It doesn’t take much to get Annaleigh Ashford to break into song.

I simply asked the Colorado-born Tony Award winner why it’s important for her to headline the 2025 “Saturday Night Alive” concert that is expected to raise $1 million for Denver Center theater and education programs on June 14.

“Why, I would quote the late, great Whitney Houston,” said Ashford, who then quoted the late, great Whitney Houston in song:

“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 …”

OK, the rest, you are going to have to pay for.

“I mean, I’m being funny right now, but honestly, those lyrics are gorgeous, and they remind us that yes, our children actually are the future,” Ashford said in advance of Saturday’s concert in the Denver Center’s 600-seat Wolf Theatre.

Ashford has come home many times before to help area nonprofits raise money in the decade since she’s risen to bona fide, bankable star of stage (Broadway’s “Sweeney Todd”), TV (“Happy Face”) and film (“Frozen”). Often at her own expense. But Saturday’s concert is different. This one is for the heaviest of hitters. The kind who can afford a $1,000 ticket. Ashford is all-in for the good that kind of revenue can do for the Denver Center’s education programs.

“I think we have a moral obligation to make art accessible to the next generation,” said Ashford. “So, this feels like an incredible opportunity to help not only raise some money for these kids, but also to remind everyone that we need to raise money for these kids.

“I was really lucky that art was accessible to me as a kid. But it was something that I wanted and looked for. And I think not only do we need to give art to kids who want it, but we also need to expose art to kids who aren’t aware of it.”

It’s hard to imagine a time when advocating for supporting arts education might be considered a controversial position. Oh wait. It’s not hard. It’s today.   

“I know, right?” she said. “I’m pulling my hair out right now.”

 I asked her to please not do that. After all, it’s lovely hair.

“To deny art is to deny a basic human right,” Ashford continued. “Art is also impossible to make without money. So, unfortunately, art and commerce do have to find each other, and it is one of the areas in our capitalist society where capitalism should not apply. It should just be a given that we give money to the arts.

“But, unfortunately, we are in a moment where so many of our arts programs that have been even partially funded by federal grants are now losing that money – and we are going to have to make up for that in our private funding, which is just shocking. But that’s what makes nights like this one all the more crucial.”

American as Applewood pie

Ashford’s rise from “Ruthless” to the Good (debatable) Girl of “Wicked’ to the Good (not debatable) Girl of Tony Town is a true American success story, and one she has never taken for granted.

She grew up in Applewood and made her local stage debut at age 9 playing a bit against type: As a, yes, ruthless child actor who hangs a rival girl from a catwalk with a jump rope just so she can star in the school play. She graduated from Wheat Ridge High School at age 16 and from Marymount Manhattan College at 19.

Even as a freshman at Wheat Ridge, Ashford was both looking out for others – and portending her own future.

“One day, all of the power went out at school while she was in her Honors English class,” said former Wheat Ridge teacher Melissa Hadden. “I was on hall duty and was commissioned to check on the classes in that wing. Annaleigh was leading a class sing-along of Disney tunes. We passed the time as Jasmine, Ariel and Belle. That’s just who Annaleigh is.”

Ashford made her first of now nine Broadway appearances in 2007 as Margo in “Legally Blonde,” a musical she left only to star as the new Glinda in “Wicked.”

Her first of three Tony Award nominations came in 2013 for playing Lauren in “Kinky Boots.” She won two years later for her work as Essie in “You Can’t Take It With You,” and was nominated for the first time as a leading actor in 2023 as the human pie-maker Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd” co-starring (ho, hum) Josh Groban. And there was also an acclaimed 2017 run co-starring (ho, hum) Jake Gyllenhaal in “Sunday in the Park with George” (which, for obscure reasons, was not eligible for the Tony Awards).

But it’s been a remarkable run of small-screen successes that has vaulted Ashford to national pop-culture stardom. She played Paula Jones in the Monica Lewinsky season of “American Crime Story,” she starred in the CBS sit-com “B Positive” for two seasons, and she earned an Emmy Award nomination playing the conflicted wife of the male-stripper empire-builder in the series “Welcome to Chippendales.”

The press release announcing Saturday’s concert goes so far as to call Ashford “venerated” – a completely accurate assessment.

(“Venerated: “A person or thing regarded with great respect and reverence.”)

“I feel very overwhelmed by that, Ashford said with a laugh. “I’m blushing, and I’m sweating in my armpit.”

Ashford is one celebrity who has been in lock-step with gratitude for her blessings since she first stepped on a stage. She’s quick to remind that just a few weeks after playing Glinda on Broadway – starring in “Wicked,” for Boq’s sake – she was back to working as a nanny to make ends meet. She never fails to thank her three families – The one anchored by her mother and biggest fan, Holli Swanson; the one she has made with husband Joe Tapper, with whom she now has a picture-perfect family of two children; and the Colorado theater family that helped raise her into the woman and performer she is today.

Lucy Jean, who joins 8-year-old brother Jack, turns 8 months old this very day.

“I have to say, it’s kind of fun to have a baby again,” she said, before stopping herself. “Wait, did I say ‘kind of’? No, it’s been so much fun. She’s a really funny little girl. And Jack is a really great big brother.”

