Annaleigh at Birdland (slash the Annaleigh Ashford Love Thread Part Deux)- Page 11

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 8:12pm

So sad. She was on fire. "For Good" was the saddest thing I have ever seen.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 8:13pm

It was amazing- she rocked everything in the show that had rock potential. In the beginning I heard commotion backstage and they were like chanting for specifically for her last day, from that moment I could tell it would perfect. Her Popular was hilarious- more than the time I saw her and the clips on youtube, it was completely hysterical - she did all these extra things that sent the crowd rioting. Her thank goodness was brilliant - I felt bad because you could tell she was getting sad by then. Her and SJB's For Good made me cry it was so beautiful and they were both in tears and it was magical. Steph's speech at the end was very heartfelt and she was completely in tears.


At the stage door I told her I have a final tomorrow and that any points lost over this performance were worth it and she goes " Ohhh no, you go home and you study and it'll be magic!" she's such a cutie.

[maya5892]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 8:14pm

Aw thanks for the review. Sounds amazing

[into_the_woods2]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 8:39pm

yay shes so good!!!im a fan of her but you guys seem pretty hardcore!!! question: do you guys know what her voice range is?

[broadwayfan7]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 9:30pm

Aww how cute! Thanks for sharing obsessedjb and shh282!

shh282-good luck with your final.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 9:40pm

It was amazing and yes, sad. =(
I’m so glad Steph was back – did you see her in Popular? HILARIOUS. Her and Annaleigh on the bed doing their leg thing, haha.

For Good was sad. I just about lost it when I saw Steph like breaking down and wiping tears away before her verse. And very nice speech. Pretty much what everyone else said.

At the stage door I told Annaleigh (who was absolutely adorable, btw) we were going to miss her and she gave me the cutest, most sincere look and said, “Awww, thank you.” (Oh, and we got her to do MAD PROPS too! Yesss )

[yankees1253]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 9:42pm

thanks so much for the review and so sad i was not there on her last day but i am so happy i got to see her. i agree annaleigh is so much better in person than the youtube videos. i hope theres video on youtube for her last day, i def want to hear or see popular,for good and stephanies speech. i am crying, it is hard to believe she wont be in nyc anymore.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 5/11/08 at 9:46pm

^I wish there would be a video too. Was there anyone in the rear mezz making a boot? lol, only kidding...

But that reminds me... I wanted to take curtain call pics, but I took too long taking out my camera and was too busy watching/listening to the speech anyway. But my sister managed to record the speech. Steph gave such a good, heartfelt speech, as shh282 said.

Oh, and I just thinking about this and it makes me laugh - during Popular:
Annaleigh: "Toss-toss ohhhno,ohhno,ohh"
:Steph tries to imitate:
Annaleigh: ".........NO."
Updated On: 5/11/08 at 09:46 PM

[shh282]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:13am

legally

best thing about popular was them kicking on the bed, oh my lord. best thing ever.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:22am

I was dying..that was hysterical.

[mjcallahan]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:27am

to answer the question about her "range"

she has a huge belt up to almost an F (above High C) i believe (I have a good friend that did theater with her at Marymount Manhattan and I saw her in many things there) with a solid mix as well. Her soprano is huge as well... at least the G above high C (sorry, i don't know the exact terminology)

[into_the_woods2]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:39am

thankyou!!!!

[mjcallahan]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:59am

one more thing... thought you guys might want to see these! I saw a show for the fringe festival last summer called "Show Choir! The Musical" and I kept my playbill from the show. I googled some of the cast to see what they were up to (the show was great and the cast was phenominal). I found that a few of the cast members have websites and one of them was in Drood at Marymount with Annaleigh! I remembered her once I saw the pictures because I saw that production since I had a friend in the ensemble. Go to juliegalorenzo.com (on e of the actors in Drood with her) and click on the photo gallery you will see a bunch of pictures of Annaleigh!

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 3:48am

I just got back home from NYC. What an emotional day. For Good was the saddest thing that I have seen on a stage. From my seat all I could see was Steph's face and when she started to break down and cry in For Good it broke my heart. The leg kick on the bed in Popular was the funniest I have ever seen from them. The whole cast was on FIRE!!!!! At stage door I told Annaleigh that I will miss her(I saw her 9 times) and promised her that I will go see her in Chicago. And she told me to make sure that I go to stage door there to visit her. Steph's speech made me cry but also confused me too. Did she say that Annaleigh is closing the show in Chicago? And that her run was for only 3 months?

[IssaMe]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 6:44am

Yes, that's what she said...3 months in Chicago.

(She will be starting there in the beginning of June).

Spectacular final performance...one of the best of the run.
Having seen many (it not all of the) Glinda's, Annaleigh is my personal favorite - for her amazing comedic sense... and because she always could be counted on to come up with something new and fresh in the role (as proven yesterday).

She is indeed the enduring bright light that Stephanie referred to in her curtain speech.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 10:40am

When Annaleigh was crying so much holding the hat after Elphie melted, that broke my heart too.

And another funny thing during Popular.. when Steph was like shaking her head like Annaleigh was doing. I can't really explain it, but it was the funniest thing ever. Steph was laughing so much and looked like she was having a blast watching her. And when Annaleigh bent all the way back and slowly stood upright, and used her hands to turn her head forward.. ah, I can't explain it but it was so funny and weird. I knew shewould be extra crazy yesterday.

