Summer's Story: Pittsburgh Symphony PITT, PA Megan Hilty

Summer met Megan Hilty in Pittsburgh on June 21, 2014. Summer has a unique connection to Meg because she has just finished playing the role of Doralee in 9 to 5 the musical. 

When asked if Megan looked like she was expecting, Summer said, "Yes, she looked pregnant. Her first dress for the show was a deep magenta satin dress with a rushed bodice and cascading ruffle dow the front. After intermission, she came out in a royal blue chiffon gown with a one shoulder and yes, she looked pregnant. 

"She frequently rested her free hand on her belly.  I'm assuming her constant hand placement was partially because she needed somewhere to put her hand, but also for breath support because it's significantly harder. She said that a lot of people told her that she wouldn't be able to sing while pregnant, but she's still going. I noticed it was often her left hand because her wedding ring was sparkling."

Pittsburgh is the home of Carnegie Mellon University, where Megan attended college from 2000-2004. "She talked about graduating from CMU and how she's grown up since then, saying she had gotten married and is now expecting her first child. She then joked, assuring that the weight gain was because of the baby, not because she ate too many Primanti Brother's sandwiches (which are a Pittsburgh must-have) while she was here."

As has been a fixation on pregnant women, fans were looking to Megan's shoes. "Someone asked her how she was wearing four inch spikes and she laughed, saying 'I'm trying to be responsible, but....I can't wear flats, they hurt my feet!'"

Summer visited the stage door following Meg's performance. "She was genuinely happy and surprised to see everyone waiting for her when she first came out. I got her flowers that were pink and sparkly. She kept thanking me for them and saying how beautiful they were and I asked her to sign my 9 to 5 script. I went to hand her a sharpie and saw she had one. I was a little caught off guard. 'Well right now I don't have much of an immune system, I know it's gross, but I don't really share pens because of that,' she said. I posed for a photo and she signed my friend's program and took a photo again. Before she moved on, she looked at us and said, 'Were you sitting toward the front on the end?" I told her we were and she said, "I could tell. You two have a great energy. Thanks again for the beautiful flowers.'"

Thanks to Summer for sharing her story. Tweet me @MeganHiltyBlog or @baileyford2016 to share your fan story!

Emily's Story: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra PITT, PA Megan Hilty

This story comes from Emily Cooper who met Megan Hilty on June 21, 2014 at the "Luck Be a Lady" concert with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orcehstra.

So I was freaking out the whole way there because she is one of my Broadway idols and I was gonna cry so hard if I got to meet her at stage door and OH MY GRACIOUS was I excited.

I didn’t see Brian. He had to have been backstage but I didn’t see him come out with her at stage door. And she talked about the baby for a split second. She was like, “And I’m pregnant, as you can tell.” Cue audience applause. “Oh, thank you! I just didn’t want you to think that I ate too much before coming on tonight. I mean, I did, but this is an entirely different thing.” 

The set list was GREAT. She did two songs from Smash, including my favorite one, “They Just Keep Movin’ The Line” from season two. That song is my favorite from the entire show, it means so much to me, and to hear her do it live was phenomenal. The first act alone, she did “Popular” from Wicked and “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”. I cried like three times, including the first time she walked out onstage. Haha. I’m lame.

She was truly captivating. She did this mashup of “Autumn Leaves” and “When October Goes” and I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. Probably because she is an actor first and foremost, she was so focused and so connected to what she was singing. You could see it in her eyes and hear it in her voice; she was actually ACTING. I LOVE seeing people forming legitimate connections on stage. Chills.

And this girl is funny as HECK. During “Popular”, on the “you’ll be good at sports” line, she moved her hand like she was hitting a ball and it was so bad that it was hilarious. The first time she mentioned that she was on Smash, the audience started woo’ing and she was like, "Oh! So YOU were the ones actually watching it."

Before “Secondhand White Baby Grand,” (which was her favorite song from Smash and another one that you could just tell how much she loved it) she was talking about Marilyn and the piano and she finished by saying, “Mariah Carey owns it now. I learned that on MTV Cribs."

I really hoped I would get to meet her at stage door. 

Which I did.

And it was awesome.

There was a group of about 30 of us waiting for her for roughly 15 minutes. When she came out, she looked so genuinely happy and surprised that we were all waiting for her. The first thing she said was, “Oh thank you so much. I will get to all of you.” Complete class act.

When she got to me, she signed my CD.

I was the only one who had a copy of the CD, and she said “Thank you so much for buying my CD!”, then I said, “Thank you so much for singing ‘Movin the Line’ tonight, that song really means so much to me…” and then I started crying. She looked at me and said “OH SWEETIE, DON’T DO THAT!” I said, “Sorry, I knew that was gonna happen,” and she laughed. We took a picture together!

I said thank you one more time and

SHE

HUGGED

ME.

I was the only person in the entire group that she hugged. I was so happy.

My mom and I were waiting for my dad to come pick us up, and when she was done signing, Megan walked by us and waved and said goodbye again.

She was the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful person that I have ever had the privilege of meeting.

Thank you so much for a great night, Megan. I’m never going to forget it.