And, it was time. “We waited long enough, don’t you think?” she said.

A change in moral priorities

A year ago, Ashford launched something of a strategic career expansion by co-producing her husband’s starring turn in the off-Broadway play “The White Chip.” That’s the surprisingly charming and disarming story of one man’s addiction  – and recovery – told with a sense of humor.

In April, the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company introduced the play to Colorado audiences for the first time with a smashing (and largely sold-out) production.

“That makes me very, very happy,” said Ashford, who is making the move into producing fully cognizant both of her approaching 40th birthday on June 25 and of what she again calls her moral obligation to make sure that more people have access to the arts. And she sees those as complementary priorities.

“Yes, I am realizing that I’m hitting intermission and going into my Act 2,” she said. “And so, that makes me think: What do I want my Act 2 to look like? I’m realizing that I want to focus more on philanthropy. And I want to make sure that we are making the conversation about recovery and addiction viable in artistic spaces. How do we share the story of not just ‘The White Chip,’ but of other pieces of art that talk about recovering from addiction? Because that would be a really good way to help people find their path.”

For Ashford, it’s personal. Tapper, she said, is now 12 years sober – 12 years very openly and proudly sober.

“Like so many of us, we have a lot of addiction in the family tree,” she said. “My husband’s father passed away of complications from alcoholism. It has become something that we would like to talk about and share with the world. We would just love to be of service in any way we can. And so, that has become part of our mission.

“I just want to make sure that I am holding up my end of the bargain of what I believe being an artist is.”

A night of musical surprises

For those who are lucky – and loaded – enough to see Ashford perform on Saturday, it will be a very different show than in 2017, when she performed her acclaimed cabaret show at the much more intimate Galleria Theatre next door. That was before Broadway babies Josh and Jake, after all. But what you get is probably not what you expect.

“You’re going to get a very eclectic, fun evening of music,” Ashford said. “I’m going to do some new songs. I’m going to do some old songs.”

Fans of “Kinky Boots” will get one or two from the Cyndi Lauper songbook.

“I’ve gotten to do two of the greatest masterpieces ever written by Stephen Sondheim,” she said of “Sunday in the Park with George” (with Jake) and “Sweeney Todd” (with Josh).

“I’m going to sing a couple of Sondheim songs that I’m sure you will be familiar with, even if you’re not familiar with Sondheim,” she said. Pressed for specifics, she did let slip that “I am going to do one song from ‘Sweeney Todd,’ – but it’s one that I did not sing in the show.”

Such a tease. Given her lilting singing voice, please let it be  “Johanna.” Given her considerable comic chops, please let it be “The Contest.” Given her a little bit unnerving ability to shift deep, please let it be “My Friends.” For any of us who remember Ashford singing as a 9-year-old, please let it be “Not While I’m Around.”

She’s not telling. She does promise a John Denver song. “I couldn’t come to Colorado and not sing a John Denver song,” she said. Conceded.

“It’s just going to be a really delightful – hopefully! – evening of laughs and heart,” she said.

Bonus: Ashford project tracker

• “Happy Face” is a true-crime drama that stars Ashford as the young woman who discovered in high school that her father, Keith Hunter Jesperson, was the “Happy Face Killer” (played by Dennis Quaid) who strangled at least eight women between 1990-95. Theirs is not, let us stipulate, a particularly healthy father and daughter relationship.

“What’s most unique about ‘Happy Face’ is that while, yes, it’s a crime show, it’s told from the perspective of a woman who is also a family member,” Ashford said. “So often, we watch these crime shows from the serial killer’s perspective or the detective’s perspective. It’s usually the ‘male gaze.’ This is told from the ‘female gaze.’ It also is a show about violence with no violence. I am grateful that the showrunner, Jennifer Cacicio, was really deliberate in making sure that we didn’t see women brutalized on camera. Those are two things I’m really proud of about the show.” (Available on Paramount Plus.)

•“Hold Your Breath” is a horror film that reunites Ashford with Sarah Paulson, who earlier played Linda Tripp in “American Crime Story.” Amid a 1930s Oklahoma dust storm, a woman is convinced that a sinister presence is threatening her family. “We look very dirty in that show,” Ashford said of being buried alive … in cocoa powder. “When I think of that film, it was beautifully shot, beautifully directed and beautifully written. But the entire process was just really disgusting and dirty. One time I came into my trailer and crickets started coming out of my dress that I didn’t know were in there.”

 That was surely the only time any performance of Ashford’s has been greeted by crickets. (Available on Hulu.)

• “Smart Blonde” is a developing passion project based on the life of Oscar-winning actor Judy Holliday, who conquered Hollywood with a 172 IQ while fighting “dumb blonde” typecasting and political blacklisting to become an unsung feminist. She was noted in Hollywood for speaking out against the sexual predator of her day, Fox mogul Darryl F. Zanuck – which got her labeled a communist.

“Judy Holiday was one of the most brilliant minds of her generation, and we lost her way too young,” Ashford said. “Not only do I think people need to know about her story and her contribution to the arts, but people need to know about her contribution politically. She stood up for herself during an era when many voices were silenced, and she did it in a way that was undeniable – she used her brain.

“It’s a wild story and a beautiful script, and I would love to play her.”