Brittain Ashford – ‘I Could Have Danced All Night’ And ‘Sonya Alone’

I grew up with my grandmother’s stories of when she went to see the stage play for the Lerner And Loewe musical, ‘My Fair Lady’, back in the 1960s.

I subsequently fell in love with the play, and the film, and I could easily sing pretty much any of the songs if you asked me to. Of course, I know the way they’re sung – in the original. In Brittain Ashford’s hands, the song takes on a whole new life, as she gives it a post trip-hop treatment.

Dreamy, ethereal – with Ashford’s vocals full and rich, slowed down, stripped back, it’s a modern take as she walks home after an incredible night before – dishevelled, torn tights, messy hair. The song is taken from her new album, ‘Drama Club’, which also features ‘Sonya Alone’, poignant, moving, country tinged. The track has a beautiful stop motion animation music video to accompany it, Ashford’s vocals once again ethereal, but this time reminding us of the big voices of the likes of classic country pop artist Crystal Gayle, and more contemporary singers, like Katie Melua.

‘Sonya Alone’ comes from ‘Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812’, a sung-through musical adaptation of a 70 page segment of Tolstoy’s ‘War And Peace’. Ashford first played the role of Sonya in 2012, in the Ars Nova production off-Broadway, and has continued in the role in all further incarnations, productions at Kazino, the American Repertory Theater, and at the Imperial Theatre, the latter of which marked her Broadway debut in 2016. She was temporarily replaced by singer-songwriter Ingrid Michaelson, but returned to the role in August 2017.

Watch this gorgeous duet between Brittain and Ingrid: