As the Los Angeles Times comments today, 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of Marilyn’s death. Of course, this has not gone unnoticed by film-makers, or the producers of the upcoming NBC series, Smash:
“In February, Monroe comes to the small screen via the NBC scripted series Smash, in which theater producers mount a fictional Broadway show about the bombshell’s life. The real-life Broadway actress Megan Hilty and American Idol star-cum-recording artist Katharine McPhee, putting her own spin on ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President,’ each vie to play her.
As if that weren’t enough, the series could spawn an actual Broadway musical, with creators developing lyrics and music with an eye toward putting it all on a stage.
‘You can actually squint and see a real Marilyn musical,’ said Craig Zadan, an executive producer on Smash and a Broadway producer of note in his own right. ‘There are already a bunch of new songs, and one of the possibilities if the show becomes a hit is to regroup and try to put it on Broadway.’ (A 1983 Broadway effort, Marilyn: An American Fable, flopped, though that was heavily fictionalized and largely panned.)”