Cruise Headline Entertainer Ashley Rose Smith Learned from Every ‘Yes’ and ‘No’

Performer Ashley Rose Smith has been captivating audiences on the high seas for more than seven years as a fan favorite entertainer on Princess Cruises. Back on land, she has thousands of Facebook followers who tune in for her peek below deck as she shares the logistics of living on a boat. Smith covers topics like battling sea sickness and where she stores her magnificent costumes in tight quarters. On stage in her glittering sequin outfits with a rock-solid voice, Smith seems like she was born into stardom. In reality, she began working on that polished presentation, which she crafted from scratch, years before she commanded her own show.

Smith remembers that her love for musical theater began as a child when her mom introduced her to Broadway cast recordings. Their favorites tracks included JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, FUNNY GIRL, and MAMMA MIA! Performing since the age of three, Smith’s interest in musicals kept growing as she did. As a teenager, she and her mom began searching for theatrical opportunities together.

“We wanted to find out what auditions were happening in town. It was back when they had things posted in the newspaper,” Smith laughed. Among the listings, they found an audition call for THE SOUND OF MUSIC at Springfield Little Theatre. “We found an audition notice for it and were like, ‘Okay. We’re just going to show up and try out.’”

The mother-daughter activity didn’t quite turn out as they expected. While Smith’s mother was offered a spot in the ensemble, Smith herself wasn’t cast. Unfazed, she jumped into a different role. Rather than standing in the spotlight, she learned to operate one. “Since [my mom] was doing [the show], I was like, well I definitely still want to be involved, so that’s why I did the spotlight. I remember being really nervous. Jennifer Wilhelmi was stage managing, so she was the one to always tell me when to turn the spotlight on. It was really fun.”

The early rejection taught Smith to persevere until her undeniable singing talent was matched with the right opportunity. In the meantime, the SLT community made her feel welcome and working backstage stoked her excitement for live performance.

“After doing tech, that’s when I fell in love with the theatre. By the time I was hanging around [SLT] all the time, I wasn’t even [cast] in a show yet,” Smith recalled.

She kept showing up for auditions, making herself familiar to directors, learning the best songs to show off her talents, and weathered five more rejections. Any time she was told she wasn’t right for the cast, she volunteered to work on crew. What she couldn’t predict at the time was that the skills she picked up backstage were preparing her to develop her own professional production. In the moment, she just enjoyed being a member of the SLT family.

“I liked the community aspect of it,” Smith shared. “I never felt like I truly belonged to any clique or anything like that until I did theatre. Then it felt like you’re part of a family. To me, that’s what really drew me in.”

After working tech for several shows, Smith found her name on the cast list of the new musical MISSOURI! which made its debut at SLT under the direction of then SLT Executive Director Mick Denniston. She remembers being grateful for the opportunity but jokes that she skirted the rules a bit to make the cut.

“It said on the audition notice that you had to be 16 to audition. I just didn’t put my age on the audition form. I pretended like I forgot to write it down,” she laughed. “That was my first ever role ever. [Mick] gave me a chance.”

Having proven her talent, drive, and professionalism, Smith began nailing auditions. She joined Y.E.S. Troupe and performed in several shows at SLT throughout high school. She admits that her love of music only grew during this period, but she steered toward more traditional career paths for stability. Her artistic talents, however, were actually providing financial support for her schooling.

“I had to do a bunch of music and theater scholarships because I couldn’t afford to go to school without those scholarships on top of everything else. I quickly realized I didn’t want to give up the music side of things,” Smith explained.

Smith graduated from Missouri State University with a Business degree, but her theatre ties kept her in the loop on performance opportunities. With a gift for connecting with audiences, she couldn’t escape the pull. Smith joined friends, many of whom she met at SLT, who were auditioning in Branson and worked her way into the scene.

A contract with Silver Dollar City brought Smith into the fold and opened her to working with Dean Z, God and Country Theatre, and the Jim Stafford Christmas Show. She also toured the country with Pullen Productions in a four member ABBA Tribute group titled Thank You For the Music: A Modern Tribute to ABBA.

After years of professional contracts, Smith was ready for a big lifestyle shift. “By the time I was 30 years old, I had never once left the country and I was like, if I don’t start now, then I’m not gonna see what I want to see,” she recalled.

