Alice Ripley
Alice Ripley has been away from the New York stage for way too long: four years, if you count the brief off-Broadway run of Adam Bock's play Five Flights, and eight ! since opening night of her last musical here, The Rocky Horror Show. Of course, there's life away from the Big Apple, and Ripley has kept busy on stages in Washington DC notably in Kennedy Center mountings of Company and Tell Me on a Sunday and Los Angeles Gentlemen Prefer Blondes at Reprise! and a recent production of Michael John LaChiusa's Little Fish, her adopted home for the past few years. Thankfully for New York musical fans, she's back in town, starring as an anything-but-ordinary suburban mom in the off-Broadway musical Next to Normal at Second Stage. It's a mountain of a part with an arc that zigzags between comedy and tragedy, plumbing the depths of one woman's psyche and offering an unsparing look at the effect of manic-depression on a family. Just before the glowing reviews started coming in, Ripley spoke with Broadway.com about what she's been up to—and why she's glad to be back.
How do you describe Next to Normal and your character, Diana, to people who haven't seen it—without giving away the show's big plot secret?
I've basically been saying what the P.R. materials say: It's a show about a not-so-typical contemporary family that's trying to keep itself together. Diana is a parent with mental illness, and she's been using pharmaceuticals for about 16 years before the show starts. It's interesting—I'm 44 and I don't have kids, but I feel a deep sense of connection [with the character]. Because Diana has kids and I don't, the show is bringing up for me personally a sense of loss. But I think if I had kids at this age, I would have given up something anyway.
I'm amazed at the range required in your performance.
It's such an emotional piece, and I barely leave the stage, so it's been very challenging to find the sweet spot between the emotional release and the technique required to perform this show. I think [the range] comes from the source material, which, by the way, is not based on a book or a movie! It's a completely contemporary score that, in my opinion, is an opera. Truly. Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey have done an incredible job writing this, and I think they're bound to become a recognizable team. I hope they do. I've never sung anything like it, so I'm drawing on all my best resources right now to deliver something shiny that the audience can take home with them.
The show itself is unique.
Well, I'm glad, because I like to be in projects that are different. Although to me, this is a true musical, and Broadway's been—what's the right word?—slightly amiss in musicals for the past decade, in my opinion. The musicals on Broadway have not necessarily been true musical theater. I'm speaking generally, of course: I saw Spring Awakening, and I was completely inspired by that. I feel like it's a real musical: The music moves the story forward, and it breaks new ground. All those kids are so young; it's so pure, the sound that comes out of them. I was blown away.
Creating a musical that works on every level is incredibly difficult, isn't it?
You're so right about that. Musical theater is one of the most challenging of the fine arts to create, and so to see something like [Next to Normal] that's done with integrity and collaboration—I think it's rare! A highlight of the last 10 years for me was the revival of Kiss Me, Kate. That was great musical theater, and yet it was a revival, so it doesn't need to be completely new [to succeed].
How did you get recruited to star in Next to Normal?
Oh my gosh, it's the opposite. I'm so grateful to be a part of this, I don't even know who to start thanking. Everywhere I look, I just want to do something nice for a stranger because I get to do this role [laughs]. Tom Kitt has worked with my husband [musician Shannon Ford] on several occasions, and I've known him for years. I've also known Brian d'Arcy James for a really long time and I've worked with [director] Michael [Greif] and [assistant director] Anthony [Rapp]. Tom approached me with this material a good three years before I got involved with it, but I was working. As soon as I became available, I jumped on and I'm so glad he asked me. It's a very special piece.
You work so well with Brian d'Arcy James. He's a rock, isn't he?
Oh god, I love him. I'm crazy about him! We did a workshop together about 10 years ago, and we've always wanted to do a show together—and here we are! I'm so grateful to have him as my opposite player. It makes me feel like everything's going to be okay.
Has the audience response been what you expected?
I honestly have not been expecting anything. I'm always open. During Rocky Horror, I started thinking of the audience as the milk to my instant breakfast. In that show, they really are the extra cast member who is a surprise every night, and I think theater, in general, should be that way. You don't want people throwing things at you at every show, but the audience should participate. There's an energy that's not present until they're there.
At an early preview, I saw all ages, which was nice.
Yeah, it's been a really interesting mix. You know what this audience has reminded me of so far? When I did The Dead at Playwrights Horizons, before we moved to the Belasco, Gregory Mosher, our producer, said that our audience was "the smartsies." I feel like that's what's going on in the audience for this show. We're getting the smartsies.
Your debut album, Everything's Fine, included a song about unpleasant secrets in suburbia, which is similar in tone to Next to Normal. I get the feeling that your own childhood as one of 11 kids was not all "apple pie."
Yeah, I'm pretty much channeling my mother, for most of the first act anyway. She wouldn't recognize herself, of course [laughs]. I definitely can identify with a dysfunctional childhood, whatever that means.
You were part of a blended family, right?
Yes, if Mr. and Mrs. Brady of The Brady Bunch had had a child together, that would have been our family. Each core family had five kids, and I'm in the center of the whole Ripley clan. I'm the double middle child. Talk about neurosis—come and watch the freak show! [Laughs.]
Are your parents and sibs coming to see Next to Normal?
