Megan Hilty In Concert

Megan Hilty In Concert
Camerata – Qld Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Michael Tyack. Concert Hall, QPAC. 20 June 2019

Musical Theatre fans were in seventh heaven last night when QPAC presented Megan Hilty in Concert with a 40-piece band conducted by music-theatre maestro Michael Tyack. On her first visit to Brisbane three-years ago the sassy blonde Broadway star was great performing with a four-piece group, but hearing her with a swinging big-band was so much better.

It’s the way show tunes should always be sung – big and belted to the rafters and Hilty delivered every time, whether showing off her gorgeous soprano pipes in “I Could have Danced All Night”, diva-belting on her signature “They Just Keep Moving the Line” or sweetly crooning “Moonshine Lullaby” in a bouncy medley from Annie Get Your Gun.

Best-known for her star-making-turn on TVs Smash and on-stage as Glinda in Wicked, the concert included some heavy-rotation tunes from both shows: a searing mash-up of “Don’t Forget Me” and “Let Me Be Your Star”, and equally effective “Second Hand Baby Grand”, to a quirky reading of “Popular” and a heartfelt “For Good”.

Memories of Garland were evoked with the driving big-band arrangements of “Get Happy” and “Come Rain or Come Shine”, but it was Don Henley’s simple country-ode to a break-up, “The Heart of the Matter”, that shone with sincerity.

Although she linked the songs with anecdotes we heard last time, her folksy and funny delivery made it appear spontaneous and unrehearsed.

“Alto’s Lament,” a special-material number about a soprano who gets stuck with alto parts, provided belly-laughs, whilst all the witty choruses of Leo Robin’s wickedly-funny “Diamond’s Are a Girl’s Best Friend” gave her a show-stopping finale.

Tyack did wonders at the podium with the Camerata in top form, especially the brass on the Garland charts. It was the ultimate show-tune bonanza and at 80-minutes, far too short. She won the audience, she wowed the audience, and she left us wanting more. That’s the mark of a true star!

Peter Pinne          

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