I’ve added 31 HQ photos of Megan attending the 2012 NBC Upfronts to the gallery. While there, Megan and her Smash co-star Katharine McPhee performed Let Me Be Your Star.
Home > Events and Appearances > 2012 NBC Upfronts – May 14, 2012
Megan Hilty on the ‘Smash’ Finale and ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’
Fans of NBC’s “Smash” are waiting to find out tonight in the season finale whether Karen Cartwright, played by Katharine McPhee, or Ivy Lynn, played by Megan Hilty, will win the part of Marilyn Monroe on Broadway. If anyone’s keeping tabs offscreen, Hilty has an edge.
The petite blond actress just wrapped a seven-performance concert staging of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” as Lorelei Lee, a role made famous by Carol Channing on Broadway and cemented on the silver screen by Monroe in 1953.
Monroe’s iconic pink dress and tuxedoed male escorts were absent from this production’s version of “Diamond’s Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Hilty charmed the audience with a powerful yet playful solo that needed no backup ensemble.
Indeed the streamlined production, put on by Encores! at New York’s City Center, isn’t your typical musical. In a theater boot camp-like experience, most cast members had just eight days of rehearsal prior to the show’s opening to learn the music, lines and choreography.
Despite the dizzying schedule, Hilty showed up to the show’s after-party looking relaxed and aglow in a red minidress. Speakeasy caught up with the actress for a quick chat about Monroe and the “Smash” finale:
The production schedule was so short. What was it like preparing for this role?
Oh my gosh, it was kind of a whirlwind, it was so quick. But I just try to approach it like any other script and just go with the text.
What’s it like playing a role so closely associated with Marilyn Monroe in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” and then playing an actress vying to play Marilyn Monroe on “Smash”?
Well it’s great. They’re two completely different things, but they kind of have the same essence. So I really try to pay homage to the great women who portrayed this before I did–Carol Channing and Marilyn Monroe–but still make it my own. I have to do that so it’s real and so that people will actually think that it’s funny or touching because it’s true.
What can you reveal about tonight’s “Smash” finale?
Oh man, get ready for a lot of cliffhangers. I mean, there are some huge things that go down. And I’m excited to find out what happens next too!
Can you tell us anything about what’s shaping up for season two?
Not yet, because we don’t even know. They’re meeting about that right now and discussing it. I have a general idea, but even that’s not solidified yet.
[source]
Want to take an acting class with Megan Hilty?
In the new hit television series “Smash,” voluptuous blonde actress Megan Hilty portrays Ivy, one of three women vying for the starring role in a new Broadway show. This summer, Hilty will bring that same quest for stardom to West Michigan as a guest artist with the Broadway Breakthru summer workshop at Saugatuck Center for the Arts.
Hilty will present a one-day master class July 21 culminating a week of classes with area instructors in musical theater, singing, dancing and acting.
“I want students to have a great experience that week, but I also want them to receive some real life tools they can use to further their careers,” said New York casting director David Petro. He organized the Saugatuck workshop as well as an August workshop in Lowell featuring Melanie Moore, a champion on television’s “So You Think You Can Dance.”
In addition to a resume and a professional headshot photo, each participant will leave with a video clip to send to casting directors or attach to college applications. Students will learn how to conceive, write, edit and produce a video right in their own backyard.
“I went to Sundance Film Festival this year and decided to add video production,” Petro said. Video auditions are being used by many shows, he said. “People need to jump on the bandwagon. How else could a local talent have a chance to be seen by an L.A. casting director?”
Open to ages 8 to 55, the week-long workshops will feature five eight-hour days of multimedia instruction. Students will be divided into seven age groups. Each group will create a four-minute movie during the course of the week that will be presented as part of a mini-film festival on the final day. The video portion of the program will be taught by Teresa Thome and Patrick Ziegler of West Michigan’s Fubble Entertainment.
Jay Berkow, head of the theater department at Western Michigan University, will lead a college advisory program for high school students planning the next step in their careers. WOOD-TV 8 “Eight West’ anchor Rachel Ruiz will talk about careers in television.
“I think it’s good to see a local talent who has made it in the local media,” Petro said. “It’s good to have that perspective.”