Smith took a leap and began auditioning for cruise lines where she would have solid employment and travel opportunities. However, cruises are one of the most competitive contracts to break into. She repeatedly put herself out for calls with disappointing results, but her relentless spirit persisted. “Once I set my mind on something, I usually go 10 out of 10 on it. I usually don’t give up until I figure it out.”

The casting season also conflicted with her ten-month contracts at Silver Dollar City. She began receiving offers from cruise lines, but they didn’t align with her off season. Finally, Smith received a call that would devastate most performers – her Silver Dollar City show wouldn’t be renewed. Instead of despairing, she used it to make the next major jump in her career.

“They fired the entire cast and musicians and everybody, and it was too late in the season to audition for anything else because every other theater had already had their auditions, so there were no openings in town,” Smith explained. “So, I immediately emailed a guy who had given me an offer before and said, ‘Look, I’m not gonna go back to Silver Dollar City. I want to do cruises and now that I don’t have this other job that I’m locked into.’ I’m not going to take anything until some cruise company hires me.”

Princess Cruises called her back and offered her a production singer position. As for travel, Smith got all that she ever dreamed of. Production singer contracts kept her on board for six months at a time and gave her opportunities to explore while they were docked at port. She began sharing incredible experiences online from the distant locales she visited.

Smith eventually met her now husband, former Cruise Director Kevin Tugwell, on board and she began building a solo show. Remember her love for the MAMMA MIA! cast recording and that 2013 ABBA Tribute show she starred in? So did her husband. Turns out, it had all been leading to her big moment.

“I was just writing a variety show. I have another show that is just a variety of different kinds of music including like pop, rock, and opera, a little musical theatre. As for the ABBA show, it started out with just one ABBA medley and it kept getting longer and longer and then my husband was joking around and said, ‘Why don’t you just make a full ABBA show?’ I was like, ‘Oh my god, I should. That’s amazing.’ I’m so glad because it worked out so well. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself.”

Having seized every opportunity at SLT on and off stage, Smith had the full picture for how to build an entire show from scratch. As she began developing her shows, she caught the eye of entertainment bookers. Her preparation collided with demand, and she landed one of the most coveted spots in cruise performing – headline entertainer.

“It was just one of those things where I got my show in front of the right people and was able to kind of have a paper trail of my scores and guest comments,” Smith explained. “I wrote my show when I was a production singer on a ship, but I was able to perform them because during COVID, we had a lot of guest entertainers that got sick and couldn’t make the ship. A lot of flights were being cancelled. They were like, ‘Alright, we’re short a show. We need somebody to go on.’ I was like, ‘Put me in! I have a show.’ So, because of that, that’s how the booker was able to get to know my scores and then offered me dates to be a headliner.”

She now gets called on demand to appear on ships to perform her two shows, ABBA’S Greatest Hits by Ashley Rose Smith and A Singer’s Journey. Being a solo act has earned her a more manageable schedule. Smith’s contracts are closer to a week than the months she was away before. When one ends, she heads to the next ship or comes home to spend time with her cat and husband.

Smith has come a long way since operating her first spotlight, but she appreciates her days at SLT. “Doing shows in [Y.E.S.] Troupe teaches you so much about theatre and the way that things work. You get really good on the job training doing shows at SLT. You end up knowing how everything works. You know how rehearsals run. You learn a lot of dance and choreography stuff, like musical theatre and jazz choreography. When I started ships, there was really not like any learning curve because I had already learned. When I started in Branson, it’s everything that I learned at Springfield Little Theatre that I just did with them as well.”

Smith also credits fellow SLT alum Brandon Russell with strengthening her vocals to meet the demands of singing an entire show alone. “He was a fellow Trouper with me, but even when he was in his early 20s, he was the most amazing voice teacher ever,” she said. “So anytime I need help with anything vocally or any time I need a voice lesson or need to figure out how to sing a certain song, I always go to him.”

Smith hopes that her success can inspire other Springfield hopefuls. Pursuing a career on cruise ships can be intimidating, but after rising to the top of her field, Smith is more than open with her tips for breaking into the business.

“I like sharing my adventures and my story with people,” she offered warmly. “I think a lot of times in universities and schools, they push to you that you have to move to New York or LA to be successful. I want people to know there are a lot of other opportunities out there outside of those two cities that you can still make a living performing.”

Explore opportunities to get involved and start your theatre training at Springfield Little Theatre.