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].”

In what appears to be an effort to spice up the niche subject matter, expect theatrics and lots of sexy twists: In addition to the ongoing battle for the role of Marilyn, there will be bed-hopping, a drug-fueled decline, a brutal divorce case, an All About Eve-ish betrayal, love triangles, an original song and cameo by One Republic’s Ryan Tedder, and (holy stunt casting!) a Nick Jonas guest appearance. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that all of this is acted out, sung or kick-ball-changed by a cast riddled with award winners and gifted Broadway talent.

“As soon as I finished reading the pilot, I called my agent and said I have to be a part of this,” remembers Debra Messing, whose harried lyricist, Julia Houston, is dealing with the birthing pains of a new musical, a pending adoption with her frustrated hubby (Brian D’Arcy James) and the Episode 3 return of her former lover (Will Chase), who scores the role of Joe DiMaggio. “I loved every character. I loved the world,” effuses Messing. “And then to do it in New York? It’s shot so beautifully that it feels like a love letter to the city.”

Christian Borle (Legally Blonde: The Musical), whose charm as Julia’s sardonic composing partner, Tom Levitt, could fill a Broadway theater, shares her excitement for the show’s risk-taking when it comes to presenting audiences with an industry rarely explored on TV. “They got the details right,” raves the Tony nominee. “As glamorous and goosebump-inducing as a lot of the numbers are, the backstage stuff shows a lot of the warts of what you go through.”

“I was like, ‘Damn, that doesn’t read like a TV show’… in a good way,” echoes Jack Davenport, set to send hearts swooning as Derek Wills, the 14-carat bastard of a director who beds one of his stars early on. “The scripts are fantastic.”

Rebeck’s writing also swayed Oscar winner Anjelica Huston (Prizzi’s Honor) to sign on for her first-ever series-regular role. “The quality of the material, Theresa is responsible for that,” says Huston, kicking back in diva-caliber Louboutins while stand-ins work out a rehearsal-room powwow between her scene-stealing, soon-­to-be-divorced producer Eileen Rand and a group of potential Marilyn investors. “And just in terms of the kind of work that one can do for a series, particularly a beautifully written one like this, it’s great,” she says, clearly thrilled. “You get to really develop character.” She’ll also get to develop some chemistry with All My Children stud Thorsten Kaye when he shows up as a bartender who helps her do more than drown her sorrows.

For its dueling ingenues, Smash is blessed with an embarrassment of riches in both stage vet Megan Hilty (Wicked) and Katharine McPhee, the Season 5 American Idol alum who came with Spielberg’s seal of approval. “I think he’d seen her for a film and said, ‘We should think about Kat McPhee for this,’” says Greenblatt. Best known as a singer, McPhee’s revelatory turn as newbie Karen Cartwright is already silencing her naysayers. “I know, it’s like, ‘What? Steven Spielberg cast her as an actress?’” says the brunette stunner with a laugh, adding that previous post-Idol endeavors to find work (The House Bunny, a Community guest spot) mirror her untested alter ego’s frustrations. “Going in for every major film you could imagine, coming really close to getting them, being up there against two or three or five other girls and not getting it [because] I didn’t have a big enough résumé… it’s literally a real-life story that I have lived and I deal with on a daily basis that we’re telling in the show.”

Likewise, Hilty finds her star-making gig as Karen’s blonder, bustier competition, embittered chorus girl Ivy Lynn, easily accessible. “I have gone to school with this character, I’ve done community theater with this character, I am part of this character,” says the sunny belter who earned a Drama Desk nod for playing the Dolly Parton role in 9 to 5: The Musical. “It’s too good to be true to have a television series about my world and all the things I love so dearly. I wanted to be a part of it so badly.” Not only did she get the part, but she also gets Bernadette Peters as her mom, who shows up mid-season and sends her daughter on a downward spiral.

