Let Me Be Your Star
| "Let Me Be Your Star" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Let Me Be Your Star" is an original song performed by characters Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee) and Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty) in the musical TV series Smash. It was first sung in the pilot, but has since been reprised numerous times as a duet, a solo by Karen or Ivy, or by Rebecca Duvall (Uma Thurman). The version on the album The Music of Smash is the pilot version. The song was released as a single by NBC Studios LLC on January 16, 2012 on iTunes.[1] The publisher of the sheet music is Alfred Publishing Co.[2]
While the song was written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, in the television show the song is depicted as having been written by songwriting duo Julia Houston (Debra Messing) and Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) for a musical based on Marylin Monroe's life entitled Bombshell. The music is by Marc Shaiman. In the pilot, the song is in the key of G♭ major, has a tempo of 143 beats per minute,[3] and is 03:13 long.[4]
Production
The synopsis of the number in the pilot, as described by AfterElton, is "Karen and Ivy trade verses as they and the casting panel converge for the callback, finally forming an ersatz duet as they meet outside the building where the callback is being held."[5] Vulture describes the song as a "propulsive non-diagetic duet/duel".[6] The song makes contextual sense in regards to the lives of both auctioneers, and Marylin Monroe herself.
Scott Brown describes the song's reprise in the second episode, "The Callback", as "[Karen and Ivy] standing center stage 'in a pool of light'...around her, phantom blondes spit spoken torments between the musical phrases".[7]
Critical reception
AfterElton describes the pilot version of the song as "genius", and "blend[s] an amazing cocktail of determination and confidence with need and desire". It made comparisons with the "The Music and the Mirror" from A Chorus Line, "Tonight" from West Side Story, and "Walk Through the Fire" from the musical Buffy episode "Once More, With Feeling".[5] Scott Shetler of PopCrush gave the song a rating of 4 stars, commenting "McPhee and Hilty sound terrific while belting out identical notes over most of the final chorus, finishing with a bang with a brief moment of harmony on the final, drawn-out note."[8] Scott Brown of Vulture describes the song as the "best number" of the pilot, and compares the "driving, pop-injected act-ender" to "Defying Gravity" form Wicked. He comments that of all the original songs featured in the pilot, this one sounded the least "Shaimanesque", although he was confident that it would end up in the musical regardless. He says that while the song has "energy and lift", it has a repetative "downward-gliding melody line". He adds that "the scene itself is cut for maximum 'things are happening! Happening right now!' urgency", and drawn a comparison with his "favourite lyric" the musical episode of Community "Everything's cooler when cameras are spinning / Singing and dancing in unison-in-in-ing".[6] It has been described as a "show-stopp[er]"[9] and "an instant musical theatre classic".[10] One of the staff of AfterEllen commented that they had "lost count of how many times they'd watched or listened to [the song]".[11]
Scott Brown comments that in the reprise in "The Callback", the song is more suited to the slower tempo, and adds that it "gives those long phrases a chance to breathe and doesn't force them to carry a whole lot of driving rhythmic energy". [12]
TV Fanatic notes that in episode 11, "The Movie Star", Rebecca Duvall's version of "Let Me Be Your Star" was "horrendous", and adds "all Tom and Julia could say was 'great' — ha! And, even that single word pained them to say". [13] JJ comments that she "fails to deliver".[14]
References
- ^ "Let Me Be Your Star (feat. Katharine McPhee & Megan Hilty) [From the TV Series "SMASH"] - Single". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ "Let Me Be Your Star Sheet Music". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ "Let Me Be Your Star Katharine McPhee Digital Sheet Music". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ "Smash Cast – Let Me Be Your Star (3:13)". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ a b ""Smash" Series Premiere: "Let Me Be Your Star!"". February 7, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ a b Brown, Scott (2/7/12). "New York Magazine Stage Critic Scott Brown Reviews Smash's Show-Within-the-Show". Retrieved April 28, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Brown, Scott (2/14/12). "Theater Critic Scott Brown Reviews Smash's Show-Within-the-Show for Week Two [UPDATED]". Vulture. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Scott Shetler (February 6, 2012). "'Smash' Cast, 'Let Me Be Your Star' – Song Review". PopCrush. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ Swift, Andy (7 February, 2012). "'Smash' Series Premiere Recap: Who Should Play Marilyn Monroe?". HollywoodLife. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Let Me Be Your Star". Rideau Music. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ ""Smash" Series Premiere: "Let Me Be Your Star!"". AfterEllen. February 7, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ Brown, Scott (2/14/12). "Theater Critic Scott Brown Reviews Smash's Show-Within-the-Show for Week Two [UPDATED]". Vulture. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Smash Review: "The Movie Star"". April 17, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
- ^ "Recap/Review – Smash – "The Movie Star" – 4/16/12". April 18, 2012. Retrieved April 28, 2012.
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