Review: Megan Hilty Pairs Vocal Prowess with Holiday Levity in Joe's Pub Christmas Concerts

Holiday cheer is considerably tenuous this year, in much of the country, anyway. But damn if that would prevent Megan Hilty from delivering abundant joy in her four-show engagement at Joe's Pub, a run which began December 2. The concerts were intended to celebrate the release of Hilty's new Christmas album, A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, which she recorded live in-studio with her four-musician band.

Six months pregnant and glowing as bright as the Rockefeller tree herself, Hilty jovially commandeered the evening and not once acknowledged the state of the world outside, making it possible for a room full of New Yorkers to temporarily suspend their shared cynicism or desolation, and plunge into 80 minutes of glee.

That word, "glee," should perhaps be avoided when talking about Miss Hilty, though, as she amassed popularity starring on a different musicalized television drama, NBC's SMASH. In addition to holiday tunes, Hilty, who was Tony-nominated this past season for her run as the more-than-meets-the-eye Brooke Ashton in NOISES OFF, also sang a number of songs from that now-iconic series. In fact, the evening culminated in the screw-it-all Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman power ballad, "They Just Keep Moving the Line," which includes a vibrato so electric on the singing of the word "spine," it alone is award-worthy. She also pieced together a mashup of the show's two best-known songs, "Don't Forget Me" and "Let Me Be Your Star," both of which were derived from pleas made by SMASH's musical-within-the-musical's real-life protagonist, Marilyn Monroe, at different points in her fraught life.

Other non-holiday selections included the poignant "Rainbow Connection" and a delectably sweet "Suddenly Seymour" from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, which Hilty duetted on with her guitarist (oh, and husband), Brian Gallagher. She was also joined by her musical director and pianist, Matt Cusson, on vocals at a few points throughout the evening, including a comical take on "Baby, it's Cold Outside," which featured interjection from on-looking Gallagher. The band was rounded out by top-notch musicians, Dennis Michael Keefe (bass) and Jack DeBoe (drums). Additionally, Hilty performed the plucky "Popular" from WICKED, in which she was the second replacement to ever play Glinda on Broadway. The song, as Hilty's husband pointed out, took on an entirely different meaning when sung by the visibly pregnant belter.

But the night really did revolve around holiday tunes, reinforced by the miniature Christmas tree which Hilty brought with her when she first emerged onto the stage, and which remained propped on a stool next to her all evening. Hilty's voice is primed for Christmas music, with its melodic sweltering and soaring choruses. These are songs which every person in the Western world knows inside and out and yet, when crooned with skill and personality, they remain of utmost delight. Well-known classics given the Hilty treatment included "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," "The Christmas Song," "Jingle Bells," and "Santa Baby" (I surely don't need to detail the success of the convergence that was Hilty's vocal sensuality with the latter tune).

A quiet and surprising highlight of the set, though, was Hilty's haunting take on Joni Mitchell's "River," a seasonal tune which, as Hilty pointed out, serves as a melancholic reminder that the holidays can also be quite difficult for many. The selection was particularly prescient, as this season certainly seems poised to be especially wrought both for those who are not able to be with their families, as well as those who are. That Hilty was able to relay the song, not as a forlorn cry of loneliness, but as reassurance that others, too, are struggling as you may be, speaks to her astounding abilities as an interpreter.

About halfway through the first season of SMASH, there was a scene in which Christian Borle's composer character has to break the news to Hilty's Ivy Lynn that they would be recasting her Marilyn with a bigger name. Borle insists it's just for marketing purposes and that she's wonderful but, Hilty interjects, "I'm not a star."

When the scene first aired in 2012, the notion that Hilty was anything but a star with million-watt, blindingly bright star power to boot, was frankly absurd. More than four years later, it is even more so. Hilty has solidified herself as one of theater's stalwart talents working today, versatile enough for plays and musicals, comedy and drama, but distinguished in that each of her performances is entirely irreplicable. That she also performs intimate concerts such as she did on this evening, sharing her gifts with rooms full of people who may need them, well, that alone renders as its own little Christmas miracle.

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