Smash: On Broadway-VOi

The first hour of the two hour season premiere was released online yesterday. The two hour premiere will air on NBC on February 5th. Megan Hilty plays the role Ivy Lynn. Megan describes her as "deeply flawed." For a recap and breakdown of Season One of Smash, see the previous post. This blog being about Megan, I am going to just talk about Ivy's major plot moments. I am calling this series of posts the "Voice of Ivy" (VOi) as many sources portray her as a villain, although she really is not. Especially this season. Here it goes...

Ivy

Last season ended with a cliff-hanger for Ivy. As Karen went onstage to close Bombshell as Marilyn, Ivy is seen with a handful of pills ready to gulp down. We never see her actually swallow the pills, nor are we positive why she has them, although the most common theory was suicide. During the opening song the first episode, On Broadway, Ivy is in her bathroom, clearing her shelves of the pills. This is the symbol of a new and improved Ivy who will remain in control and aware of herself and her emotions. That said, I still don't believe that Ivy is in any place personally to be in a relationship, whether with Derek or a great guy. 

One of my favorite parts of this episode was the talk between Julia and Ivy. Karen has just exchanged a few less than savory words with Ivy about singing that night. Karen feels that Ivy is trying to take her spotlight. We all know that Julia has had an affair with Michael Swift last season. Her marriage with Frank has improved although we're not sure why. When Ivy asks what she can do to keep her spot in the ensemble, Julia tells her to apologize. We have seen Ivy apologize once last season and try to a few times this episode. But what for? Julia further explains, in a rather motherly fashion, that she apologized to Frank numerous times for cheating, but that was easy. The hard part, the part of an apology that means something is apologizing for why she cheated. Ivy needed to tell Karen why she slept with Dev. This moment was very eye-opening to Ivy as well as to Julia, who seems to feel for Ivy and is SHOCKINGLY able to relate to her struggle.

Then, it is Eileen's actual party. Derek has called Ivy, presumably to drop her contract. But Ivy doesn't know yet. All she knows is that Derek wants to talk to her, and being Ivy, she jumps at the chance. When she walks in, she sees Derek with one arm on Karen's back, and he is holding her cheek. Derek sees Ivy and jerks away from Karen, chasing after Ivy. When Ivy realizes that he is letting her go, she drops her head and walks away, making my heart break for her. Here is this man that she has trusted, and loved, maybe even still does, and he is pushing her out. he is leaving her jobless, boyfriendless, and he originally CALLED HER!!! He was probably going to do all of that over the phone, knowing him. 

Still at the party, the news has just been announced that Bombshell is frozen, and Karen is in an out-of-the-way room freaking out. Ivy comes in, making Karen give out a sigh. Life sucks for both of them in this moment, and they are both vulnerable. This scene is my favorite. Ivy sits down, while Karen remains standing. This is almost symbolic, in that Ivy always seems to be lower than Karen, despite how hard she works. So here Ivy is, below Karen again, and she is at Karen's mercy. The fate of her future is in Karen's hands. The drama builds with Ivy's pure, sincere, honesty. Then she tells Karen probably one of the darkest, most personal things ever. She admits to almost killing herself on opening night. Looking back, she can see it was stupid, but in the moment she was in such despair, that she almost did. By this point, there were tears streaming down my face, as my heart just wrenched for Ivy! Poor girl, she is finally in a good place, when her world comes crashing down. She can never seem to get anything, but she always comes so close, then falls. 

What are your thoughts on Ivy? Why is she so interesting? Do you like her? Respond in the comments.

And a bonus video of Megan singing Don't Dream It's Over on part one of episode one. Enjoy! :)

It Happens All The Time

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been in a show and then I got sick! But enough about me, because It Happens All The Time was released this week!!! Megan Hilty has talked about delaying making an album because she simply had nothing important to say. She finally has a statement to make, and it's about Loooooove! (I intended for you to say Looove  with a Southern Belle Accent)

As many of her fans know, Megan broke off her six year relationship with actor Steve Kazee early last year. She was able to maintain a strong exterior in public, but six years is a LONG time to be with someone! It must have been devastating. She has said in interviews that  she didn't intend for her album to become a collection of breakup anthems, but she related to those songs the most. 

