BWW Interviews: Colorado Native Annaleigh Ashford Talks Her Upcoming Cabaret Show and Her Denver Roots

Broadway star and Denver native Annaleigh Ashford is bringing her hit 54 Below cabaret show Lost in the Stars to the Garner Galleria at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on April 11-12. Ashford, a Tony nominee for Kinky Boots, has also appeared on Broadway in Wicked, Legally Blonde and most recently You Can't Take It With You. I sat down with her to discuss her show and her history in Colorado theatre.

We're so excited to have you coming home to Denver to perform Lost in the Stars!

Oh my gosh, I'm so excited I get to share my cabaret show with my family, friends and fellow Coloradans here in Denver. I've never actually got to perform at the Denver Center. When I was in Wicked on tour, we didn't come through the Buell. When I started, they had just been here. So this is like a dream come true!

Tell me a bit about your show.

The show is a really beautiful culmination of my love for the art form of cabaret. It's very eclectic, it's really fun, there's some really heartfelt, sweet moments. A lot of storytelling mixed in with the singing of some beautiful classic songs.

What kind of music can we expect?

I do a real eclectic mix. We start with some disco with a Donna Summer medley; we pay homage to the memory of the disco goddess herself and also explain where we developed the show, 54 Below, which happened to be the VIP room for the iconic and legendary Studio 54. We had to acknowledge it when we did the show originally, and it ended up being so fabulous and fun I wanted to leave it in and share it with people around the country. I also do a couple really cool mash-ups. I do a mash-up of Adele's "Someone Like You" with "Crazy." I also do one of Elton John's "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" with Sondheim's "Another Hundred People." I do Alanis Morissette's "Hand in my Pocket" as a sing-along.

As it should be!

Amen. And I do Kurt Vile, I sing a little Cyndi Lauper, so it's a really eclectic mix that not only tells a story but also kind of, I think, shares my heart, and I'm really excited to bring it to Denver.

So who's playing with you in your band?

Will Van Dyke is our brilliant arranger and music director, and he leads The Whiskey 5, our band, which is Allison Seidner on cello, Alec Berlin on guitar, Steve Gilewski, who's our bass player, and Mason Ingram on drums. Will also plays the accordion and the uke at certain points. There's also a special appearance made by the sun and the moon, and the share the story of the eclipse. I don't sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart," though.

How'd you develop Lost in the Stars?

I really developed the show organically. First, from the point of view of utilizing the space at 54 Below, and then it led us from point to point. There were a few songs that I really responded to that I brought to the table, and a few that Will brought to the table. My best friend in the world Craig Jessup/Breedlove, who just got back from opening for Lady Gaga on her European tour, he's a brilliant songwriter and pop artist. His mother and father were cabaret performers...so he has a very keen knowledge of cabaret, and he always helps me develop the pieces. I write everything, then I come to Craig and Will to edit. I think we've developed an organic, beautiful show that has a through line.­­

Have you ever seen anything performed at the Garner Galleria before?

I think I saw Always...Patsy Cline when I was kid. That was the last thing I saw...15 years ago, maybe longer than that.

What was the last show you did in Denver?

Paint Your Wagon at Boulder's Dinner Theatre (now BDT Stage), and right before that I played Sandy in Grease at the Country Dinner Playhouse. I was really good at dinner theatre (laughs)...just kidding. I'm so grateful I got to work at those theatres because they were really doing a professional schedule, 8 shows a week. You know, Country Dinner is how I got my equity card. I feel like I had such authentic, beautiful training here in Denver before I got to New York.

You started here with Theatre On Broadway, right?

Yes, I did my very first show in Denver when I was 9 turning 10, playing Tina Denmark in Ruthless! The Musical with some amazing Denver favorites. Susie Leiser, Steve Tangedal, Heather Fortin Rubald and Penny Dwyer were in that show. Mitch Samu was the music director. Mitch is one of the most gifted musicians I've ever gotten to work with in my life, and now I've really gotten to spend some time with some gifted musicians...he's literally in the top 3. He's so brilliant, and Denver is so lucky to have him.

What are some of your favorite areas of Denver?

I grew up in Wheat Ridge, where I went to Wheat Ridge High School, but I have a sweet spot for downtown Golden. Old Golden Road is a source of magic. We also had a cabin up in Grand Lake when I was growing up...it's beautiful there. I got married, almost 2 years ago now, at Devil's Thumb Ranch, so that's also become a sweet spot for me as well. Oh, and also, I have to share Casa Bonita is one of my favorite places in the world, and I just want to say thank you to the powers that be in Denver that they are landmarking it. GOOD CHOICE ON THE LANDMARKING OF CASA BONITA. We actually had my pseudo-bachelorette party there. Nobody drank alcohol, everybody just ate a lot of sopapillas.

What are you up to until your concert?

I fly out tonight. I have to be in Vegas for a couple days, then back to Chicago for a weekend, back to New York for week, and then I'll be in L.A. I'll be there for most of the spring and summer shooting the third season of Masters of Sex, which is awesome, so we start filming that really soon. I'm also doing Lost in the Stars in San Francisco at the Venetian Room and at the Smith Center in Las Vegas.

I'm really excited to share cabaret, the art form, not just with the generations that are above me, but also my generation and the generation under me. I think it's an art form that's incredibly important, and I think that my generation is a little unfamiliar with it.

Photos by Matt Murphy

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Annaleigh Ashford's Lost in the Stars cabaret plays the Garner Galleria at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 11, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 12, at 5 p.m. Tickets start at $50 and are available at www.denvercenter.org or by calling (303)893-4100.

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