Scene: A massive converted warehouse somewhere in Brooklyn, late 2011. The lights come up on the cast of an ambitious network drama about the making of a Broadway musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe as they screen the series’ pilot during a catered lunch break. Once the credits roll, so do the waves of applause…

As anyone who’s read the copious critical raves knows, Smash — the most faaabulous show that’s not on Bravo — is all that and an orchestra seat. Produced by Steven Spielberg, created by Emmy nominee Theresa Rebeck (NYPD Blue), loaded with tunes by Hairspray Tony winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and boasting a cast so good you’d think it was on cable, this stage-door soap is either gonna be a knock-’em-dead blockbuster or one of TV’s splashiest misfits.

It’s risky for sure. There’s a reason you don’t see a lot of musical dramedies on the small screen, and unless Rachel Berry winds up in the Big Apple, Smash couldn’t be any less like Glee… something NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt is happy about. “Three years ago, everybody thought putting Glee on was crazy, including the network,” says Greenblatt, amid a swarm of hyped-up chorus types and crew members following the cast screening. Having first developed a “darker” version of the backstage serial while heading up Showtime, Greenblatt is grateful that Fox’s show-choir hit “laid the groundwork for music in a TV show,” even while distancing Smash from any comparisons. “Up until Glee, it had been a spotty record for musicals,” he says. “We take our hats off to them. We’re different shows that are going to be lumped together because we’re the only two musicals, but we are very different.”

So different, in fact, that Smash might be too “inside baseball” for the average viewer, which is why the producers have packed it with something for everyone. “If you love theater, you’ll love the show,” says executive producer Neil Meron (a producer of Oscar winner Chicago). “If you have no interest in theater… well, their lives are like everybody else’s, so we’ll be dealing with their parents, boyfriends, girlfriends, their families.” Adds Rebeck, “It’s more character-driven” with “great soap elements” aplenty. “It’s a very complicated world in terms of the class structure,” she says. “It’s very much like Upstairs/Downstairs, except there’s not a mansion; it’s a [theater].”

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On the set of NBC’s new musical drama “Smash,” “We’re doing a lot” to be green. “All the paper products are biodegradable. NBC is very concerned about that,” says writer/executive producer Theresa Rebeck. “We always recycle on the set,” adds Anjelica Huston. Debra Messing reads her scripts and rewrites electronically, using an app called Rehearsal 2. “It’s saving so much paper,” she notes. Megan Hilty does the same, and also drives a Ford Escape hybrid, and lives in an eco-friendly building in New York, where the show originates. “It has solar panels on the roof, and they recycle all the energy in the building. It lowered my energy bills,” she says.

Debuting Feb. 6, the buzzy (with good reason) backstage drama about the making of a Broadway musical about Marilyn Monroe has a riveting who’ll-get-the-part? plot, great musical numbers, and lots of name talent on camera and behind the scenes. The show is the brainchild of Steven Spielberg, who assembled a team including musical theater vets Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and composer-lyricists Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman. Besides Huston, Messing, and Hilty, the cast includes Brian D’Arcy James, Jack Davenport and “American Idol” alumna Katharine McPhee as Hilty’s rival for the musical’s lead role.

“When I got the script I couldn’t put it down. I knew immediately that it was a once in a lifetime thing. I had to play this character,” says Messing, whose vow never to do an hour-long drama, not to mention one that meant relocating to New York, went out the window. She was drawn to both the career and home life aspects of songwriter Julia Houston, “who is very passionate about her creative life and also a proud mother and wants that balance. I love that nothing is simple.”

Hilty was similarly enthralled with the role of Ivy Lynn, and the idea of playing the iconic Monroe. “Her story is one of tragedy, heartbreak, glamour, love, and all things that make for great drama, all things that people want to watch and are intrigued by, which is why we’re still talking about her today,” she says, opining that “Smash” “sets the stage for high drama, because the adrenaline’s going and the stakes are so high. This show definitely taps into all of those things.”

Huston wasn’t looking to do a series when the offer came her way, but she couldn’t turn down the role of producer Eileen Rand. “She’s real woman working in a man’s world. It’s not just a black and white character. There’s a lot of grey area with her. Is she a b*tch? Yeah, she’s a b*tch,” laughs the Oscar winner, who was eager to work “with the best of the best. I’d be a fool not to participate.”

Huston, a dedicated PETA supporter, has spoken out against the commercial use of great apes in the entertainment industry. “They really don’t like acting,” she says, and made a video for PETA explaining that. “Chimpanzees and orangutans belong in rain forests, where they can build nests, forage for natural foods, make and use tools, groom each other, and raise families,” she says in the PSA. “Using great apes in TV, movies, and advertising … causes a lifetime of suffering.”

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Debra Messing is guesting ‘Live with Kelly‘ on February 6th, make sure to tune in!

Long before Debra Messing became an internationally famous, Emmy Award-winning television star on NBC’s Will & Grace, she toiled happily Off-Broadway with roles in Four Dogs and a Bone, The Naked Truth, and most notably, Collected Stories, in which she originated the role of the young writer Lisa Morrison.

Messing is now returning to television as musical theater writer Julia Houston in the highly anticipated new NBC series Smash, which premieres on February 6. (The pilot is currently available for digital download.) At the recent Television Critics Association conference in Pasadena, she spoke about the show, her love for theater, and returning to New York.

THEATERMANIA: Your character is so passionate about the theater. Did your personal experience affect your portrayal of Julia?
DEBRA MESSING: I wanted to be a musical theater star from the time I was four. That was my original dream. I wanted to be onstage singing and dancing. To this day nothing thrills me more than sitting in an audience watching someone have the courage to stand onstage and sing and dance.

TM: You can sing, so why take the role of a writer rather than an actress on Smash – or returning to the stage?
DM: First, the part of Julia was the best one for me. Second, I have been offered stage roles, and there was a time when I was trying to work out a schedule to actually star in a musical. I will get there someday. Right now, it’s very hard to be on a TV series and be able to negotiate a shorter contract on Broadway.

TM: Smash is being shot in New York. What came first, the decision to move back to New York or the job offer?
DM: It was entirely Smash. Moving to New York was a very challenging and scary proposition. I love New York. I went to New York University. I was born there. But I have a seven-and-a-half year-old son who is very well entrenched in Los Angeles with all of our cousins and all of the relatives, so moving back was a very big deal.

TM: Have you seen any Broadway shows since you’ve been back?
DM: Yes. I just saw Follies and it was so magnificent. Bernadette Peters came on as a guest star on Smash (as Megan Hilty’s mother) and sang acapella. I felt like it was one of those seminal moments in my life. And then to go and see her in Follies was just the icing on the cake.

TM: What are some of your favorite musicals of all time?
DM: I’ve been seeing plays since I was seven. Annie is the reason I became an actress. Funny Girl is a play that got away; the one I never got to do. If I could do anything, I would do that. Les Miserables pierced my heart. And Dreamgirls made me desperately want to be African-American. I sang all those show tunes all the time. In fact, I sang every tune to every Broadway show.

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Debra Messing discusses the challenges her character Julia faces in balancing her work and home life.