Now, we all know that Megan could belt the heck out of any song, shredding the likes of all that her ex did wrong with powerhouse delivery. But she did just the opposite. She sang softly, but with power and pain behind every note. The result? An accumulation of intimate easy rock ballads that leave listeners begging for more. 

The title song, It Happens All The Time, poses the question, "If people fall in love all the time, why am I still alone?" It is a bluesy pop song that is sung in a toned down Hilty belt. Is it the sound of someone who knows them self, but is in a lonely state. Someone who is justifying the actions of a breakup. Megan's voice takes a break from her typically smooth velvety sound and becomes almost raspy. Some parts are sung forcefully, some nearly in a whisper.

Be A Man, Megan's self proclaimed favorite, starts with drawn out phrases, almost like sighs. Then, it transitions into lines of questions and statements that take pauses, as if waiting for a response. Despite its staunch name, Be A Man is a ballad that helplessly prods the former lover to, "Don't try to dance around it, just be a man about it," leading us to wonder....was this an unfair feeling Megan has experienced?

Walk Away is Megan's most radio ready song, which is probably a result of Carrie Underwood and Ne-Yo being cowriter of it. It is a powerful women's solo about not putting up with the guilt and constant annoyances from the dumpee. 

Next, Megan covers Taylor Swift's made-for-the-movies Hunger Games composition Safe and Sound. Instead of taking the lyrics such as "The war outside our door keeps raging on," in a literal way, as intended, Megan puts them in a romantic context. This added to her clear, forward delivery and sound of tears in her voice amplifies the well-written song to a level that was never reached by its original songstress.

Megan also covers the heartbreaking song, originally by Damien Rice, Blower's Daughter. Another ballad, however the theme isn't becoming tired as it should. Megan expresses the melody and lyrics in a straight forward way that respects the original, but adds another haunting level.

Suddenly, we are dropped into a repetitive pop song that hardly uses any of Megan's talent called Hopin'. It's a fine ditty, but does no justice to the wealth of talent who sings it. She gives it as much as the song allows. Needless to say, it's not my favorite.

After we conclude hearing 'Hopin' repeated what seems like trillions of times, we hear a single piano begin and Hilty's fresh voice begin to deliver Wise Up. It is a scolding song telling her lover who is on the edge how to make a decision about their seemingly one-sided relationship.

Just to show her class, Megan throws in a Don Henley cover of The Heart Of The Matter. She slows down the recognizable melody and dials back the manly power to turn it into a raw, regretful anthem of mistakes that are made when falling in and out of love.

Megan then moves onto to a cover of the Switchfoot song Dare You To Move. I've never heard the original, but Megan sings it with competence and dominance. The beat makes it a shoo-in for a Dance Party Remix to fist pump to on the dance floors of classy New York bars. 

For a final cover, Hilty accesses the Elvis-style artist Bruno Mars as she takes on It Will Rain. She maintains the original beat and lyrics, but they way she sings it makes more sense than the original. By adding male vocals underneath parts of the chorus, she packs more emotion in the song than has ever been achieved on that song previously. 

*This post is from when the song list was released. For the review go here.

New details have been released about Megan Hilty's first solo album titled It Happens All The Time. A break-up theme and renowned song writers in the mix? "Stylistically these aren't the type of songs that I'm used to singing." 

It Happens All The Time
Be A Man
No Cure
Walk Away
Safe And Sound
Blower's Daughter
Hopin
Wise Up

Dare You To Move
It Will Rain
The Heart Of The Matter

Gravity

For this album, Megan has stepped out of her past recording history of Broadway and the occasional pop hit cover. Although some of the songs above are recognizable pop songs, Megan has assuredly rearranged and made them her own.  The majority of the songs are originals written by the likes of Ne-Yo, Carrie Underwood, Glenn Ballard, and Wayne Hector (best known for writing One Direction songs). 

