SMASH Star Megan Hilty to Star in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES at Encores!

[Rob]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:31am

Click Here to Read SMASH Star Megan Hilty to Star in GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES at Encores!

[North2009]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:46am

A bit obvious - would have been nice to see someone more quirky and more in the Channing mode - but the girl is talented.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 9:57am

Exactly - this is so uninteresting a choice. Like Kelli O'Hara in Bells Are Ringing. "Let's cast someone with no quirks in a quirky role! That should push the envelope..."

[finebydesign]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:25am

Is she going to play it as Marilyn? Well at least she'll have work after Smash gets the ax.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:31am

Well I think this is brilliant casting. Not only will it showcase Hilty, it will tie in to NBCs most heavily promoted show and be a huge seller for City Center. I really don't see a downside here.

[madbrian]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:33am

If it were up to me, as it ought to be, I'd bring in Christina Hendricks for this.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:36am

Like Kelli O'Hara in Bells Are Ringing. "Let's cast someone with no quirks in a quirky role! That should push the envelope..."

*eyeroll*

I agree that this casting choice is a bit obvious/safe, but that doesn't mean that she won't blow it out of the water. I think she'll be exceptional. And hopefully this will give her more theatre exposure as a solid lead since her last outing was in a poorly received show in which she played the 3rd lead.

[newintown]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:47am

Oh, girl, I know you didn't role your eyes at me.

I see nothing "obvious" at all about this casting ("safe," yes). The role was created for a very eccentric, strange comedienne with a rather unusual low voice with bizarre high notes.

Hilty is a conventionally pretty (if a bit short) ingenue with a high mix and good strong soprano, not known for playing comedy unusually well or for any eccentricity whatsoever. Her persona is utterly normal.

The match is far from "obvious." I think she'll be competent, maybe slightly amusing, no more.

Updated On: 2/1/12 at 10:47 AM

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:50am

Someone on ATC said a week or so ago that Katie Finneran was originally lined up to play Lorelei, but now she's due with her second child right around production time. She probably would've been more in the Caroly Channing mold, but I'm curious to see Megan Hilty. (I would've loved to have seen Nina Arianda, but I then realized they were no way the producers of Venus in Fur would let her go for two weeks to a month.)

[AC126748]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:51am

Perhaps they're trying to return Lorelei to her original "five-foot-two with eyes of blue" incarnation from Anita Loos's book. Channing has said in interviews that before Jule Styne discovered and became determined to cast her, they had intended to write the character closer to Loos's characterization of Lorelei.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:58am

not known for playing comedy unusually well or for any eccentricity whatsoever

I don't think she's particularly known for anything at all. That's why I am excited to see what she does with it.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 11:17am

I'm with Jordan on this one, this is actually exciting casting. Definitely the most exciting of the Encores! lot this year.

Hilty has played Mrs. Lovett before (in college), so she has to have some low notes, she's just been cast primarily in soprano roles since college. In fact, she said herself in interviews that when she went in for the Wicked auditions, she figured it was for the Elphaba standby, since she was more of a belter.

That said, I'm a little afraid she is going to take the Marilyn route, and while I love Marilyn in the film (the only film I like her in) I'm not sure how well it'll fit into the stage version. Conversly, I hope she doesn't go the way she did the longer she was in Wicked, and play it too crass and common.

She's no Carol Channing, no one is, but I think she'll be good.

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:42pm

Besides being very excited for her to play this role because she is exceptionally talented, I'm also intrigued because I think she has great comedic style. She was by far the funniest person I ever saw as Glinda (and hers was also the best sung I saw) and I think she was equally funny in 9 to 5.

[beautywickedlover]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:52pm

"Is she going to play it as Marilyn? Well at least she'll have work after Smash gets the ax"

How can you say that when the show has not even premiered yet? When I went to the sneak preview of the show at a movie theater, there was a big crowd. I actually think the program has lots of potential. It has an outstanding cast and an excellent creative team. Plus, critics are giving it very good buzz.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 12:59pm

I wish Katie Finneran were still doing this.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 4:31pm

Love how people judge things...BEFORE seeing whatever they are judging.
SMASH has yet to premiere...but already there's talk about it being axed like they have already bombed. From the sound of it, its getting a lot of buzz.
And Hilty has yet to show us what she has to offer for the role. When some clips of her singing the material surface...then begin the speculation.

[Play Esq.]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 4:32pm

Ain't nothin' wrong with a good choice.

Though not Lauren Ambrose as Fanny Brice unique casting (chuckles)...this really works.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 4:37pm

This is one case where a choice is "obvious" because it's good.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 7:16pm

To clarify, Hilty will probably be great. I just wish Finneran could do it too.

[Matt2]

Posted: 2/1/12 at 10:46pm

I thought Channing had dibs on this role in every future production, like with "Hello, Dolly!"...

[jayinchelsea]

Posted: 2/4/12 at 9:40am

I have to admit that I've never seen Hilty on stage, but if you can't wait until Monday, "Smash" is all over the web, as NBC tries to find an audience for a somewhat specialized series. But no, Hilty does not excite me; Katie Finneran would have been brilliant, but she's not a TV star, and I guess that's what they wanted (okay, Hilty is almost a TV star, but after all those damned promos, I feel as though I've been watching her for months!)

[goldenboy]

Posted: 2/4/12 at 9:51am

Meghan Hilty STOLE the production of Wicked I saw. She was hilariously funny as Galinda. She also did an amazing job in 9 to 5 channelling Dolly Parton. Not as easy a feat as it looks. She is a consummate stage comedian and I look forward to her take on Lorelei Lee.

I don't like her as much in Smash (saw the preview) and think at this point she is more of a stage actress than a tv or film actress. Theatre is her venue and she does it extremely well. Of course it was the pilot and maybe see will learn her "small screen craft.

I predicted a great future for her when I saw her as Glinda and here she is! It is great casting and to say this blonde is not quirky is absolutely wrong. Can't wait for her Lorelei.