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Ashley Brown Inspires Audiences to Dream
Ashley Brown Inspires
Audiences to Dream Broadway Star Serves as Pops Musical Guest hat word – famously uttered by the fictitious nanny Mary Poppins – has long been etched in Disney lore. And when Brown, the talented actress, embraced that role in the Broadway musical T QUESTION What one word best describes Ashley Brown? more than a decade ago, her star began to shine, receiving Outer Critics, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations for ANSWER Best Actress. Brown later brought her striking performance to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! audiences across the country as she starred in the title role of the national tour of “Mary Poppins,” earning her a Garland Award for Best Performance in a Musical. Brown’s career has embodied the popular phrase – “Anything can happen if you let it” – sung by Mary Poppins in that play. A native of Gulf Breeze, Florida, she is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. Not long after she received her diploma, Brown landed a role in the national tour of Disney’s “On The Record” quickly topping that achievement in 2005 when she made her Broadway debut, playing Belle in Disney’s production of “Beauty and the Beast.” The 35-year-old Brown’s talents have led her to Carnegie Hall where she has performed with the New York Pops; Los Angeles’ Disney Hall where she has performed with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra; and The Kennedy Center where she made her solo concert debut. She has performed with virtually all of the top orchestras in North America, including the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Seattle Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Vancouver Symphony, the Philly Pops, and the Indianapolis Symphony. At the 32nd Annual Citizens Bank Pops by the Sea, Brown will reunite with the Boston Pops with whom she is quite familiar, having sung jazz standards with the symphony several times during her storied career. It is a career that can also be described by another quote – “Follow every rainbow, till you find your dream” – found in Brown’s latest creative foray as Mother Abbess in the national tour of “The Sound of Music.” On stage, Brown is inspiring audiences to follow their own dreams, and we won’t be surprised if she helps Cape audiences discover a little of that magic at this year’s Pops by the Sea.
