Zap2It has interivew up with Debra Messing and Leslie Odom Jr whereDebra Messing and Leslie Odom Jr. theorize on Season 2

Life is definitely imitating art for Raza Jaffrey. When Chicago producer Barry Weissler spotted the dashing actor in Smash, he immediately offered him the role of Billy Flynn in the West End production of the musical. As Dev Sundaram, the doting boyfriend of a stage actress determined to star in a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, Jaffrey watches from the sidelines on NBC’s Broadway-obsessed drama, but the actor is currently starring in the smash revival at the Garrick Theatre as the razzle dazzle lawyer. Jaffrey, who has previously appeared on the West End as Sky in Mamma Mia!, Akaash in the original production of Bombay Dreams and Orsino in Twelfth Night, will end his run on July 14. Check out Jaffrey, flanked by two merry murderesses, above, then get your tickest to see him live on the West End before it’s too late!Source

A Broadway veteran, Brian d’Arcy James has played characters ranging from a lonely, 1950s press agent to an angry green ogre. For his latest gig, James left the stage to star in the NBC television series “Smash,” but his musical theater roots still play a part: the series is about the making of a new Broadway show.

He was in good spirits at the Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards on Sunday night, even as host and “Glee” star Darren Criss jokingly referred to “Smash” as “Glee 2.” James was there to present a some awards with Tammy Blanchard, who recently guest-starred with him on the Showtime series, “The Big C.”

Before the show, James chatted with Back Stage about the transition from stage to screen, and offered some words of wisdom for aspiring young actors.

How do you like acting for television?
Brian d’Arcy James: I love it. It’s new for me. I’ve done it before, but I’ve never been on a series. The consistency of it is something that I love. I’ve been doing theater since 1984, and making a living in it, so to be able to have a chance to do something in the same field but with a different kind of exercise is thrilling. You get to learn something. And obviously it’s really exciting when you get to work with people like Debra Messing and Anjelica Huston. That ups the ante. I love them both, and I’m enjoying the novelty of this new experience for me.

Was it difficult to adapt from a live audience to a camera?
d’Arcy James: I’ve been lucky enough, over the years, to amass a handful of experiences being on a set. That is, I think, the big hurdle. You have to speak a different vocabulary, it moves at a different tempo, it’s obviously not on a stage. And all these things may seem clear, but once you’re doing them, they have their own set of rules. So getting a chance to cut my teeth, as it were, in those experiences, made it easier for me to just jump in and enjoy it.

Do you plan on returning to Broadway anytime soon?
d’Arcy James: I hope so! I have nothing I can tell you right now, but certainly not for my lack of trying to scratch my way back into this.

What advice do you have for actors?
d’Arcy James: Never leave your wallet in the dressing room. And on a serious note, I think the three Ps: patience, passion, and persistence. You’ve got to be patient, especially in the beginning, because it’s a big wheel you have to crank. You just have to be patient when you’re turning it, and you have to be persistent with going to auditions and getting used to the fact that you’re not going to get every single one of them. And of course passion speaks for itself. So the three Ps!

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Monica: The Smash finale was crazy! Is Ivy gone for good?
Not even a little bit! We talked with Megan Hilty yesterday at the NBC upfront and she assured us she will be back in season two, and is lobbying for Ivy to get a new boyfriend. Perhaps someone who doesn’t work in show business?

Read more: http://www.eonline.com/news/watch_with_kristin/spoiler_chat_daily_scoop_on_gossip_girl/316093#ixzz1v2pAX19K

Zap2it: You grew up around so many legends, who stands out for you?

Anjelica Huston: I grew up with a lot of interesting people like Carson McCullers and Arthur Miller and a lot of very interesting people who weren’t necessarily Hollywood. There was a Japanese samurai who came over to Ireland (where her father lived in a castle in Ireland), and who, according to my father, was only allowed to cry three times in his life. It was extremely diverse. I met John Steinbeck. He was so kind and funny and sweet and affable and dear. I was 7 or 8 when he played Santa Claus for us. He used to write lovely letters. John Steinbeck used to sign his letters with a pigasus — a pig with wings.

Zap2it: Who influenced you?

Anjelica Huston: Marlon Brando. I was maybe 10 or 11 or 9. My father was about to make “Reflections in a Golden Eye.” I felt, even as a child, he held himself apart. He didn’t necessarily join in. He spoke to me a lot. He was having some worries about the movie and working out whether he wanted to do it. He gave me a tortoiseshell ring, and it was stolen along with a medal Steinbeck gave me along with some things that were my mother’s. They were irreplaceable.