Yeah in the speech, Stephanie definitely said, "They're ending their run, and she gets to send them off with a bang for their last 3 months." I don't know if this means Chicago is closing in 3 months (I doubt that) or Annaleigh's only there for 3 months, but yeah, I'm confused by that as well.

[legally_popular]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 10:59am

I tried to listen to the speech and write it down. There are a couple parts I couldn't hear good though, but anyway...
Steph’s speech:

“Thank you so much. If I can just have a couple more moments of your time, and please bear with me because it’s gonna be hard to find the words. Today we say goodbye to an amazing performer and dear, dear friend to all of us. We’re not… The Wicked family is not saying goodbye, but the Broadway company is. Annaleigh is going off to lead the company in Chicago. They’re ending their run and she gets to send them off with a bang for their last three months. They’ve entrusted that in her faithful hands. And she’s a little one… she’s like one of the youngest leading ladies on Broadway, and I can’t tell you what an amazing presence…(?)….her professionalism…her endurance – you can’t believe she ever hardly misses a show, she’s a monster :laugh: honestly. ...(?)…. She's a joy. :looks at Annaleigh: You are the most beautiful light I have ever met. And it’s constant. And it’s just positivity that touches every single person you’ve ever met and I wish there were more people in the world like you (Steph is choking up and in tears by now, as is Annaleigh). And I’m going to miss you and everyone’s gonna miss you so much!”:audience cheers/applause: Then Steph turns to the audience and is like, “So get up off your feet and…” :audience is so loud:

Annaleigh was crying too and gave Steph a huge hug. And then waved to everyone, blew kisses, and lifted up her dress…? LOL.


Updated On: 5/14/08 at 10:59 AM

[shh282]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 11:14am

legally - the part of popular that you talked about, that was like my favorite. Glinda gone matrix esque. that girl is so freaking flexible

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 12:37pm

When Annaleigh turned around with her back to the audience she was trying to wipe the tears away. It didn't work though. The part that got me the most though(and I can't believe I forgot to mention it) was at the beginning of the melting scene when Elphie's like you have to hide,Steph looked at Annaleigh gave her the wave and mouthed "I'm gonna miss you" to her.

[yankees1253]

Posted: 5/12/08 at 1:57pm

thanks for the reviews, in tears reading all of them. legally thanks for taking time to listen and write stephs speech to annaleighs. that sppech really touched me, so undescriable but i could she described annaleighs work ethic on point. hopefully broadway.com or broadwayworld.com went to her last performance and took pictures. look at bright she will back to nyc after the three month chicago run with lisa brescia, i wouldnt be surprised if they ask her to replace kendra. hopefully theres video out there on their last day together, like their first.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 12:30am

SO emotional. As everyone said, it was a VERY fierce night. Annaleigh was amazing. I heard them chanting for her before the curtain came up as well, and I heard her thanking them from the rafters. Popular was hysterical and I laughed so much: The leg thing, the toss toss, oh no was incredibly amazing. I just loved it. I had such an amazing view from the seat provided to me by obsessedjb during Act One. It was amazing. SJB was fiercely amazing, but the night belonged to Annaleigh. I switched with obsessedjb and went to the mezz and was a mess all through Act 2 and cried all the way through the last part of Thank Goodness, bucked up and then broke down through For Good and the scene before and including the finale. I cried like a baby through SJB's speech.

I met up with obsessedjb and DefyingGravity77 at the stage door as well as shh, who didnt talk to me much, and I kept babbling and feeling like I was gonna cry. Annaleigh came out and I got to give her the shirt because I BASICALLY snatched it from obessedjb and gave it to her. And I asked for a mad props pix and well...



[MAD PROPSSS]

Updated On: 5/13/08 at 12:30 AM

[legally_popular]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 1:05am

^adorable!

We asked her to do the Mad Props too! loves it.

omg, how could I have missed all you guys at the stage door. I was alllll the way at the end, like beyond the barricades. I didn't see any sign of the pink shirts until I saw Annaleigh holding it up once you gave it to her. What did she said when you gave it to her? Well I sort of saw her laughing and showing her friends (who were closer to us). Did anyone take any videos?

And I was next to this girl who was dying to meet Annaleigh but her mom kept saying they had to go and thought Annaleigh would take a long time. Five minutes (not even) after they left, Annaleigh comes out. I felt so bad =/.


And I can't get that For Good out of my head. It wasn't Elphaba and Glinda singing to each other, it was Stephanie and Annaleigh. Simply beautiful.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 1:22am

The whole song was so sad but Steph's "But Because I knew You" made me break down.

[shh282]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 2:06pm

Clumsy, I said Hi to you at the stage door and you ignored me, after that I figured if you wanted to talk you would say hi.

Thanks Broadwayfan - I actually think I aced it, at the very least B +, Annaleigh was right it was magic, my teacher actually got rid of the section I feared the most at the last minute
--

One thing that got me was I was so close I could see Steph's make up running a little bit during For Good, it was insane and from then til the end I was crying.

[DefyGravity777]

Posted: 5/13/08 at 2:21pm

Clumsy was way too busy just talking...LOL.

I CANNOT get Steph's face out of my mind when she started really crying during For Good after Annaleigh sang the "Because I knew you" part.

The one thing that got me the most was at the beginning of the melting scene when Steph mouthed to Annaleigh "I'll miss you" as she was pulling the curtain back.

Did you see that during the hug at the end of For Good Steph had to put her head over Annaleigh's shoulder or she would have gotten green all over her dress?

Updated On: 5/13/08 at 02:21 PM