Usually at least one family member shows up to see me in something. This one, everybody seems to be interested in. They've all been e-mailing and texting me about how they want have a group trip. My oldest brother, Rick, came to see it a few weeks ago, and afterwards he took my face in his hands, looked me in the eye and then burst into tears. This is the lawyer, who never expresses his emotions!
Why did you and your husband move to Los Angeles several years ago? I read that you wanted to concentrate on writing music.
That's what the main objective was—kind of a sabbatical from New York in order to write. We formed a West Coast band and played and recorded. I needed a little bit of distance from the city, more than just a borough away. It was a really great time out there; we lived in the Valley, and we had this amazing 93-year-old neighbor who would come over every day and do the crossword with us. That's something you can't get in the city!
In hindsight, not opening in the 2003 Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors might have been a blessing in disguise for you, although I'm sure it was difficult at the time. [Ripley was replaced by Kerry Butler as Audrey after the production's Florida tryout.]
I agree, it was a blessing in disguise, because it's always good to have a heartache, to have a heartbreak. You learn so much. But some of my pals were in it, you know, so I'm always happy when people get jobs.
Your band, Ripley, produced a CD of straight-up rock. How hard is it to balance the rock 'n' roll and the musical theater sides of your career?
I try to approach what I do onstage and what I do with my band in the same way. For me, it's all about being creative. I need to have a constant stream of creative thought going out of me in order to avoid being either distracted or depressed. I don't mean clinical depression, I mean feeling spiritually flat. My husband's a drummer, and when we got married 10 years ago, he was like, "Let's start a band!" so we did. He's been in bands since he was 15, and he's now 51, so I kind of bow down to his knowledge. And then I started painting about five or six years ago. So I write music, I paint, I clean, I cook, I do yardwork—those are all creative outlets for me. The simplest things can be creative.
Did you make a conscious decision to get back to musical theater last fall when you starred in an L.A. production of Little Fish?
I had worked on that piece back when I was doing Sunset Boulevard. I love it. That's a tough score, too—wow! Michael John [LaChiusa] and the director, Kirsten Sanderson, and I decided to have a reunion of sorts. It was a real challenge. Then I started working on [Next to Normal], and it was just time to come back to New York. Once this piece got inside of me, I knew I had to move everything to be there.
So you've moved back to New York?
Yeah, we're living out on Long Island. I wanted to live in the suburbs while I was rehearsing this show. I think it's important to be able to drive and get your groceries [laughs]. The house also has the same layout as the set. It has two sets of stairs like that, to the basement and then upstairs. I like to get up in the morning in my little house in the suburbs and think about Diana and how wacky she is. I love having a basement.
How did you figure out where you wanted to live?
My husband just has a knack for finding places like this. We're on a cul-de-sac, and the landlord's across the street. It's not perfect, but it's cute, and it's so quiet out here. I feel like Dick Van Dyke, commuting to the city every day.
It's hard to believe 10 years have gone by since Side Show. What's your happiest memory of that production?
You know, that was probably the last time I felt the kind of ensemble that permeated the whole theater—the cast, the crew, the guys in the booth—that I now feel with Next to Normal. That sense of teamwork and camaraderie is rare. That's what was special to me about Side Show: It felt like real musical theater. And I'm so happy that the audiences for [Next to Normal] have been full, because I know what it's like to play to a half house. It feels good to come into the theater an hour before the show and seeing people waiting to get in.
How wild is it that your Side Show co-star, Emily Skinner, was doing the concert version of Jerry Springer: The Opera while you were in previews?
What was Emily's performance like? I'm so sad I missed it.
She was fabulous.
She's incredible. She always wipes the stage with everything that she does.
Tell me about your upcoming Kennedy Center concert with Emily.
A couple of years ago, she sat on my couch and she was like, "Wow, this performing thing can really get to be a drag after a while." I said, "I know." We were tired. But we both said, "I always want to perform something with you," so we decided to take the repertoire we've been working on and put it in a show. At the Kennedy Center, we're going to have lots of new material to usher in a new age.
What kinds of things?
I've been singing this song by the ABBA boys called "You Have to Be There." People seem to single that out as something they like, so I'll probably do that. And Emily and I always sing something from Side Show. You gotta give them what they want! [Laughs.]
Is it bittersweet that many of your most acclaimed performances have been in Washington rather than New York?
Not really, because I love Washington DC. I had some of my best working memories there, and I take my bike down there and ride around the monuments. They have gorgeous paths with trees on either side. DC has almost a rural feel. My husband's from Davidsonville, Maryland, and my brother Rick lives Silver Spring. And [New York critics] see those shows. A bunch of them came down for the Sondheim Celebration.
Are there any classic musicals you'd love to do here?
Well, I've always wanted to do Evita but I think maybe I'm too old for that now. I'm really excited about Patti LuPone in Gypsy. That's a part I would like to play. Everybody wants to do that. She's going to be wonderful, don't you think? I've always been inspired by Patti LuPone.
You must be feeling a lot of good will from the theater community—people are glad you're back.
You know what? My husband and I have been hearing a lot of that. I spent my formative years here in the theater with people like Norm [Lewis of Side Show, now in The Little Mermaid] and Emily [Skinner], so it felt great the other week to know that she was just down the street singing and kicking some serious ass. I've always been a late bloomer, and I'm happy to be here. I love New York City, I really do. I "heart" New York.
See Alice Ripley in Next to Normal at Second Stage.
