Natalie Hill was raised in Orem, Utah before becoming a Broadway actress, performing roles such as Cha-Cha in "Grease." She's been living in New York for 10 years, but is currently in Salt Lake to perform in "Miss Saigon" at Pioneer Theatre. She plays the role of Ellen, wife of soldier Christopher Scott, who failed to tell her about his past relationship in Vietnam with a girl named Kim. Natalie spoke to me by phone while on a dinner break from rehearsal.

What's it like to come back to Utah? Oh, it's so awesome! I'm that girl that just loves being home. I love my family; I love me some Cafe Rio. I'm like the local expert; I get to tell people where to eat and what to do and who to talk to. And there are cute Mormon boys!

Have you come back to Utah very often in the last 10 years? I come back to visit my family all the time. I came back two years ago and got a yoga certification here. I just find excuses to come back and hang out.

Going to NYU helped your theater career take off? Yeah, I was lucky; I got to work a lot in the summers in amazing regional theaters and meet people that used me in tours. But I probably got my best training in Utah! I'll tell anybody. Utah dancers are so incredibly well-respected in the City and everywhere, and BYU has such an incredible belt program for belt singing.

I know we have a good showing from Utah on "So You Think You Can Dance." Exactly! It's amazing! And look at "Dancing with the Stars"! You've got Julianne Huff; you've got Ashley DelGrosso...there's a ton of great Utah talent on pretty much every reality show. I think it's really cool.

So, Ellen, your character in "Miss Saigon," that's Chris' American wife. Yes, and she's kind of a challenge, because nobody really wants her to be in the picture. It would make everything easier if Ellen just didn't exist. Then he could be with Kim and it would be a happy ending. But he moves on and marries Ellen and then has to tell me that he has a child in Bangkok, and I go back with him to flesh out the situation. I'm not on stage a whole lot, but when I'm on stage I'm singing some of the best music in the show. It's been a hard rehearsal process because I spend most of my time crying and trying to sing these really sad things. It's not a comedy.

You've got two real scenes? Yeah, you see me in America with Chris, before I find out, and then you see me in Bangkok, where I do like three songs back-to-back, so it's a little bit of a marathon for me. To be honest, I don't think I ever wanted to be Ellen, because when I watched the show, I just hated her. I'm trying to find ways for people to like Ellen and understand and sympathize with her as opposed to making her just a big roadblock for the story. This woman is essentially a victim and she falls into an unusual set of circumstances and she tries to deal with it the best way she can.

Yeah, she didn't know about Kim at all. Yeah, what is she going to do, bring them back and put her and the child in her house? No, of course she's going to be like, "Let's just send them money and call it good." Ellen's not a monster. She's just put in this tough situation. She had no idea how serious Chris was with Kim. Even when he told her, he said, "I had a fling and it was just two weeks and it's no big deal," so she shows up and meets Kim and Kim's like, "He's my husband." Ellen's like, "Oh, you didn't tell me you were actually married to her. What's that about?" So there's a lot of betrayal, and I think any girl who's dated a whole lot has had her fair share of that. I have this wild blog and I put a lot of dating stories on it, and there have been a lot of women who've shared similar stories about interesting or funny betrayals. It's been nice to look at relationships from that angle to inform where to go with Ellen.

I didn't know about your blog. Yeah, it's called Mormon in Manhattan, It's mormoninmanhattan.blogspot.com. I started it as an online journal because I've just had so many weird things happen to me and I was like, "Gosh, how would it be to read about this crazy stuff?" It kind of turned into its own thing; I've got a bazillion readers now.

You've had challenges meeting Mormon guys in Manhattan? Yeah, most of the time I'm not dating Mormon guys, because they don't ask out; they like to hang out, and non-Mormon men call and ask me on proper dates. But I just had a guy stalk me in a hot air balloon; weird things. I'm working on a project with all these wild stories, and it's been fun to do and connect to other people and learn about the blogging world. We've gotten a lot of interest in "Saigon" through the blog. I've put backstage photos there.

What do you think about being in "Saigon" overall? It's been a wonderful experience. I love the music. It's a heart-racing experience and it's difficult to go through, but this cast is remarkable. You're getting some of the most amazing music theater talent, and in Utah! When they announced this cast, I thought, "The recession's good for Utah," because not a lot of these amazing, amazing actors are working on Broadway, so they can afford to come out and be at Pioneer. And I'm so impressed with this theater. They're so professional. They're as good or better than any regional house I've ever worked in. I'm blown away by the caliber of people they have working on this show.

What do you hope for your future? I've got three possible jobs for the fall, and they're all brand-new shows that would be out-of-towning. And I'm really hoping to sell my blog idea and make an awesome pilot for a sitcom. It will incorporate me working on Broadway as well, so it would be TV and Broadway crossover. I'm meeting with a bunch of different people in L.A. that are interested in the idea. I'm going to be really picky about who I go with, because it's kind of a sensitive topic for me, so it has to be me producing it. So we'll see. And in the meantime, I've got a great job working at an amazing theater. It really is the best time for me to be home, for my family and my life.