INFORMAL: INTERVIEW WITH ASHLEY STROUD
INFORMAL - AN INTERVIEW SERIES
ASHLEY STROUD
BACKSTAGE WITH ASHLEY STROUD: FROM 'LUCK TO LUCK' IN I'M EVERY WOMAN
Ashley Stroud is an acclaimed American cabaret singer, jazz vocalist, and theatre performer. As a core early member of Postmodern Jukebox, her sultry vintage-style pop covers have racked up over 40 million views on YouTube. After spending five years hosting at the infamous immersive venues The Box NYC and The Box Soho, and starring at the Sydney Opera House, the Chicago native has arrived in London's West End.
Currently playing Chaka Khan's sister, Taka Boom, in I’m Every Woman - The Chaka Khan Musical, Ashley also covers the leading role. I was lucky enough to chat with her backstage at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre just an hour before she stepped onto the stage for her momentous debut performance as Chaka Khan earlier this week.
It was a big day for Ashley, and I wondered how she was feeling with an hour to go before curtain up: "I felt the panic set in towards the end of Alex's (Alexandra Burke) show because I shadowed her matinee, but I think now I'm starting to feel calm. I have my castmates around me, and they're all supporting me and holding me up so I'm breathing!"
Sitting backstage, I could feel the wealth of support from the cast for Ashley, and I was sure she could feel that too: "I do. This is my first musical theatre show, and I feel so grateful, so lucky, so blessed that I was able to come into a majority black show where I felt at home right away."
"This whole cast have been incredible. The first day I met Miles (Anthony Daley) it was like I'd known him for 10 years. Alexandra (Burke) is the most gracious, giving, incredible leading lady, and Jordan (Frazier) is intentional about her work and her process. I feel like I'm in school and learning from the best."
I wanted to know what it meant to Ashley to be able to step on the stage and play Chaka: "It means everything. My grandmother loves her, and I have family members that went to high school with her and with Taka!"
"The show is telling the story of my hometown hero. I grew up in Chicago and my whole family has been Chicago for many generations, so I feel like I got super lucky."
I wondered how it felt, as a cover, to get the call and be told you'd be going on as the lead: "It's been some weeks in the making. The company have been very good to me. They didn't have to guarantee me a show. I could've just been emergency cover as there's always two Chakas in the building. But Emily (Obasohan) really wanted me to have this opportunity and she fought for me to have it. She made sure I had everything I needed to go on and be confident."
"So I didn't really get a call. The date was set, and I knew it was coming. We're here and I've wrapped my head around it. My husband's here. My mother-in-law, my friends, my family are all here. It's amazing."
Ashley's main role in the show is as Chaka's sister Taka. I asked her how it's been playing that role: "I live for Taka! I love her. I feel a kinship with the version of her that I've created in my mind. I briefly met her on press night. She's feisty. She uses humour to move through the darkness in her life, and I'm very similar to that."
"I love Taka Boom, I really do. So I'm going from luck to luck! Of course I idolise Chaka but I love Taka. I have the most fun playing her, and getting to play into the comedy of her, and how fabulous and over the top she is."
I wondered how she will transition from the role that's engrained into her, into the lead: "This I don't know yet! I'm gonna find out tonight whether I'm going to be able to do it smoothly or if I'm having panic attacks! Right now, I feel it's only possible because of the support in the room. Without that I don't think it would be possible at all."
I asked Ashley if there was a particular song or scene that she was really looking forward to performing that night: "Maybe 'Your Love is All I Know'. Just being able to just stand there and sing, and having an almost cathartic moment of release. I feel by this point I'll really be able to let my shoulders fall and relax."
And would she want to do more musical theatre in the future?: "I'm hoping! We'll see!"
What really came across throughout our chat was the passion Ashley has not only for the show, but for the real people whose story is being told. She may have said she's gone from 'luck to luck', but being in the audience that night, it was us who were the lucky ones.
I'm Every Woman - The Chaka Khan Musical plays at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre until Sunday 27th September.
For more information on the show and to book tickets
You can read my 5-star review of the show from its world premiere run earlier this year HERE
Interview conducted by Neill Kovacic-Clarke for Pink Prince Theatre on 17/09/26
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