"I want to show a different side of me because it's the first thing I've ever done that's just me and not attached to any character or story line."

The album takes on the unintended shape of a break-up album. The past year has been a year of falling in, and out, of love for Hilty. Megan split from boyfriend Steve Kazee, this year, and is now in a serious relationship with Broadway performer Brian Gallagher. Megan says she chose the songs based on lyrics she could connect with. As for the title,"It Happens All The Time is about the frustration of trying to find true love. If it happens all the time then why hasn't it happened to me?"

Based on the strong cover art and intriguing song list, March 12th can't come fast enough! What song are you most looking forward to hearing Megan Hilty sing? Comment below. My picks are No Cure and Be A Man. 

For more from the interviews the above quotes came from, go to broadwayworld.com

Let Me Be Your SMASH

"Fade in on a girl, with a hunger for fame." The new anthem of fame-searchers, and Broadway wannabes. The original song from the Emmy-nominated NBC hit Smash,  that can sum up Megan Hilty's rise to fame.

SPOILER ALERT! Contains Smash spoilers from Season 1

Smash

Summary

Nbc's Smash is a fairly new show that follows the a new musical's path to Broadway. The new musical just happens to be about the life of Marilyn Monroe. It starts with an idea and a song called Let Me Be Your Star written by the openly gay song-writer Tom Levitt and his writing partner Julia Houston. (played by Christian Borle and Debra Messing) After their original song is accidentally released on the internet, a recently divorced producer by the name of Eileen Rand (Anjelica Huston) takes on the project as well as a homophobic slime-bag director named Derek Wills (Jack Davenport). Auditions for the role of Marilyn are held and two girls are called back, Karen Cartwright (Katharine McPhee) and Ivy Lynn (Megan Hilty). Karen is a young girl from Iowa, her only previous experience being in local midwest theaters. Ivy is a seasoned veteran who we can assume to have a BFA in theatre. Ivy has spent 10 years in the chorus of various musicals. 

When pilot season came around, Megan got a script about a television show about a Broadway musical. "I thought it was too good to be true," she says. But she almost didn't try out. In the description for the character of Ivy Lynn, it mentioned dance skills. Megan has notoriously botched many dance auditions. (At one, she just waved repeated an arm motions because she couldn't remember the rest) Her agent told her to just try it, and THANK GOODNESS she did! 

I can't even imagine the overwhelming emotions that Megan felt when she go the part. I can't even begin to describe how it felt, so I'll leave that to Megan; "I literally cried all night. I called my parents, I was sobbing uncontrollably and they thought something was wrong, and I said, 

'No it's a good thing, I'm just really emotional!'"

Megan's character is very complex, and very relatable. Ivy Lynn is definitely my favorite. She sleeps with the Derek, but it's not a one night stand sort of thing. She also gets her hands on some dangerous drugs when her voice becomes overworked and stressed, but she begins to abuse them. Ivy's mother could be one of the roots of her problems. Her mother, Lee Conroy (Bernadatte Peters) is a Broadway star and Ivy can't seem to get out of her shadow. Her mother can't seem to find a single encouraging thing to say to Ivy and I get the sense that Ivy was raised by nannies. When her character is called manipulative and conniving, this is Megan's response, " I can't judge the character like that. I can't think that she's manipulative or conniving. I have to look at it a different way, because i have to love her. In my mind I had to kind of rationalize [Ivy's] behavior as something along the lines of her being a victim of circumstance. She's backed into a corner because of these certain things and that's why she's behaving this way."

Comment Prompter: What is your favorite thing about Megan's "deeply flawed" character Ivy Lynn?

