"The Cost of Art" is the fourth episode of the American television series, Smash. The episode aired on February 27, 2012.

When Derek (Jack Davenport) hosts a party for young teen star Lyle West (guest star Nick Jonas), Eileen (Anjelica Huston) seizes the opportunity to try a new strategy for raising funds. Karen (Katharine McPhee) learns how to increase her chances of success in the high-stakes world of Broadway and Tom (Christian Borle) goes on a special first date.

Nick Jonas was announced to guest star on the show on October 11, 2011. His character of Lyle West is described as "a hot sitcom star who started his career as a child actor in a Broadway show written by Tom (Christian Borle) and directed by Derek (Jack Davenport)." The release also mentioned that Jonas will sing in the episode.

Two cover songs and two originals are featured in the episode. Katharine McPhee performs Adele's "Rumour Has It" and Jonas performs "Haven't Met You Yet", which was originally sung by Michael Bublé. In addition, two original songs from Marilyn featured in the episode include "History is Made at Night" performed by Megan Hilty and the ensemble and "I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl", also performed by Hilty. Additionally, snippets of "The 20th Century Fox Mambo" from "The Callback" and "Let's Be Bad" from the then upcoming episode of the same name could be heard in some of the rehearsal scenes. On February 27, only "Haven't Met You Yet" and "I Never Met a Wolf Who Didn't Love to Howl" were released as singles.

The Cost is the sixth studio album by The Frames, released in Ireland on Plateau Records on September 22, 2006. The album was released worldwide on ANTI- on February 20, 2007. The album exhibits a sound more like that of For the Birds than their more recent album Burn the Maps. The Frames' line-up for The Cost features Glen Hansard on guitar and vocals, Colm Mac Con Iomaire on violin and keyboards, Joseph Doyle on bass guitar and backing vocals, Rob Bochnik on lead guitar and Graham Hopkins who played drums in place of the Frames' regular drummer Johnny Boyle. It was recorded in Black Box, France by Stephen Fitzmaurice and David Odlum with assistance from Fabian Lesure. The front and back covers feature photography by frontman Hansard of oak leaves, accompanied by a handwritten inscription reading: "Ni identitat permanent, ni idea de persona, ni d'ésser vivent, ni d'un temps d'existència" (which is Catalan for "Nor permanent identity, nor idea of a person, nor of being alive, nor of a time of existence", from a work of Antoni Tàpies). The album is enigmatically dedicated to "Multi (the ghost)".

Nicholas Jerry "Nick" Jonas (born September 16, 1992) is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actor best known as one of the Jonas Brothers, a pop-rock band he formed with his brothers Joe and Kevin. The Jonas Brothers originally started as an attempted solo singing career for Nick, but the record producer liked the sound when his brothers sang backup for him. He previously starred in the Disney Channel original series JONAS L.A. as Nick Lucas, alongside his brothers. He also starred in the Disney Channel original movie Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam. He formed the band Nick Jonas & The Administration, which released its first album in 2010.

Jonas's career started when he was discovered at the age of six in a barber shop, while his mother was getting her hair cut and was referred to a professional show business manager. At the age of 7, he began performing on Broadway. He had acted in several plays, including A Christmas Carol (in 2000 as Tiny Tim and Scrooge at eight), Annie Get Your Gun (in 2001 as Little Jake), Beauty and the Beast (in 2002 as Chip), and Les Misérables (in 2003 as Gavroche). After Les Misérables closed, he performed in The Sound of Music (as Kurt) at the Paper Mill Playhouse.