A performer for 27 years, Petro appeared in such Broadway shows as “Cats” and “Cabaret.” He became a casting director 10 years ago, working for Disney as well as Broadway shows such as “Wicked” and “Legally Blonde” and the movie “Hairspray.” He has been teaching singing and dancing classes for 15 years. He developed his summer intensive program over the past five years working with San Diego Repertory Theatre.
A native of Chicago, he used to spend summers in Saugatuck. His family has migrated there over the years. He now lives in Saugatuck and held summer classes at Saugatuck Center for the Arts last summer. He’s also taught with West Michigan Youth Ballet.
Petro’s next project is a casting website, which he plans to launch in the fall.
“It’s like Facebook meets ‘American Idol,’” Petro said. “People can upload videos and get feedback.”
The site, castingnotice.com, is available to a limited degree already with a database of casting calls all over the country. Petro plans to add a social networking element so performers can interact and develop mentoring relationships.
“I’m thrilled to be moving technology and the arts forward,” he said.
[source]
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes to be recorded!
According to a tweet Megan retweeted today, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes will be recorded and a limited number of copies will be released!
Megan Hilty is simply ‘Smash-ing’ as Lorelei Lee
OK, so maybe they haven’t decided who’s getting the Marilyn Monroe role in the fictional musical on TV’s “Smash.” But Megan Hilty, who, as fans know, plays one of two actresses vying for that role, is so fresh, brassy, sexy and funny in the new Encores! production of “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” that you just want to shout: “Give her the part already! ANY part!”
Sometimes the casting of TV stars in stage productions feels like a gimmick, but not here. Hilty is a stage actress first — she played Glinda in “Wicked” and also starred in “9 to 5.” But she does something truly special with the iconic role of Lorelei Lee, the not-really-dumb blonde first immortalized onstage by Carol Channing, and later on film by Monroe herself.
Yes, Hilty has some famous shoes to fill. But she’s not about to mimic either actress. She’s confident enough to add new layers to the role. This Lorelei is a fascinating combination of strength, verve, humor, energy, sexual allure, and a bunch of other things hard to put one’s finger on. It helps that her singing voice is a marvelous instrument, too.
Just watch Hilty belt out “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” Lorelei’s famously pragmatic defense of her gold-digging ways. Hilty is clad in shimmering sequins, accentuating all the right curves. She glitters, swaggers, bumps and growls her way through Leo Robin’s clever lyrics. She should be getting a commission from Tiffany and Cartier, so convincingly does she hail their virtues.
When she was done, on opening night Wednesday, she re-entered the stage to perform the next scene, and was applauded again for long seconds before she could speak. This is what they call a show-stopper.
We’d be remiss, though, to speak only of Hilty, because this production, sadly playing for only seven performances at New York City Center, shimmers all over, from the ebullient cast of 30-plus to the onstage orchestra of the same size, expertly led by Rob Berman.
Director John Rando keeps the silly goings-on (and they ARE silly) moving at a happily brisk pace, and the choreography by Randy Skinner is a delight, from the athletic exertions of bare-chested Olympic team members to the crowd-pleasing tap number featuring the terrific team of Phillip Attmore and Jared Grimes, and Megan Sikora.
“Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” with its famous score by Jule Styne, is based on the novel by Anita Loos. Set in the Roaring Twenties, it follows Lorelei as she sails to Paris with her best friend and fellow showgirl, Dorothy (a charming Rachel York here, in terrific voice).
Like that other ocean-liner show currently playing, “Anything Goes,” the Atlantic crossing provides endless opportunity for musical comedy mayhem. The easiest part of the convoluted plot to explain is the revelation that Lorelei doesn’t have quite the quiet past that her fiance, a button magnate, thought — she’s from Arkansas, not Virginia, and got into a spot of trouble with the law there. Will the button magnate stay true? Or will Lorelei end up with the raw-carrot eating zipper inventor?
None of it matters much — it’s Styne’s lovely score, with songs like “Bye, Bye, Baby,” ”A Little Girl from Little Rock” and of course “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” the lush musical arrangements, and especially the entertaining performances all around that stick with you. (Among the supporting players, kudos must be given to Brennan Brown for channeling Peter Sellers — or is it Steve Martin? — in one hysterical scene.)
