Megan Hilty - It Happens All The Time

Styles: Vocal
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 38:08
Size: 87,7 MB
Art: Front

(4:09)  1. It Happens All The Time
(3:34)  2. Be A Man
(3:38)  3. No Cure
(3:27)  4. Walk Away
(3:41)  5. Safe And Sound
(4:34)  6. The Blower's Daughter
(3:20)  7. Hopin'
(3:23)  8. Wise Up
(4:26)  9. The Heart Of The Matter
(3:51) 10. Dare You To Move

When It Happens All the Time was released, Megan Hilty was best known for her show-stopping turns in Broadway productions including Wicked and 9 to 5: The Musical, as well as her role as Ivy Lynn on NBC's musical-within-a-musical TV series Smash. However, the songs she chose for her debut album weren't show tunes or standards; they were contemporary pop with a capital P: a glance at the liner notes reveals songwriting credits for Ne-Yo, Carrie Underwood, and Glen Ballard. Her desire to bring something unexpected and perhaps more personal to It Happens All the Time is admirable, but Hilty's approach to these songs is too reverent and stripped of her best work's vibrancy and nuance. It doesn't help that the production and arrangements tend toward pop's milder side, draining more daring choices like Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" and Taylor Swift's "Safe and Sound" of much of their rawness. It Happens All the Time succeeds with lighter fare such as the airy "Hopin'," the Ne-Yo and Underwood-penned "Walk Away," and the single "No Cure," which is one of the best examples of when this album gets the balance of intimacy and polish right. "Wise Up" is another highlight, with Aimee Mann's subtle songwriting allowing Hilty to deliver one of the album's most sophisticated vocal performances. Of course, she never sounds outright bad "Dare You to Move" and "Be a Man" showcase her powerhouse vocals particularly well but a lot of the album ends up underscoring that conveying the sentiments of a pop song isn't the same thing as portraying a character in a show tune (even if it's a particularly heartfelt one). As always, Hilty is a dynamic performer with a beautiful voice, but It Happens All the Time is often so sanitized that a livelier set of more traditional songs might have made for a better debut. ~ Heather Phares http://www.allmusic.com/album/it-happens-all-the-time-mw0002477577

It Happens All The Time

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Megan Hilty - Live at the Cafe Carlyle

Styles: Jazz, Vocal
Year: 2016
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 42:36
Size: 98,7 MB
Art: Front

(3:08)  1. They Just Keep Moving the Line
(2:49)  2. Bye Bye Baby
(2:43)  3. The Best Is yet to Come
(3:53)  4. Someone to Watch over Me
(6:17)  5. Autumn Leaves / When October Goes
(3:15)  6. That's Life
(4:31)  7. Second Hand White Baby Grand
(3:46)  8. The Man That Got Away
(5:27)  9. Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend
(3:23) 10. Get Happy
(3:19) 11. Rainbow Connection

Stage and television actress/singer Megan Hilty is best known for her turns on Broadway as Glinda in Wicked and Doralee Rhodes in 9 to 5: The Musical, and for her role as Ivy Lynn on NBC's musical drama Smash. Born in Bellevue, Washington, Hilty started her vocal training at age 12 and studied at Redmond's Washington Academy of Performing Arts Conservatory High School. After graduating from the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, she moved to New York City, making her Broadway debut in August 2004 as the standby for Glinda, the Good Witch of the North in the Oz-themed musical Wicked, which was based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Hilty took over the role in 2005 and after ending her run in 2006, played Glinda in Wicked's first national tour and in a sit-down production in Los Angeles throughout 2007 and 2008. Late that year, Hilty joined the production of the musical adaptation of the film 9 to 5 in the role of executive secretary Doralee Rhodes, which was played in the 1980 film by Dolly Parton. With songs composed and written by Parton, the production included Hilty's Wicked collaborators actress Stephanie J. Block and director Joe Mantello, along with Allison Janney and Marc Kudisch. For her performance as Doralee, Hilty earned acting nominations from the Outer Critics Circle Awards, the Drama League Awards, and the Drama Desk Awards. 

At the same time, Hilty was establishing herself on the stage, she was also accumulating several television credits, with parts on shows ranging from children's fare such as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody and Phineas and Ferb to comedies like American Dad!, Family Guy, and Louie to dramas including CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and Desperate Housewives. Starting in Feburary 2012, Hilty starred as veteran stage actress Ivy Lynn on Smash, a musical-within-a-musical that followed the development of a Broadway production about Marilyn Monroe; one of the songs she and co-star Katharine McPhee performed, "Let Me Be Your Star," was nominated for an Emmy and a Grammy that year. Early in 2013, Smash's second season premiered, and Hilty's debut album It Happens All the Time which featured songs by written Damien Rice, Ne-Yo, and Carrie Underwood arrived shortly after. ~ Heather Phares https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/megan-hilty/id322970148#fullText

Live at the Cafe Carlyle

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