An on-stage mishap forces Ivy to make an important decision, while tension rises at Hit List as Karen becomes suspicious of Derek's motives towards her.
Tom Levitt (Christian Borle) has a nightmare of being unprepared and naked at the opening of Bombshell, then waking to find Ellis (Jaime Cepero) in bed with him.
He then actually awakens, screaming, which brings Julia Houston (Debra Messing) who reminds him that it is the day of the invitation-only dress rehearsal for friends and family.
Jimmy Collins (Jeremy Jordan) has been up for several days writing new songs for the new material that Kyle Bishop (Andy Mientus) and Julia came up with for Hit List.
Producer Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston) thinks maybe a little nudity will help Bombshell and Tom and Julia feel that it has significant artistic merit.
But in the next scene, where Marilyn objects to JFK leaving her immediately after their tryst, Ivy drops a bedsheet from her body, exposing herself to him when she asks him to stay.
He tells the cast they are doing a run-through before the New York Times critic Richard Francis (Jamey Sheridan) comes to see it later.
He walks the cast though it, with Ana Vargas (Krysta Rodriguez) as the Diva shooting a victim whose identity is not yet revealed.
Hilary Busis of Entertainment Weekly said of the episode, "As the old superstition goes, a bad dress rehearsal all but guarantees a great opening night.
And if the opposite also happens to be true, I would keep expectations low for next week's Smash -- because tonight's episode, "The Dress Rehearsal," was season 2's best by far.
The main reason: For the most part, its plot focused on backstage intrigue rather than dull relationship drama—and when the latter did intrude upon the former, the result was more than just a bunch of people yelling at each other.