By Barry Bassis Megan Hilty is a star of the musical TV drama series “Smash,” but theatergoers know her as the Broadway star of “Wicked” and “9 To 5: The Musical.” For her debut solo CD, “It Happens All The Time,” she decided to show a different side of her talent. The album contains no theater songs. Instead, it’s a contemporary pop oriented exploration of break-up songs by Aimee Mann, Sara Bareilles, Bruno Mars, Damien Rice, Hogarth, Glen Ballard, Ne-Yo and Carrie Underwood. She lets out all the stops on “Be a Man,” urging her mate to have the nerve to tell her the relationship is over. The mood of the album is not completely downbeat. On “Walk Away” (co-written by Ne-Yo, Carrie Underwood and Luke Laird), she overcomes the painful breakup. The theme of new beginnings is continued with “No Cure” on which co-writer Hogarth joins Hilty on vocals. Hilty sounds convincing on this material, but it represents only part of her range. Last year, Hilty received rave reviews in the Encores! production of the classic musical “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Fortunately, the cast recorded the Jule Styne/Leo Robin
songs. Hilty plays Lorelei Lee (the Marilyn sing “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and “I’m Just a Little Girl from Little Rock.” This is the funny, brassy side of Hilty’s talent. The equally estimable Rachel York plays her buddy on the Encores CD with Clarke Thorell, and Aaron Lazar in the male leads. “70s and Sunny, Live at 54 Below” is Andrea McArdle’s cabaret act, a reminiscence of the decade in which she became a 13-year old star in “Annie.” Photos on the liner notes show her during that era with such luminaries as Muhammad Ali, Barbra Streisand and Michael Jackson and she also speaks about her experiences on the CD. Of course, she includes “Tomorrow” but performs songs from other Broadway shows (e.g., by Stephen Schwartz, Jerry Herman and Marvin Hamlisch) as well as from the pop world (e.g., Billy Joel and Peter Allen). McArdle’s name will always be associated developed into a charming adult performer. “Gifts” is Christiane Noll’s live album from 54 Below, where she appeared during the run of “Chaplin” (in which she played the silent star’s troubled mother). Her act is basically a musical autobiography, including
Resident May 2013
piano accompaniment is by Ross Patterson. Noll pretty much sticks to Broadway songs (shows she appeared in such as “Ragtime” and “Jekyll and Hyde” as well as some she didn’t (Annie’s “Hard Knock Life,” “What I Did For Love” from “A Chorus Line” and “Some Enchanted Evening” from “South gems from “Baby,” “Once on This Island” and “Barnum.” She sings “The Sound of Music” in a pure soprano and tells a funny story about performing it at an audition for Julie Andrews. “Total Faith: Live from the Royal Room at the Colony” is the cabaret act of the delightful Faith Prince. She performs songs from shows she appeared in (“Guys & Dolls,” “The King & I,” “Bells Are Ringing” and the underappreciated “The Catered Affair”). She also sings “Somewhere That’s Green/ Suddenly Seymour” from “Little Shop of Horrors” and tells how she was offered the original female lead but had to turn it down, though she appeared later in the run. She does two songs about people with tattoos. While McArdle wants to go back to the 1970’s, Prince sings “Take Me Back to the Eighties.” The Colony is in Florida, but Prince still sings a couple of New York songs and ends with a tender piece by her pianist-