On March 15, Broadway’s Megan Hilty will perform with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in Kleinhans Music Hall at 8 p.m. It will be her first Buffalo appearance ever.
“I stayed the night in Buffalo on the way to Toronto once, and was sad not to have time to spend in your beautiful city!” confides Hilty, who first came to prominence as a replacement Glinda in the Broadway production of Wicked, and who starred in the television shows, Smash and Sean Saves the World. I first became aware of Hilty when I saw her in the Broadway bound production of 9 to 5: the Musical in Los Angeles as Doralee Rhodes, the character played by Dolly Parton in the film. It was an immediate “wow” moment. She is, in every way, sensational.
Recently, Hilty has deployed her well-earned celebrity to perform with symphony orchestras all over the country and at special events like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Boston Pops Fourth of July. She also maintains an active voice-acting career.
Her name was in the news again this week when it was announced the new musical, The Honeymooners, originally slated for Goodspeed in Connecticut, will skip the regionals to go directly to Broadway. Hilty is expected to play Trixie in the show, based on the 1950s Jackie Gleason sitcom about two working-class couples living in the same building in Brooklyn. With a book written by Dusty Kay and Bill Nuss, music by Stephen Weiner and lyrics by Peter Mills, The Honeymooners is being directed by John Rando, who won a Tony in 2002 for directing Urinetown. A workshop of the piece in November featured Michael McGrath and Leslie Kritzer as Ralph and Alice Kramden, and Hank Azaria and Hilty as Ed and Trixie Norton, who were also expected to play the roles at Goodspeed.
While that show is gestating, however, Hilty, a Carnegie-Mellon graduate, is content to pursue her concert career. “It’s every singer’s dream to sing with a symphony orchestra,” she told Artvoice. “It’s so rare to get the opportunity to sing with so many LIVE musicians of that caliber. And it’s quite an honor!”
Welcome to Buffalo, Megan Hilty! We think you’ll be popular.