Ashley Brown originated the title role in “Mary Poppins” on Broadway for which she received Outer Critics, Drama League and Drama Desk nominations for Best Actress.  Ms. Brown also starred as Mary Poppins in the national tour of Mary Poppins where she garnered a 2010 Garland award for “Best Performance in a Musical”. Ms. Brown’s other Broadway credits include Belle in "The Beauty and The Beast", and she has starred in the national tour of Disney's "On The Record". Ashley recently returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to star in the role of Laurey in “Oklahoma”.   She previously played Magnolia opposite Nathan Gunn in Francesca Zembello’s “Showboat” at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

 

Ashley has performed with virtually all of the top orchestras in North America including the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, The Hollywood Bowl Orchestra at Disney Hall, The Pittsburgh Symphony, the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall (three times), Fort Worth Symphony, the Cincinnati Pops, Philadelphia Orchestra (two times), the Milwaukee Symphony, the Indianapolis Symphony (three times), Seattle Symphony, the Houston Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, and the Philly Pops. She has also performed with the BBC orchestra opposite Josh Groban.

 

Ashley made her solo concert debut at The Kennedy Center as part of Barbara Cook’s Spotlight Series, and has appeared in New York City at prestigious venues including Feinstein’s at the Regency and Birdland.  Other projects include a star turn at the La Jolla Playhouse in a production of “Limelight”,  “Sound of Music” at the St. Louis MUNY which garnered her a Kevin Kline award, and her own PBS special called “Ashley Brown: Call Me Irresponsible” which received a PBS Telly Award. Ms. Brown’s long awaited album of Broadway and American Songbook standards is available on Ghostlight/Sony. Ashley is a graduate of the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music.