrack album to SMASH, and this past week, it was released.  It proves to be a worthwhile endeavor for a reason that can be summed up in two words....Katherine McPhee.  The girl was meant to be a recording artist, there is no doubt about that.  She can sing ANYTHING and this CD puts her through several different styles to prove it.  The true highlights of the CD are the opening track, TOUCH ME and her gorgeous version of BEAUTIFUL.  Megan Hilty is featured a few times, as is Nick Jonas who sings a nice rendition of HAVEN'T MET YOU YET.  What truly doesn't work on the CD is the material that should have worked best and that is the original score written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman.  I am a huge fan of both of them.  HAIRSPRAY will always be one of my favorite Broadway scores and I consider CATCH ME IF YOU CAN to be a truly underappreciated gem from last season.  But the songs for the BOMBSHELL musical on SMASH just aren't up to the normal standards from Shaiman and Whitman.  It's not that they are bad songs, just not memorable.  The one that comes closest is LET ME BE YOUR STAR sung by Ms McPhee and Ms Hilty.  MR. AND MRS. SMITH and HISTORY IS MADE AT NIGHT are nicely sung by Will Chase and Ms Hilty, but someone should have left THE 20TH CENTURY FOX MAMBO on the cutting room floor.  And that is part of the problem with the TV Show itself....everyone is madly working on a musical that has no chance to survive except in the realm of television fantasy.  Doesn't make the show unwatchable, but it certainly doesn't make it unforgettable.  I am happy that SMASH is coming back for a second season and my hope is that the road to Broadway with BOMBSHELL gets a little more realistic and better written.  I am sure that there will be THE MUSIC OF SMASH Volume 2, 3, etc....I hope the material improves with each release.