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Uncasville’s Nancy Menhart is chosen to sing national anthem at future Washington Nationals’ game
By day, Nancy Menhart of Uncasville works as a Bank Secrecy Act analyst for Chelsea Groton Bank, but at night, she lets her hair down by regularly performing at the Steak Loft with sister Sue Menhart.
Now, the smoky-voiced singer has her biggest gig yet, coronavirus notwithstanding, as the scheduled performer of the national anthem May 19 during a home game of the defending World Series champion Washington Nationals.
“I’ll be nervous,” she said. “If you’re not nervous as a singer, you’re not normal.”
Not that Menhart hasn’t performed in front of large audiences before. The Mystic native has sung the national anthem at cancer benefits, the Waterford Speedbowl, youth sports competitions, Dodd Stadium in Norwich and Connecticut Sun pro basketball games.
Earlier in life, she had been lead singer for the local rock group Styff Kitty and had a longstanding musical collaboration with Ken Barber in the Hart Strings Duo. More recently, she and her sister have been enjoying their gigs as The Menhart Sisters.
How she came to be chosen as a singer for one of the Nationals’ 81 scheduled home games at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., is a story of tragedy and family connections.
Two years ago last month, the Menharts lost both their mother and father within days of each other. It was a brutal time, but it also served to bring the six surviving siblings closer together.
One way the far-flung family stayed in touch was through group texts. Brother Joe Menhart enjoyed sending notes, especially during baseball season, and earlier this year, he aimed one at Paul Menhart, who happens to be the pitching coach of the Nationals, tossing out the idea that Nancy could sing the national anthem before one of this year’s games. “He said ‘yes,’” Menhart said. Only one problem: Tryouts were scheduled for March 12, and she had no way to get down there that day. So the man running the event cut her a break and let Menhart submit two videos showing her singing the national anthem in other venues.
He immediately called her back and said she was in. And then around the same time, the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak became known, and baseball’s opening day was postponed to a date that still hasn’t been determined.
Menhart’s May 19 date with fame may have to be postponed.
“We’re all waiting out the COVID-19 epidemic,” Menhart said in a phone interview last week.
In the meantime, she’ll be readying for the day and plans to make a vacation out of it by flying into the city with her boyfriend Matt Pontbriant, staying overnight and giving out as many as six free tickets to family and friends (the only payment she will get for her services).
“It’s just really an honor to do it,” Menhart said. “Anthem singers never ask to be paid.”
Menhart said she will be singing a capella, meaning she will not have any musical accompaniment.
“Each time I do it, it’s a little bit different than the last time,” she said. “This will be amazing.”