Anna Kendrick returned to her roots in musical theatre on Thursday (10Mar16) by joining late night host Stephen Colbert for a TV duet.

The actress, who starred on Broadway as a child, admitted she had no movie to promote and so decided to use her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to show off her singing skills.

The odd couple launched into an emotional rendition of They Say It's Wonderful from the musical Annie Get Your Gun.

The song held particularly poignant memories for the American funnyman, who revealed, "My girlfriend was playing Annie Oakley and I played Frank Butler from Annie Get Your Gun and we had to learn this duet."

The Pitch Perfect star took on the role of the comedian's childhood sweetheart and the pair looked longingly into each other's eyes and gave an almost note-perfect performance of Irving Berlin's popular show tune.

Anna and Stephen also discussed their love of musicals, with both gushing over their experience of working with legendary songwriter Stephen Sondheim.

The actress attempted to play down her theatrical past during the TV chat, prompting the host to remind viewers she won a Theatre World Award for her role in the Broadway musical High Society when she was 12.