Smash on Broadway Interview with Jacqueline B. Arnold

 

Have you ever wondered what goes into bringing a Broadway production to life?

Thanks to Smash on Broadway!, theater enthusiasts, fans, and newcomers will soon be able to learn about what happens to bring a story to the stage.

According to a synopsis, Smash, inspired by the Emmy award-winning television show, is a “hilarious behind-the-scenes rollercoaster ride about the making of a Marilyn Monroe musical called Bombshell, with all the iconic songs, kick-ass choreography, and backstage pandemonium that make Broadway the beloved institution it is today.”

No stranger to the stage, Jacqueline B. Arnold will take on the role of Anita, the producer of Bombshell, the musical within the Broadway production. 

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“This is my principal Broadway debut,” Arnold told MadameNoire. “This will be my third Broadway show, so I’m excited about that. And Smash was such a phenomenon for those of us in theater, as well. Because, I mean, while it was a global hit, that was fantastic, but we get to see … how we actually do the business of Broadway and how a show comes together.”

She added, “I think that kind of insider information is cool to fans, and it’s nice to see it brought to life live on stage, because once you start, once you go, you gotta keep going. There’s no editing or anything like that. So I think it’ll be a great experience for most people to see the through-line happen and all the stuff that goes along.”

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Arnold says that Anita is particularly special because, in the grand world of Smash, the character would most likely be the number one producer on Broadway, a position very different from the previous ones she’s portrayed on stage.

“This is different because I’ve played everything from an ethereal fake diva in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert [OBC], to a real live, I think maybe the first African woman to dance at the Moulin Rouge!—La Chocolat was a real person,” Arnold explained. “She was from Northern Africa, and there’s only one picture of her that I’ve ever seen. So they’re vastly different in terms of the Broadway careers. I would think that Anita is maybe Joanne Jefferson’s cousin or aunt from Rent, they would go into the same [category].”

“What’s interesting about the character I play, and several of us, we kinda joke … I’m in a play for the first time in my life. I don’t have to hit the step. I don’t have any dance, no choreography, and I sing, but I sing at the end of the show, so I am primarily acting. She has moved up to be an actress, which excites me,” Arnold said. “To begin with, it mainly comes from a singer background, so it’s extremely different. In preparation, I tried my best to get off book [memorize lines] as much as I could so I could walk into the room knowing what I was talking about, even if I need to paraphrase something, I wanted to make sure I’m aware of what the scene is about. So it was a lot of brain work.”

A Black woman taking up space on Broadway, Arnold is proud of how far things have come when it comes to diversity. She’s specifically seen a change in things she never thought would happen, like body positivity, in recent years, including the casting of a curvier young woman to play Elle Woods in the West End production of Legally Blonde.

“What’s interesting about theater, as opposed to movies and television, is we’re accessible. So when you see us, you see us live and in person, that’s just what you’re getting,” said Arnold. “We’re real people. As a Black woman, specifically with this show as Anita, it’s interesting because her last name is  Kuperman, and that’s due to marriage. It’s important to her to be realized. As a Black woman in business, I know many people don’t put that forth, right? So, I’m never trying to hide. What you see is what you get. She’s exceptionally pulled together. She’s very well-dressed, like very well-dressed. Upper East Side dressed. And yet, when it’s real talk, she talks like I talk. And that kind of representation is indispensable, because, you know, we don’t have, in my research, there was no one really for me to find that holds this space in this [way].”

 

Arnold added, “There’s LaChanze. It’s funny because I just Googled ‘top female producers in Broadway’ the other day, and LaChanze [Sapp-Gooding] showed up, and she’s been in the game for a long time, but as a producer, not that many years. And then there were two other women I had never heard of, and one has passed on, and that was it. I know there’s Tamara Tunie, but she didn’t come up. And I wonder why? Why aren’t these women existing more on the forward? And so if I were sitting in the audience watching this, and I saw a Black executive producer that might trigger [my imagination], maybe that’s what I want to do. Because we all think we want to be performers. They want to do it unless they are very self-aware. Do you know what I mean? It looks like the big glamor thing, but the person making the strings work is your producer, and that’s really what a lot of us are searching for, some sort of power and station.”

Performances for Smash began on March 11 at Broadway’s Imperial Theater, and the show officially opens on April 10.

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