*Direct quotes came from PR and Cambio

 

Broadway Barbie: 9 to 5

"What would Dolly do?" When spending nearly two years remaking the movie character made famous by none other than Dolly Parton, Megan found herself thinking of the country sensation when making decisions. 

9 to 5

         After dropping into the starring role of a Broadway show made a hit by previous women, Megan ventured into the more exciting-and sometimes excruciatingly long- Broadway process. When Megan was in Toronto on tour with Wicked, her then-boyfriend asked her why she wasn't auditioning for the role of Doralee. The following day, the director, Joe Mantello, called asking if she would be a part of the first readings. That was two and a half years before the show hit Broadway. To add to the pressure of playing the oh-so iconic role, Dolly Parton was there throughout the entire process."It was extremely daunting in the beginning when I just got a phone call to be at one of the first readings...then I realized that Dolly was going to be in the room and I would have to do her role in front of her." But, Megan has been heard many times talking about how kind and generous Dolly was. 
        Dolly wrote all of score herself, and she had a very unique way of teaching the music. Typically, the cast is grouped around a piano and sight reads the music that is handed out in the form of a score. But Dolly sat down with her cast and sang with them. So, Dolly would sing a phrase, then Megan would sing it back to her. They would repeat this until Dolly felt that Megan had retained the song. Different, but to me that sounds better. On Dolly's work ethic, Megan says, "She was so supportive of just letting me do my thing and never telling me I was doing anything wrong. She was just like, 'Oh Honey, you're doin' fiiiiine.'"       

"She was just like, 'Oh Honey, you're doin' 

fiiiiine."

      

          All shows go through workshops and revisions, but Megan had never been a part of the traditional Broadway process before."There is something about being a part of the process from day one that you feel like the show is your child because you were there for its conception. You've put your handprint on a show." The famous song "Backwoods Barbie" was almost left out due to its extreme parallels to Dolly herself, but in the end it was decided that Doralee was a role written about Dolly, so the similarity wouldn't be a bad thing for Megan. 
         And of course, in playing the role originated by the curvy Dolly Parton, we knew the costuming would have to be fun! I mean, the D-cups, the hair, the tiny waist! But Megan said that the nails helped her get into character the best. "People think that's weird because the audience can't see them, but you act differently with those long nail on. You use your hands in a totally different way," says Megan. She even got to wear a waist cincher that made her waist 4 inches smaller, "As soon as I put it on I hold myself differently and breathe differently."
        Megan absolutely kills it on the 9 to 5 soundtrack. My dad actually thought Megan's "Backwoods Barbie" was Dolly Parton! Is there any role that Megan can't play?

Comment Prompter: If you could work with any celebrity on a Broadway show, who would it be?

*The direct quotes for this post came from interviews with GuestOfAGuest and NewYorkPost

She's Gonna Be Popular!

She's gonna be POPULAR! She sang the famous song every night, and she was indeed becoming what she sang about. The start of Megan's rise to fame came before she'd even graduated college!

Wicked

       After her Carnegie Mellon Showcase, Megan got a packet with the information for an audition. Someone had shown an interest in her to play a key role in Little Shop of Horrors.But the man playing opposite her was at an age that didn't fit with her age.She was devastated. Her agent told her there were some openings for a new show starring Kristin Chenowith and Idina Mendzel. Megan was asked to see the show the night before the audition. In an interview, Megan said that after watching the show, she was stunned and sudenly no longer wanted to audition. She said in an interview,"I thought I had absolutely no chance to get the job, and that liberated me, so I just concentrated on having fun." Shortly after on the same day as her audition, her agent called and according to Hilty said, "I don't know what you did, but they want you in the show." Shocked, she was ready to get started.

"A couple of hours later, my agent called me and said 'I don't know what you did, but they want you in the show.'"

