Shaiman, who is celebrating his birthday today, posted the news on his Facebook page: "My birthday present this year will arrive one day late but well worth the delay, for it is the fact that Bernadette Peters will be filming an original song of ours tomorrow on SMASH. With a Jonathan Tunick orchestration! Musical theatre heaven. So I can die happy. (And no, I have no idea when SMASH starts airing, don't bother asking!").

Shaiman and Wittman are the show's primary composer-lyricists and received two Emmy Award nominations earlier this year for their work on the series.

Peters and Tunick have a decades-long history. They worked together on the 1969 Off-Broadway hit Dames at Sea, and have collaborated numerous times since then, including the original 1997 Broadway production of Into the Woods and on Peters' 2002 recording, Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein.

In addition to Hilty and Peter, second-season cast members of Smash will include Debra Messing, Christian Borle, Anjelica Huston, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee, Jack Davenport, Leslie Odom, Jr. Jennifer Hudson, Jesse L. Martin, Nikki Blonsky, Jeremy Jordan, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Daniel Sunjata, Andy Mientus, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Krysta Rodriguez.