On Lexington & 52nd Street

"On Lexington & 52nd Street" (also "Lexington & 52nd Street") is an original song introduced in the seventh episode of the first season of the musical TV series Smash, entitled "The Workshop". The song is written by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman,^[1] but in the show's universe, it is written by the songwriting team of Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) and Julia Houston (Debra Messing) for their Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell.

In "The Workshop", Michael Swift (Will Chase), playing Joe DiMaggio, performs the song as DiMaggio breaks up with his wife Monroe, while Michael is simultaneously breaking up with Julia.

The song was originally released as a single from iTunes and Amazon.com's MP3 story and is currently a track on the cast album Bombshell.

Critical reception

Series Regular describes the song as a "surprise" and notes "There is a passion and anger behind the music that was quite unexpected and refreshing to listen to. It is a major contrast to the other songs in the musical, and the performance of Will Chase is actually quite stellar."^[2] Broadwayworld.com describes the song as "striking and wholly stylistically unique", and "Will Chase’s best (and, apparently, last) showcase." It continues by saying "film noir with a pulsating, almost atonal, steely and terse tinge, this is the sort of character number that seamlessly presents plot development and character exposition simultaneously in a purely, thrillingly theatrical manner and the type of dramatic and musical merging of storytelling SMASH excels at above absolutely everything else, time after time after time after time."^[3]

Release History

References

Smash Episodes Season 1 "Pilot" "The Callback" "Enter Mr. DiMaggio" "The Cost of Art" "Let's Be Bad" "Chemistry" "The Workshop" "The Coup" "Hell on Earth" "Understudy" "The Movie Star" "Publicity" "Tech" "Previews" "Bombshell" Season 2 "On Broadway" "The Fallout" "The Dramaturg" "The Song" "The Read-Through" "The Fringe" "Musical Chairs" "The Bells and Whistles" "The Parents" "The Surprise Party" "The Dress Rehearsal" "Opening Night" "The Producers" "The Phenomenon" "The Transfer" "The Nominations" "The Tonys" Music albums The Music of Smash Bombshell Original songs Season 1 "Never Give All the Heart" "The National Pastime" "Let Me Be Your Star" "The 20th Century Fox Mambo" "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" "History Is Made at Night" "I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl" "Let's Be Bad" "On Lexington & 52nd Street" "Touch Me" "Don't Say Yes Until I Finish Talking" "Dig Deep" "A Thousand and One Nights" "Second Hand White Baby Grand" "Smash!" "Don't Forget Me" Season 2 "Cut, Print...Moving On" "Broadway, Here I Come!" "They Just Keep Moving the Line" "Caught in the Storm" "Good for You" "Our Little Secret" "I Can't Let Go" "Public Relations" "A Letter From Cecile" "Heart Shaped Wreckage" "Ce N'Est Pas Ma Faute (It's Not My Fault)" "Rewrite This Story" "(Let's Start) Tomorrow Tonight" "I Heard Your Voice In a Dream" "Reach for Me" "Hang the Moon" "Don't Let Me Know "The Goodbye Song" "At Your Feet" "The Love I Meant to Say" "Pretender" "I'm Not Sorry" "The Right Regrets" Other Smash (novel) Bombshell (musical) Hit List (musical) Characters Category