This is the third and last Encores! production of the season, and the most successful — look around the audience and it’s hard to find anyone without a grin on their face. It’s also the most elaborately staged. Time was, an Encores! production felt spare. Not this one.
Most of all, credit for the evening’s sparkle goes to Hilty for her bombshell performance. “Bombshell,” as “Smash” fans know, is the name of the musical in which Hilty and Katharine McPhee play rivals for that lead role.
However that contest turns out, what about “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes?” on Broadway? “Bombshell” is still fictional. “Gentlemen” is real, and ready. Producers, are you listening?
Megan at the Launch of Hello Kitty Big Pink Bow Fragrance
Home > Events and Appearances > Launch of Hello Kitty Big Pink Bow Fragrance – May 04, 2012 [x61]
DIVA TALK: Catching Up With “Smash” and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Star Megan Hilty
Megan Hilty
It’s been an especially exciting year for singing actress Megan Hilty, the Wicked and 9 to 5 star who landed one of the lead roles in NBC’s new musical series “Smash,” which airs Monday nights and was recently renewed for a second season. In the hour-long drama, which was created by playwright Theresa Rebeck and features new songs by Tony winners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, Hilty plays Broadway performer Ivy Lynn, a triple threat who, after several years of ensemble work, is finally given a chance to play the leading role in the workshop of a new musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Through many twists and turns, Lynn eventually loses the role, but don’t count this determined character out just yet.Hilty also recently signed a record deal with Masterworks, a subsidiary of Columbia Records, and she will soon star in the City Center Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, playing Lorelei Lee, the diamond-loving blonde made famous by Carol Channing. Directed by John Rando with music direction by Rob Berman and choreography by Randy Skinner, performances are scheduled for May 9-13 at the Manhattan venue. Last week I had the chance to chat with the busy actress, who spoke with refreshing candor about her many projects; that brief interview follows.
Question: How did you originally get involved with “Smash”? What was the audition process like?
Hilty: Well, I auditioned like everybody else, but I was in L.A. They were casting out of New York, [but] the script stuck out like a sore thumb because it was about my world, essentially. And, I immediately wanted to be a part of it, but then I saw in the character description that Ivy Lynn was a dancer — not just a dancer, but part of the ensemble for like ten years, which means she was a dancer — which I am not! [Laughs.] I called my manager and was like, “I think we should probably pass on this” just to save myself from humiliation in the dance calls. He was like, “Just put yourself on tape and we’ll see what happens.” Luckily, they hired a choreographer, Josh Bergasse, who is incredible. He’s the biggest star out of anybody in this show, and he makes it look like I know what I’m doing. [Laughs.] Thank God for Josh Bergasse!Question: How long was the audition process?
Hilty: I probably found out within a week.Question: Oh, wow, fast…
Hilty: Yeah, it was very, very quick.Question: Did you have any idea that it was going to be as successful as it is when you first read the script?
Hilty: You can never imagine if people are going to like it or how it’s going to turn out, but all I really know is that when we were doing it, it felt like we were doing something special.
[source]
Megan Hilty is a Smash
Megan Hilty has enchanted Broadway audiences in Wicked and 9 to 5, but she currently has the entire nation enthralled as chorus girl and wannabe Broadway superstar Ivy Lynn on the NBC hit musical series Smash, and can be heard on the series’ first soundtrack album, due out on May 1. The versatile actress — who will appear as Lorelei Lee in Encores! production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, May 9-13 at New York City Center — took time from her busy schedule to speak with TheaterMania about Smashand its music.
THEATERMANIA: What has it been like having to learn a new song practically every week and then record it?
MEGAN HILTY: It’s different with every piece of music. Some things Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman had to write or rewrite quickly, so we’d learn it in 24 hours and we’d be recording it. That was madness. And sometimes we had plenty of time to rehearse.TM: So many of Ivy’s songs sound like they were written just for you. Is that true?