      Megan trained and rehearsed in a room with only a few backup dancers and ensemble members. After having played the role of standby for a few performances, she was struggling with staying true to Kristin. According to Megan in an interview, an assistant stage manager told her that she needed to stop trying to clone the performances of Kristin and Jennifer. She was asked not watch the show again and just make the role her own. "Because of that I had to sit down with the script again, and I was like, 'Okay, I can't be as funny, charming as these two ladies, especially in these places, but maybe if I can make it funny here, if I can bring something else to it in a different spot.' I really had to go back and treat it like any other script." She didn't step into the bubble in the full Galinda-style ballgown dress until her first night on stage starring as Glinda opposite the crazy-famous Idina Mendzel. Although she says everyone was supportive, I'm sure her stomach must have been doing somersaults! Many people who saw her in those early days as standby were blown away by her strong, well thought out performance (I mean she winked with the music in the opening number!) and were shocked to learn that she didn't play the role nightly.  

       After some time, she replaced Jennifer Thompson and continued with Idina Mendezel playing Elphaba. Later, Shoshana Bean became her Elphaba. Megan and Shoshana became very close and started their own webseries called the Meg an' Sho Show. They put on a concert  that they called The Wicked Swap where they sang the songs of each other's character. Although it was originally performed live, it became a YouTube hit among fans. Shoshana retired her role and was replaced by Eden Espinosa. Eden is known to be one of the few Broadway babes to have never attended college for theater.

        Wicked was Megan's start to fame. She became known for the role and on YouTube, and many comments indicate that "Thank Goodness" is considered by Wicked fans to be 'Megan's song.' Glinda was a perfect role for her to play fresh out of college. It lead to many other projects that eventually led to her small screen debut. It's safe to say that she has  definitely become POPULAR!

Comment Prompter: Who is your favorite Glinda/ Elphaba combination?

*The direct quotations came from AOLMusicBlog and MeganHiltyOnline

Welcome: A Little Girl from Bellevue

She's just a little girl from...Bellevue. Maybe you're a hardcore Megan fan from the Wicked days, maybe you're a new fan blown away by her performance as Ivy Lynn on Smash, or maybe you're just looking for an interesting read. Whether a diehard Hilty fan or someone looking for an neat story, you've come to the right place. 

The Early Years

At a very young age, Megan became obsessed with singing. Her mother had read an article that if a tone-deaf parent sang to their child, then their child would become tone-deaf. So Megan's mother refused to utter a note in the presence of her young daughter. But she would  play the music of Whitney Houston. Growing up in a non-musical family, Megan grew fascinated with the world of music and at the age of twelve, she began taking voice lessons. Going in, Megan thought she could sing the powerhouse pop she often listened to, but her teacher opened the door to the world of opera singing. Megan's dream shifted to becoming a professional opera singer, she even attended opera camp. But after learning of the short-lived career of an operatic vocalist, Megan focused on musical theatre. Her favorite Broadway shows include Sweeney Todd and Into The Woods, whose albums showcased the emotional vocals of Bernadatte Peters. She graduated high school early at the age of 17 and moved to Oregon to "see if it was possible to make a living on acting." After a show, Megan was at a laundry mat, where her life was changed. A man who had seen her in the perform that night told her to get to Pennsylvania as soon as possible and audition for the prestigious musical theatre program at Carnegie Mellon. She took the leap of faith and never turned back. Citing her only reason for getting through the dance portion of the audition as confidence, Megan to this day calls herself a "stage-mover" NOT a "dancer". In one open dance call, she only remembered the part of the dance that was an waving arm movement, so she did that for the entire duration of the dance combination. 

Comment Prompter: When did you first hear about Megan?

My Mission:

My goal for this blog is to celebrate Megan Hilty and connect her fans. For the first few posts, I will do recaps of different projects and parts of her life. After that, I will write reviews of each Smash episode starting February 5th. In addition, I will keep you up to date on upcoming Megan events. Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoy! 
~Bailey

***Just for the record, the other posts are better than this one!!!!!!