Long before she starred on Broadway, Steffanie Leigh was performing on the stage at Ashland High School.
Leigh, an Ashland High School graduate who went on to star in Broadway's "Mary Poppins," is returning to her hometown this summer to debut an original cabaret exploring her lifelong relationship with singing.
Leigh said the school's theater, dance and vocal programs — along with opportunities through the Oregon Shakespeare Festival — gave her a strong foundation for a professional career.
After graduating from Ashland High School, Leigh attended Carnegie Mellon University, where she earned a bacherlor's degree in acting and musical theater. She said many of her classmates had attended arts high schools or trained in bigger cities.
"I absolutely felt like I had the same, if not better, education and footing to go forward with," Leigh said.
She added that she was supported by teachers and community members who encouraged her artistic ambitions.
"Everyone here," Leigh said, "was very supportive of me going into the arts, which is also very rare."
Adjusting to life on Broadway
Soon after graduating from Carnegie Mellon, Leigh landed a starring role in "Mary Poppins" on Broadway.
She said the biggest adjustment was the demanding schedule.
Unlike school and regional theater productions, which often run for only a few performances or a few months, Broadway performers may perform the same show eight times a week for years.
Leigh spent three years performing in "Mary Poppins."
"It becomes a whole different animal," she said. "That was certainly a learning curve for me to figure out what I needed to do every day to maintain my body, maintain my voice, maintain my energy to do the show at the best of my abilities eight times a week."
Leigh said mental fatigue was another challenge. She had to find ways to keep the show engaging, even after years in the same role.
Discovering cabaret
The discipline Leigh developed as a performer later helped shape her first cabaret show, "Matrescence," which explored her experience as a new mother.
Leigh describes cabaret as a blend of theater, concert performance and personal storytelling.
"It's kind of somewhere in between theater and a concert," she said. "It's told through singing other people's music, so it's kind of like a mixtape."
Returning to Ashland with 'My Little Voice'
Her new cabaret, “My Little Voice,” debuts in Ashland and explores Leigh's lifelong relationship with singing. The show imagines her voice as a character and traces how that character evolved from childhood through her professional career.
“I kept thinking about the relationship to my voice," she said. "My singing voice has taken me on so many adventures. I mean, it has quite literally taken me all around the world."
The performance explores both the opportunities and challenges Leigh has experienced as a singer, including periods when she struggled with self-doubt before ultimately reconnecting with her voice.
Steffanie Leigh presents “My Little Voice” at 7:30 p.m. June 12 at Ashland High School Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online.
