Megan Hilty has spoken to the Wall Street Journal's entertainment bloggers about her new show on NBC, Smash, which debuted last night (Monday February 6, 2012). The Wsj reporter Alexandra Cheney asked Hilty about the pressures associated with the show, which is directed by Steven Spielberg. Megan Hilty plays the role of Ivy Lynn, an actress auditioning for the role of Marilyn Monroe in an upcoming musical.
It's a scenario that will be familiar to Hilty, who is best known as a veteran of Broadway, having starred in Wicked and 9 to 5: The Musical. When asked about the pressures associated with being in the show (which was publicised in a big-money Super Bowl commercial on the weekend), Hilty replied that she had not really felt the pressure on a personal level. She told Cheney "I keep hearing that there is a lot of pressure on the show, for the network, for us but really, as an actress I realised a long time ago that as an actress, there are a lot of things that are out of my control and I can't waste my energy worrying about them."
The Hollywood Reporter critic Tim Goodman described the show as "Glee for grown ups," and Hilty says of the comparison "our show isn't about singing and dancing, it's about the drama behind the drama." Smash also stars Anjelica Huston, Debra Messing and KATHERINE MCPHEE.