art is not therapy
I've ... come out of the first season of SMASH hating Karen Cartwright.
I don't think this was the intended outcome.
It isn't the personal drama. Everybody came off looking bad at one point or another during all the personal drama that went on. And it's all over-the-top soap-opera-y melodrama, so I can forgive all the X slept with Y's love interest and A lied about B stuff.
I think it is very much tied into the fact that Karen got to play Marilyn, in the end.
Because, see, the show seemed to be aiming for Tecnician Versus Performer with Ivy vs. Karen. Except ... Ivy doesn't lack passion. In addition to working hard at her job, Ivy also genuinely seems to love it. She has charisma onstage, she gets along with cast and crew, she goes the extra mile to put effort into the show. Whereas Karen may have ~charisma, but she doesn't put in any work unless there's immediate and obvious payoff (see: Ivy making the effort to learn the show even after she was demoted from playing Marilyn, whereas Karen appears to have been completely clueless about what happened in Act 2 until she was told she'd have to play it that evening).
Karen doesn't even seem to like her job, really. She just wants people to tell her she's wonderful and look at her admiringly.
I mean, hell, Rebecca was all wrong for the part but she worked at it, she talked to people about her shortcomings, she made efforts to overcome what she could and compromise where she couldn't.
Rebecca realizes she can't sing the score, admits it, and asks for the creative team to help her make their show look good. Ivy gets demoted from leading role to ensemble and works her ass off to pay her dues and prove that she's still an option for the part. Karen gets cast in the ensemble, complains because she isn't the star, gets cast as the star's understudy, makes no effort to learn the part (I know, understudy rehearsals hadn't started yet, but seriously, girl, pay attention to the rewrites, it will make those rehearsals much easier on you and everyone else), then gets promoted to leading role, throws a diva tantrum because someone (understandably) thinks she doesn't know the role well enough, and has to be told she's special and star-material before she'll go back to work.
Yeah, no, that's not a character I enjoy.
(Easy way to fix this: Have Derek stick to the "she fits the existing costumes" justification for promoting Karen over Ivy. Because that actually makes sense. "We only have to pin her clothes up a little and we don't have time for anything else right now" makes sense. "SHE LOOKS LIKE MARILYN IN MY HEAD AND YOU DON'T AND I'M AN ARTIST so it doesn't matter that she doesn't know the show okay" does not make sense.)
...Maybe I hate Derek a little too. Or a lot.
...And Ellis. But everyone hates Ellis.
Tom and Sam are still great, though. And IDGAF, I love Ivy regardless of what she does and does not do.
I don't think this was the intended outcome.
It isn't the personal drama. Everybody came off looking bad at one point or another during all the personal drama that went on. And it's all over-the-top soap-opera-y melodrama, so I can forgive all the X slept with Y's love interest and A lied about B stuff.
I think it is very much tied into the fact that Karen got to play Marilyn, in the end.
Because, see, the show seemed to be aiming for Tecnician Versus Performer with Ivy vs. Karen. Except ... Ivy doesn't lack passion. In addition to working hard at her job, Ivy also genuinely seems to love it. She has charisma onstage, she gets along with cast and crew, she goes the extra mile to put effort into the show. Whereas Karen may have ~charisma, but she doesn't put in any work unless there's immediate and obvious payoff (see: Ivy making the effort to learn the show even after she was demoted from playing Marilyn, whereas Karen appears to have been completely clueless about what happened in Act 2 until she was told she'd have to play it that evening).
Karen doesn't even seem to like her job, really. She just wants people to tell her she's wonderful and look at her admiringly.
I mean, hell, Rebecca was all wrong for the part but she worked at it, she talked to people about her shortcomings, she made efforts to overcome what she could and compromise where she couldn't.
Rebecca realizes she can't sing the score, admits it, and asks for the creative team to help her make their show look good. Ivy gets demoted from leading role to ensemble and works her ass off to pay her dues and prove that she's still an option for the part. Karen gets cast in the ensemble, complains because she isn't the star, gets cast as the star's understudy, makes no effort to learn the part (I know, understudy rehearsals hadn't started yet, but seriously, girl, pay attention to the rewrites, it will make those rehearsals much easier on you and everyone else), then gets promoted to leading role, throws a diva tantrum because someone (understandably) thinks she doesn't know the role well enough, and has to be told she's special and star-material before she'll go back to work.
Yeah, no, that's not a character I enjoy.
(Easy way to fix this: Have Derek stick to the "she fits the existing costumes" justification for promoting Karen over Ivy. Because that actually makes sense. "We only have to pin her clothes up a little and we don't have time for anything else right now" makes sense. "SHE LOOKS LIKE MARILYN IN MY HEAD AND YOU DON'T AND I'M AN ARTIST so it doesn't matter that she doesn't know the show okay" does not make sense.)
...Maybe I hate Derek a little too. Or a lot.
...And Ellis. But everyone hates Ellis.
Tom and Sam are still great, though. And IDGAF, I love Ivy regardless of what she does and does not do.