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Ashford making splash in New York - Denver Post article/interview
Headlining the most popular show on Broadway. A splashy appearance on national television. Filming scenes for two movies, including the new "Sex and the City." A reading for a new musical.Yeah, it was "kind of a neat week" for Annaleigh Ashford.
"Kind of kooky, huh?" said the 22-year-old Coloradan who's taking New York by storm.
"I got recognized for the first time ever getting coffee yesterday morning," she said. "It was so weird."
Ashford took over the role of Glinda on Oct. 9 in "Wicked," which generates $1.4 million a week in ticket sales. Last week, MTV aired a three- hour special presentation of the crosstown "Legally Blonde" stage musical. It prominently featured Ashford as Margot, a member of the show's pretty-in-pink sorority Greek chorus. It was filmed just before Ashford vacated her role in September.
The cast of "Wicked" was watching the MTV special backstage while Ashford was loading herself into Glinda's bubble.
"People were saying, 'Hey, you are doing two different shows at the same time, what's going on?"' she said. "They were teasing me all day long. But it was so cool. The show turned out great. What a great way to leave ('Legally Blonde')."
Ashford said her first week as Glinda was a smooth transition ("Thank God!") and she's starting to make the role her own.
"It was lovely to have a whole week to explore and find things," she said. "It's like you're in a preview, but your show has been running for four years."
Ashford is Glinda No. 6, succeeding Kendra Kassebaum. There is a tradition that when any Glinda exits, she pins a personal note for the next one to the scrim above the stage, where Glinda's bubble rests.
So what did Kassebaum have to say? "It's a secret," she said. "Nobody sees it except for me and Kendra."
Ashford graduated from Wheat Ridge High School at age 16 and Marymount College at 19. There are now Annaleigh Ashford appreciation threads on the Web: Yep. Kind of kooky.
"I'm getting to do what I love every night, in one of my dream roles," she said. "It's amazing. You are so tired when you get home at the end of the day, but then you put your feet up, and you are like, 'Wow. All right, Lord, my dreams have come true. I am working as an actor, and making a living. Thank you."'
And what then?
"Then I eat my soup and watch the Colorado Rockies."
How cool is that?
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