DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Denver

News: Annaleigh Ashford, the local girl who made good in show business, returned to her hometown on June 14 to put on a show for the 44th Saturday Night Alive that underscored why she’s such a hot commodity on Broadway, in films and on TV.

Ashford, who won a Tony for her role as Essie Carmichael in the 2014 Broadway revival of “You Can’t Take It With You,” opened her show on a comic note by noting that while she had lived at altitude for 20 years, subsequent visits to the Mile High City leave her out of breath.

With that, she summoned a stagehand who brought out an oxygen cannister and mask. She placed it on her face, took a couple of deep breaths, removed the mask and started singing – surprise, surprise — “Every Breath You Take” by the Police.

Ashford’s show in the DCPA’s Marvin and Judi Wolf Theatre also included numbers from other Broadway productions in which she had key roles, including Wicked, Sweeney Todd, You Can’t Take It with You, Sunday in the Park with George, Hair and Kinky Boots.

Saturday Night Alive, which has raised some $23 million to date, also was the occasion for the DCPA to present the Daniel L. Ritchie Spotlight Award to John C. and Hillary Morgridge and to thank Dr. Reginald Washington and attorney Robert Slosky for their decades of service on the organization’s board of trustees. Washington had been on the board for 31 years; Slosky for 39.

The Morgridges, along with parents John and Carrie Morgridge, and the Morgridge Family Foundation, have supported the DCPA in various financial and hands-on ways. “Our joy is in making childhood magical,” John C. Morgridge said.

Hillary Morgridge noted that the first grant they made as a couple was money to purchase a pickup truck to be used in the DCPA’s Shakespeare in the Parking Lot productions performed in high school parking lots throughout the state.

Everett Schneider, owner of Bedrock Landscaping Materials, and his spouse Robert Phifer, the company’s customer service manager, chaired Saturday Night Alive 2025 with Paul Washington, a board member for the Federal Home Loan Bank of Topeka, and his wife, Nadia El Mallakh, senior vice president at the Coalition for Green Capital.

After the show, guests headed to the Seawell Ballroom for a dinner catered by Epicurean and silent disco dancing.

The DCPA’s chief executive, Janice Sinden, helped welcome a crowd that included:

• Former Denver Mayor Michael Hancock

• Denver Water CEO Alan Salazar

• Former Denver District Attorney Beth McCann

• Dr. Michael Salem, president/CEO of National Jewish Health

• Brandon Lloyd, former wide receiver for the Denver Broncos, with Esther Lee Leach, senior advisor/community partnerships, boards and commissions, for current Denver Mayor Mike Johnston

• DCPA board chair Hassan Salem, head of global industrials and services for U.S. Bank

• SCFD chief Deborah Jordy

• William Browning, president/CEO of Clayton Early Learning

• Last year’s Saturday Night Alive chairmen, John Farnam, director of responsive grantmaking at the Buell Foundation, and Paul Heitzenrater, a certified recreation therapist at National Jewish Health

About the organization: The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit theater organizations and is known for hosting popular Broadway touring productions along with programming that includes classic theater, cabaret shows, musicals and innovative multimedia plays. The DCPA also offers educational programs for youths and adults and works to increase community engagement with the theater.

Website: denvercenter.org

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