Ivy is lounging on Derek's bed while he marks up his script, so it appears that their relationship has outlasted the role. Huh. Maybe they actually like each other. He complains that he can only work on the one number in the show that doesn't include Marilyn -- Darryl Zanuck holding meetings in a steam room (ha!) -- because Karen is such a scared little rabbit. Well, you keep yelling at her, dude. Ivy urges Derek to take it easy on Karen, reminding him that the only directors who succeeded with Marilyn were the ones who babied her. And once again I'd like to point out that the actresses in this musical are NOT MARILYN and shouldn't be treated as such. Either way, Derek lightens up and reminds us why we love Jack Davenport (it's because of the giggle loop, obviously, and also how cute he is as Commodore Norrington) and begins making out with Ivy.

Back at the rehearsal space, the boy dancers are all wearing towels (over their clothes, sadly), and Tom announces he's standing in for the actor playing Zanuck. The number is a cross between a very classic Broadway storytelling info dump and up-tempo Marc Shaiman (who wrote the number with Scott Wittman). My favorite lyric is "Tomatoes like her/are easy to find/We throw them out as soon as they start squawkin'." And Christian Borle is delightful, reminding us all that he's actually really good at this shiz. He puts a nice gloss of Tom wanting to get more into it than he can in his capacity as the composer standing in for the actual actor. After they finish, Derek takes Karen aside and starts catching flies with honey. Linda the stage manager gives Derek the side-eye as Tom and Sam gossip about what could've caused Derek's personality shift: "Maybe he found the Lord." "I've seen this kind of behavior before in stroke victims." Just then, Lawyer John shows up with coffees for himself and Tom, sees Tom with his head together with Sam, and slips away, unseen and dejected. Don't cry, Lawyer John! I think Ken Mehlman's still single!