Zap2it: Had you considered following your mom as a ballerina?

Anjelica Huston: Living in Ireland, there was no ballet. I did Irish dancing. I was proclaimed too tall to be a dancer.

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NEW YORK — “Smash” fans wondering how the departure of show-runner Theresa Rebeck will affect the drama’s second season could get an inkling of the changes by listening to Christian Borle, the actor who plays Broadway composer Tom Levitt on the NBC series.

“I just met [new show-runner] Josh Safran for the first time last week and kind of heard what was on the docket, and it’s going to be a totally different … show,” Borle told Show Tracker, alluding to Rebeck’s replacement as he used a profanity for emphasis. “The show is almost getting rebooted.”

Borle said many of the changes to the show, whose season finale airs Monday night, are still taking shape, but one shift he’s certain of — and excited about — is a deeper exploration of the things that go into staging a Broadway musical.

“What I think is going to happen with Season 2 is that it’s actually going to delve more into the process of the creation and what the writing partnership is, the nuts and bolts of that room,” he said. “We looked at it briefly in Season 1 but didn’t really; it was kind of, in a way, a shorthand to get us to the next event.”

The series has tried to strike a balance between depicting the creative process behind the show and showing the relationship shenanigans of those putting it on, with some viewers criticizing writers for overly soapy developments in the latter category.

Full Interview

Our recent chat with singer/actor Leslie Odom, Jr., who plays Sam Strickland on the musical drama Smash, is suddenly more than a little bittersweet. Just as filming was wrapping on the NBC series’ first season, Odom jumped into the new Broadway musical Leap Of Faith, which was based on the 1992 film starring Steve Martin and starred frequent Tony nominee Raul Esparza. However, initial reviews of the musical were not kind and the show, which just opened April 26th had its final performance yesterday. The good news, however, is that after tonight’s cliffhanger-filled season finale, Smash will be back next season with another chapter of bringing the Marilyn Monroe musical, Bombshell, to the Broadway stage.

We spoke with the thoughtful and gregarious Odom about his journey from his first role on Broadway in Rent to his latest experience, his showering ritual before he goes onstage, where things are heading for Sam and Tom (Christian Borle) in tonight’s Smash finale and his thoughts on the closing of Leap Of Faith.

AfterElton: You’re on TV in Smash, Broadway in Leap Of Faith and even film with Red Tails. When did performing come into your life?
Leslie Odom, Jr.: I was introduced to Rent, the Broadway cast album, when I was in eighth grade. I honestly thought that I would work until about 30 and then audition for Rent, get in that show and then be in that show until I was 40 and then retire. [laughs] What’s beyond that? I thought I should get the process started as soon as possible so I went to an open call in Philadelphia and I cut school – I was a junior in high school – and I got a couple call backs over the summer and by the end of the summer I was in the show. Not only was that that affirmation right away that this is something you can do and people will pay you to do, but it also challenged me, then, to dream a bigger dream and challenged me to think, ‘What else can I do?’ I was in the ensemble but I would’ve swept the floor, you know?

Full Interview

Head over to Megan Hilty Source and Theater Mainiafor photo coverage of last night’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Closing Night Party HERE to check out.

Tonight’s Smash season finale answered a lot of questions — namely, who snaged the role of Marilyn Monroe in Bombshell The Musical. But more importantly, it posed a massive query that fans are left to ponder over until season two launches in 2013: Did Ivy Commit Suicide?

Last seen staring longingly at a handful of pills as Karen brought the audience to their feet during Bombshell’s new closing number, Ivy’s fate was left up in the air as the curtain on season one dropped. And according to Megan Hilty, not even she knows how things will turn out. In fact, she didn’t even know which ending would make the air since producers shot multiple versions!
“We did it several different ways,” she told Insider.com at the launch of Dr. Scholl’s Get Up & Go campaign. “We had some shots where I took the pills and then there were a few different takes where I gave the mirror this variety of looks. One was very smiley in a twisted way and another where I made a Marilyn kissy face. We tried out so many different emotions.”

But Megan agrees that the version that aired — which left things on as ambiguous a note as possible — was the best choice. “That’s a great option [because] you have no idea what’s going to happen next.” Although Megan has her own personal hopes for the second season.

“I hope Ivy gets it together a little bit — it would be nice if she got a really great boyfriend,” she told me. “So I’ll be holding unofficial auditions all summer long.”
Boys, start warming up those pipes!

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What a finale – I can’t wait till next season!