--Hey everybody! It's me Susan Blackwell. Today I'm side by side my favorite
Broadway breath of fresh air. Look everybody! From Once on this Island, it's
Hailey Kilgore!
--Hello! --Hailey Kilgore
tell our friends at home where we are and
what we're doing today. --We're at Ground Central Coffee.
-- That's true. We're just
hanging out, having a coffee, having a tea. --Yes.
--Shooting the shit.
--Yes.
[music]
--I want to kick
it off with a little game I like to call a 30 second life story. I'm gonna put 30
seconds on the clock.
--Okay. --And you have to tell me your entire life story. Don't
leave out the awesome parts, starting now.
--Hailey Kilgore was born in Humble, Texas
where she was adopted by her two your parents Eric and Becky Kilgore, who owned
a theatre company. And she grew up with music and theatre in her life and she
found out that that was her passion. And then she graduated high school a year
early, moved to New York, and booked a Broadway show!
--You have a full 15
seconds left.
--And got nominated for a Tony!
--Ten seconds!
--And is having the most
incredible time.
--Seven seconds. --Eh
[tongue pop]
--And we're done. That was. That was fantastic. That was actually
really good, heavily front-loaded. I like it. Super bonus. What is the name of that
autobiography?
--Oh wow. You know, I would actually probably call it One Small Girl,
which is like
--One Small Girl!
--Yeah.
Yeah.
--That's for real gonna be the name of your autobiography
--Yeah. [music]
--The first song I remember singing when I was little was...
--[sings] Somewhere over the rainbow,
way up high
--The first record I bought
with my own money was...
--Pshh. [sings] Don't stop, make it pop. Keep the party going...
Seriously. I
don't even know how the song goes anymore. --The
song I sang to win National American Miss Miss Oregon
Preteen. --[sings] Almost there, I'm almost there
people round here think I'm crazy. --No marking. Full
voice. --[sings] But I don't care. Trials
and tribulation. --Oh my god.
--[sings] There ain't nothing gonna stop
me now cuz I'm almost there.
--My go to audition song is.
--[sings] I believe the children are our future.
Teach them well and let them lead the way. Show them all the beauty they
possess inside. Give them a sense of pride.
--That one. --You're killing me Hailey! As of
this moment, my favorite thing to sing in Once on this Island is....
--Is not my
song. [sings] The courage of a dreamer. The
innocence of youth.
--Hailey...
That voice, I want to take that voice and just spread it on an English muffin and
get it in all those nooks and crannies. And then just eat that voice.
--Oh my!
--The Once on this Island earworm that I can't get out of my [bleep] head is.
--[sings] Some say they laughed at her for her peasant feet were bare.
And now, that's an inside thing so Alicia, who
is the original Andrea. The way that she pronounces bare, I don't know
why. It was like, [sings] Some say they laughed at her for her peasant feet were
ba-a-a-are.
[music]
--Hailey Kilgore. What the what is it like starring in Once on this Island it on
the Broadway? --It's so it's really fun
It's a lot of hard work. I think the
reason why I've had so much fun and and I feel so fulfilled doing it is because
there's always a question to ask and a lesson to learn. And
--How wise are you for 19
years old?
--What the what does the phrase, "I never liked that [bleep] trike anyway, mean
to you.
--Oh! --Oh!
--No! --Yes.
--So, yeah,
I had just gotten my first tricycle. --How old were you?
--I think I was like four. --Yes
--And my grandma was babysitting me. And I grew up
hearing the word [bleep]
used in the correct context quite a bit. --Okay
--And I couldn't get my tricycle in the garage. --Four
--And my grandma, my sweet grandma, who is
like very just she's like very sweet old lady. She said, Honey, what's wrong? And I
said this [bleep] tricycle won't go at four
years old. In correct context!
A complete
sentence.
--Precocious.
--Listen... --Did you get in trouble?
--No! -- Get big troubs from your grandma.
--My grandma was mortified and she went and told my parents. And they were like, Well,
she used it correctly. Actually seriously that's what my mom said.
-- I love those parents.
I love those parents. --And they were like never say that in public.
You know. --And did you?
--Well, here we are.
--You felt --Sorry mom and dad.
--Sorry. Thank you.
--You're adopted. --Yeah.
--You've talked about
that, been very plain about that. What the what did you tell your second-grade
class about why you were adopted?
--Oh my parents were eaten by alligators in Africa.
Is that the story I told that day? That's the story told that day
--Yeah. It was a
Tony Award winning performance, might I add. --Go, take me back.
-- Like tears,
snot. --Really!
--I don't know. I was not, I don't remember that at all. I'm assuming though
cuz my teacher was fully convinced that it happened, cuz she ran out to my dad
crying in the parking lot.
--You were fully like, And then the alligator came.
--And then I was like, and then I think they like both my parents and my teacher
talked to me about it. And I was like, Yeah, that's what I said.
And then my dad
was like, But did it happen? And I was like No. --But I was good. That performance
was --They believed it in the moment and that that's
what's important. --That's truth and that's
acting. [laughs]
--That's craft.
--That's so bad! --What the what
is your deal with Corbin Bleu?
--Oh my gosh! Are you kidding!
Did you feel my whole like...? --You did a
whole body spasm.
--I'm obsessed with Corbin Bleu. So, he had this first scene where he's
jumping rope in Jump In, and I was like, Who is that! --Really? Like
a bolt of lightning? --Mm-hmm,
and the only reason I really liked High School Musical— I would like skip most of
the parts --FF
--just to watch, yeah, just to watch Corbin Bleu's parts. Mm-hmm, and then I
was in my first professional show when I was 12.
I was in Hairspray. I was playing little Inez. And we found out that Corbin
Bleu was playing Seaweed on YouTube. And I actually hyperventilated and fainted
in my mom's bedroom.
--Have you met him?
--I've met him once. He's the nicest person!
--Oh my gosh.
Oh my god! Huh! --Huh!
--Yeah.
[music]
--You pick a song any song of your choosing and then you just sing it and
you just bathe me with riffs.
--[sings] Have yourself a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light.
From now on our troubles will be out of sight
out of sight.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas
--I don't know the words after that.
--[sings] Make the Yuletide gay. From now on troubles will be miles
awa-a-a-a-y
ooooh.
--Well played.
Guess what time it is? --What time is it?
--Oh, it's time for Susan's fantasy jukebox. -- I
got your nose, and you can have it back. First you have to sing me a song.
--[sings] Hurry up
and wait.
So close, so far away.
Everything that you always dreamed of,
could be yours should be yours would be yours, if you only
knew. Take one step at a time...
--This has been another amazing episode of Side by Side
by Susan Blackwell with Hailey Kilgore.
Do yourself a favor and go see her in Once on this Island. You will
not regret it.
--[sings] But we find the reasons why
one step at a time.
--Oh, you can have your nose back. --Thank you.
--Ugh! You're a delight.
[music]
--I heard you do an imitation of a three-toed tree sloth.
--Ah! I love sloths! I love
sloths!. --How's that go?
[laughs]
--That is a slow burn. --And then you go like...