If you are expecting one of your favorite TV shows, complete with its competitive divas and love stories in the new version of SMASH at the Imperial Theatre, you might be disappointed since the Broadway version is very different.

The 2012 TV show which starred Megan Hilty as Ivy Lynn and Kathryn McPhee as Karen focused on two talented female performers competing for the title role of Marilyn Monroe in the musical Bombshell. The show Included other themes involving other characters, such as the writers and director.

The new musical is less a soap opera and more of a musical about the making of a musical. In lieu of the sexy British director, this show offers Brooks Ashmanskas as Nigel, an experienced director whose goal is to make a happy musical. He doesn’t want darkness with the last image of the show to be of Marilyn dying on her bed. Ashmanskas keeps complaining, and moaning, almost a gay whining caricature but, as always, he’s genuinely likeable.

At the onset of rehearsals, the cast is upbeat and the star Ivy Lynn ((wonderfully incandescent Robin Hurder) has a good relationship with everyon, especially Karen (talented Caroline Bowman) her understudy. The pleasant atmosphere changes when Ivy reads a book about acting and hires the author Susan Proctor to coach her. As Susan, Kristine Nielsen delights with her overacting. It's fun watching her verbally spar with Nigel. Writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice mock the Actors Studio and Method Acting as well as actors themselves. Under Susan’s tutelage, Ivy becomes more the diva Marilyn and less the coworker.

As the young creative married writing team, Tracy (excellent Krista Hernandez) and Jerry ( John Behlmann) have nice chemistry. Both perform songs that display their talents. Hernandez performs one of the more beautiful numbers, “Second Hand White Baby Grand,” a ballad that she wants to include to add some depth to the show. Jerry is so stressed about the production that he’s developing a drinking problem so Behlmann's songs are lighter. He expresses the problem with the musical. “ Not a play. A musical. Wherein a character sings when speaking can’t possibly express the emotion they are experiencing and people in the audience cheer. No one wants to hear”

Nigel doesn’t sing but fortunately his assistant Chloe (Bella Coppola) does and fills in as Marilyn at the very last minute for the ‘invitation’ preview.

Choreographer Joshua Bergasse won an Emmy for his work on the original TV show and repeats his work with the dancers here, creating snappy numbers. The scenic designs by Beowulf Boritt are visually stunning.

Perhaps in an effort to keep current, the musical introduces modern themes. Despite her talent, the stocky Chloe has been told that she doesn't “look the part.” Considering replacing Ivy with Chloe, Anita, (Jacqueline B. Arnold), a performer -turned producer, has to answer to all the angels who contributed money. The black female notes how difficult it was for her to break into the business. “It took a lotta years and a lotta work, more than it should have, but I finally got a seat at that table.” Like Ashmankas, Nigel is obviously gay and the musical adds a love affair with one of the men in the chorus.

One of Anita’s decisions includes her new young intern Scott (Nicholas Matos ) who follows her around because his dad invested $1 million. Scott adds youth to the show, introducing social media and the role of influencers. Although the experienced creatives scoff, they acknowledge their importance and the show uses montages of posts and DMs to demonstrate its far-reaching power.

Directed by the renowned and much-lauded Susan Stroman, the show reveals the inner workings of the theater and musicals. Martin and Elice’s book takes gentle slight jabs at Broadway, musicals and social media.

The problem with the music (Marc Shaiman- music and lyrics and Scott Wittman-lyrics ) is that the show is packed with blockbuster numbers. Here the three singers, Hurder, Bowman and Coppola, all sing show-stopping numbers, displaying their power and virtuosity. However, the songs are performed too close to one another and each one ends with powerful high notes.

What goes into making a musical? Theatergoers see the finished products but often have little sense of all the work behind the scenes. This show opens with a splashy number “Let Me Be Your Star” which is reprised several times throughout the show. The creatives are still working on the opening and have already penned seven openers to be told it's “very close.” The audience watches as the directors block and change numbers, adding and revising. It sees the tech rehearsals and the invited press rehearsal and the sitzprobe, the seated rehearsal where the singers and orchestra rehearse together, focusing on integrating the music and not on stage movement or blocking.

"Smash"the Broadway musical is a big splashy colorful affair filled with talent, music and humor. It has lots to offer and reveals the work that goes into making a musical. But if you really want the “Smash,” that show you saw on television, you'd be better off rewatching the original. It’s streaming on Prime and Apple.