Pick of the week
FRIDAY
“Live from Lincoln Center Presents Stars in Concert,” 9 p.m., PBS.
The final week of PBS’s 2019 “Live From Lincoln Center Presents Stars in Concert” features 2004 Carnegie Mellon University grad Megan Hilty, best known for her starring role in the NBC musical drama “Smash.”
“Every single day I am approached by strangers asking me about the future of “Smash,’” she said February a PBS press conference during the Television Critics Association winter 2019 press tour, adding she’s heard nothing official about a Broadway adaptation or revival. “It’s just a testament to the power of this show and the momentum it got after we went off the air. … It’s wonderful to me that people are still interested.”
For her PBS concert, Hilty promises an eclectic array of music.
“It’s all over the place, like, stylistically,” she said. “I like to try everything and possibly fail miserably, but at least I tried it.”
Hilty’s Broadway roles include “Wicked” and the stage adaptation of the movie “9 to 5.”
“Most of my career, if you look at it on paper, you’ll notice that it’s basically stuff that other people have already made ridiculously famous,” she said, noting it took time to realize she had to make each performance her own “and bring myself to it, but I also had to acknowledge that there was a certain level of expectation that people were coming to that show to see.”
She credits “Wicked” star Idina Menzel with making her feel comfortable before her first time going on for star Kristin Chenoweth.
“I will never forget this because she came up, and she put her hand on my shoulder, and she said, ‘You know what? Let’s go out there and make this show our own tonight,’” Hilty recalled. “And I’ll never forget it because it was the most kind gesture she could have ever done.”