And while Hilty and McPhee show off some serious vocal ranges in each episode — production numbers routinely veer between the reality of rehearsals and the fantasy of what the opening-night version might look like — it’s the operatic off-stage collision of these ladies, as well as the arrival in later episodes of Uma Thurman as a movie star who wants to play Marilyn — that will propel the series toward a splashy season finale built around the Marilyn out-of-town tryout. “You have two women who are so different in every way imaginable, and we’re forced to be together constantly in very uncomfortable situations,” says Hilty. “And with that comes some very real drama.”

Should that drama work on screen, there is the possibility of it moving, meta-style, to the stage. “If this Marilyn turns out to be terrific, after following it for a season, we [could] then take it to Broadway,” predicts Meron’s producing partner Craig Zadan. “Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman will write more songs, Theresa Rebeck will write the book… and Neil and I will produce it with Spielberg and the [DreamWorks] group. So we’d have a Broadway show.”

They might even have a smash.

Smash premieres Monday, February 6 at 10/9c on NBC.

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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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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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One of the most talked about new shows in NBC’s lineup is the comedy/musical Smash, which brings Debra Messing back to TV as a character who writes lyrics for Broadway musicals.

“They’ve incorporated the singing into the drama of my character’s storyline in a really clever way,” Debra told ET last week at NBC’s TCA event. Messing — who also does some singing in the show — said she’s excited to be part of a series that realistically portrays the business side of Broadway, plays but does it in a fun and engaging way.

Anjelica Huston plays the producer of an ambitious Broadway musical that tackles the life of Marilyn Monroe and she echoed Messing’s comments about the show being realistic. “It’s a very true to life portrayal of what a producer does. And I think a lot of people don’t really know what the producer does,” Huston said.

In the show, Katharine McPhee and Megan Hilty both play characters vying for the coveted role of Marilyn Monroe. Megan said at first she found that task “daunting,” but eventually got more comfortable when she thought in terms of her character going for Marliyn’s role, not herself.

Watch the video to hear how McPhee got involved in the project and why she considers the part a dream role in her career.

You can catch the series premiere of Smash on February 6 at 10 p.m. on NBC.

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A victim of the new depression, THE STARTER WIFE was based on the novel by GIGI LEVANGIE (the former wife of Hollywood mogul BRIAN GRAZER) and reveled in the excess of the early aughts. We spoke with MESSING over the weekend and she freely lamented the demise of the popular series.

While Debra Messing and Daniel Zelman recently decided to end their ten-year marriage, the Smash starlet and her ex-husband are still very supportive of their son and raising him as a family unit. The 43-year-old spoke to OK! of being proud parents to Roman, who already has an itch to act, and what she already has planned for his career down the road.

“He was Peter Pan last week at school so its terrifying to me,” the former Will and Grace star joked to OK! while in Pasadena on Friday of her son being too good on stage for comfort, “He was brilliant!”

While the experienced actress knows all about the ups and downs of show business, Debra still says that she and her ex-husband “absolutely” support the 7-year-old if acting is in the cards one day.

“Its fantastic,” the doting mom gushed at a TCA panel discussion and explained that Roman even, “comes to the [Smash] set and he watches them sing,” to get a taste of what the industry is really like.

Still, the Brooklyn native would prefer if her son took the professional route that she has chosen for him already.

“Oh my gosh. I told him when he was about 2-weeks-old that I had already decided that he was going to be an architect so you know, this is a hobby for a little while, but its not what mama chose for him,” Debra revealed to OK! of preferring Roman to be in a different career field.

Don’t miss the premiere of NBC’s Smash, also starring Megan Hilty, Anjelica Huston and Katherine McPhee, on Feb. 6!

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It’s a cross between “Rocky” and “Glee,” explained Messing. “‘Glee’ only because there’s singing it. But there’s definitely a ‘Rocky’ element to it because there’s two women vying for the role of Marilyn Monroe, and you don’t know who’s going to get it.”

“American Idol” alum McPhee plays one of those women, a newbie trying to snag the coveted role in a new Broadway musical, teasing, “I can’t reveal whether or not she gets the part, but yeah, she’s a little green. She’s never experienced a real Broadway workshop.” Tune in when “Smash” premieres February 6 on NBC!