MH: I don’t know how much of the writing was really done for me, but I feel so honored to be the first voice of Marc and Scott’s new music. They are so smart, and the songs for Smash work on so many different levels — for the character of Marilyn Monroe and the musical we’re putting on and the life of my character.TM: In a lot of these songs, like “Mr & Mrs. Smith,” you need to sound like Marilyn, yet also like Ivy/Megan. Is that difficult?
MH: I’ve learned to sing kind of like Marilyn, with that breathy, sultry sound. But that wouldn’t carry on a big stage, so it makes sense that for a musical that I also sound like Ivy/Megan. I’ve tried hard to keep that balance.TM: Do you have a favorite number from the show?
MH: My favorite is “Let’s Be Bad.” I was playing Ivy, Ivy playing Marilyn, and Marilyn playing Sugar in Some Like It Hot. It was an epic number.TM: One of my favorite songs on the soundtrack wasn’t written by Marc and Scott: Carrie Underwood’s “Crazy Dreams.” Did you know the song beforehand?
MH: I wasn’t familiar with it. They sent me Carrie’s recording and I thought this could be fun, whatever we do with it. When we went into the recording studio, our producer decided to slow it down and make it tender, so you could really listen to the lyrics. And that felt right. I appreciate that we get to do some pop songs and we get to do our own arrangements so they fit within the show.TM: Would you like to do more pop tunes next season?
MH: I really would like Ivy to sing some Ray LoMantagne or some Bonnie Raitt songs. Maybe something by Heart. I tend to think outside of the box, instead of the super-mainstream or ultra-current. I don’t care about that. I think you’ll also see that when my own album comes out. It’s going to be very contemporary.TM: The show uses so many people from Broadway. Is that a bonus for you?
MH: It’s really great to look up in the makeup trailer and see so many of my friends from the Broadway community every week. They’ve really done right by us by using these incredible people who can really sing and dance.TM: What has it been like working with Bernadette Peters, who plays your mother?
MH: It’s been the ultimate dream come. She is the true reason I wanted to be in musical theater. When I was going to meet her at this awards ceremony at college, I was so excited. And I needed her to know how important she was in my life; so I wrote this long fan letter, put it in a card, and handed it to her. Ivy has this very tumultuous relationship with her mother, and the hardest thing I’ve done all season is to act like I do not like Bernadette. Make sure to tune in on May 14, there are some really great scenes between us on the season finale.
[source]
Gallery updates
- Home > Photoshoots and Portraits > Shoot 007
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- Home > Events and Appearances > At the Maggy London Showroom – April 23, 2012
- Home > Events and Appearances > Ghost Broadway Opening – March 23, 2012
Emmys: ‘Smash’ Star Debra Messing Competes as Lead Actress, McPhee and Hilty Supporting
American Idol alum Katharine McPhee and breakout star Megan Hilty have been vying for the lead role of a lifetime in NBC’s freshman Broadway drama Smash.
But NBC and the actress’ reps are taking them out of the lead-actress spotlight for the upcoming Emmy season. A Smash rep confirms that the only castmember who will be submitted for lead drama actress consideration is Emmy winner and six-time nominee Debra Messing. The rest of the cast will compete in the supporting categories.The news might inspire a “huh?” from critics and Smash fans for whom McPhee and Hilty — who not only grab the lion’s share of screen time but also those heavy song-and-dance numbers — are the stars of the series. Then again, Messing is by far the show’s biggest TV “name,” and her history with Emmy voters likely prompted NBC to strategize that it has a better shot getting her a lead-actress nomination.
And on the plus side, submitting McPhee, Hilty and their Oscar-winning co-star Anjelica Huston (also a six-time Emmy nominee) as supporting actress contenders means they will compete in a wide-open category. Last year’s winner, Margo Martindale of Justified, was killed off during the show’s season finale, so the category is ripe for spoilers.
[source]
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Current Projects
Smash
(2012)Role: Ivy Lynn
Status:Airing (NBC 10/9c)
Official Site | iTunes | IMDb | Gallery
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
(Encores! Production)Role: Lorelei Lei
Dates: May 09-13, 2012
Official Site | Tickets |
Dorothy of Oz
(2012)Role: China Princess (voice)
Release Date: August 03, 2012
Official Site | IMDb | Gallery
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