Alice Ripley proving a tad elusive- Page 3

[moowithme85]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 5:30pm

I'm not completely sound on the wording of these things, but there are $25 limited view seats available each day when the box office opens. Hope that helps.

At her gig on Monday, Alice explained that she was out because of a knee injury, and due to all of the work Diana does on her knees (ahem), she decided it was best not to risk anything. She also promised to be on as Diana on Tuesday, so you can take it for what it's worth...

I suppose "I Miss The Mountains" is basically performed while kneeling down, but other than that, well, I can't think of a ton of scenes that require her to kneel. Also, she performed the first two Chicago shows with said injury (of course the injury could have been worsened due to those performances...who can say for sure?).

To be honest, I'm shocked she wasn't back yesterday...

I'm a glutton for punishment and am likely going to try again tonight. Maybe go for the cheap seats this time. Third time's a charm, yes?

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 5:38pm

I do remember Diana being on her knees when she's making sandwiches and she crawls around on the stretcher.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 5:48pm

I heard she had mercury poisoning.

[tomandtomarejuiceguys]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 6:03pm

I can't comment on her performance in the tour or the current state of Ripley's knee, but I did see N2N several times on Broadway. While it's true that she doesn't spend all that much time on said knee, it is definitely taxing to have to go up and down those metal stairs for 2.5 hours. I also saw LuPone while her foot was injured (she performed in slippers, it was epic), and while it was a testament to her strength that she went on, who knows if she'd have done the same thing if the Gypsy set was more than one storey high.

[moowithme85]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 6:27pm

That's a very good point about the stairs...

[mikem]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 6:47pm

<--- This is the advertising campaign for the Philadelphia stop, with the "Don't miss Alice Ripley in her legendary, Tony-winning performance" blurb. That's why people are expecting to see Ripley.

[FlyingMonkey1223]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 7:36pm

Saw the show in San Francisco. Loved the show, hated Ripley. Her voice was shot to hell.

[PurpleFanta]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 9:42pm

...and apparently she's out tonight. So much for her being in for the rest of the run!

[binau]

Posted: 5/5/11 at 9:51pm

I really don't like the idea of her taking an entire 'stop' off, only because I feel like my bad luck will make it the stop I have booked 4 weekend-performances to (Charlotte, NC), and 4-performances to guarantee that I will catch Ripley {who I have already missed in NY}. I agree that she should have a fixed schedule and not book extra engagements when she can't handle her current one.

The theatre (knight) is among the smallest tour houses I think the show is going to (1200 seats, only marginally bigger than the Eisenhower in Washington). So maybe she can take it easier on her voice or something.

Updated On: 5/5/11 at 09:51 PM

[CCalamuso]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 9:22am

My Lord people! Can we all remember that she is human and needs a break if injured or sick. She has been traveling the states for months now with basically no days off. Im sure in the past months the majority of you have taken days off from work. She is probably the nicest person out there and respects her fans like no other I've seen.

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 9:25am

If she respects her fans she would not go on with the voice I heard last Tuesday. That is not "respect" it is egotistic unprofessionalism.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/7/11 at 9:45am

Or possibly she's just someone being pressed by the producers to do more than she can right now. Or someone with a strict work ethic. She wouldn't be the first performer to work themselves into illness and injury. To attribute that ethic to ego is churlish.

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 5/8/11 at 12:51am

She was on tonight and her voice was strained, but she was brilliant as was the the show! I LOVED it and cried like a freshman theater major!

[tazber]

Posted: 5/8/11 at 11:13am

I wish when I missed work my boss would just "understand" that I'm really stressed with all my clients and it being the busy season.

Updated On: 5/8/11 at 11:13 AM

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 5/8/11 at 11:18am

"My Lord people! Can we all remember that she is human and needs a break if injured or sick. She has been traveling the states for months now with basically no days off."

It's called touring with a show and Alice is no stranger to it. It is what she signed up for. It sounds like the creative team needs a sit down to devise a working strategy to "cut Alice some slack" as you put it. This is damaging her reputation. They need a remediation plan STAT!

She's not taking a sick day here and there. She is sitting out several unplanned shows each city. Alice has all my empathy and support, but as a whole its EXTREMELY unprofessional for this tour to meander the way it currently is without a plan in place.

Especially since they are selling seats with the Ripley name.

[binau]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 2:19am

Does anyone know how she is going in St Paul in terms of attendance? (or the quality of her performance too, if anyone wants to share)

[MCfan2]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 6:24pm

Planning to see this in D.C. in early July. Fortunately I already saw Alice on Broadway, so I won't really feel I'm missing out if we get the understudy, though I would like to see her again. We shall see . . .

[Elphaba3]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 6:47pm

She hasn't missed any shows in St. Paul thus far. I saw her. Her voice sounded pretty good for the most part, and her acting was the best I'd seen from her since 2009. It was once again more about Diana and less about Alice, not vice versa, which was it had become.

[smokeline]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 8:21pm

I saw her in St. Paul, and after all I've been hearing about how terrible her voice has gotten, I was pleasantly surprised. It certainly sounds strained compared to earlier iterations of the show, but only in the softer sections (and her voice has a rough quality to begin with). There were a few places I was nervous for her hitting some notes, but she generally always did and for me, it did not detract from her performance. Which was just as emotional as I remember it.

[binau]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 8:23pm

Sounds good. Although maybe her break in Chicago helped a little bit (She apparently missed 8 performances in a row?)

Updated On: 5/15/11 at 08:23 PM

[TimBaase]

Posted: 5/15/11 at 9:45pm

My mother and aunt are at the evening show right now. Bipolar disorder has plagued my family, so I was excited for my relatives to be able to see this groundbreaking portrayal of what it's really like. No idea about the matinee today, but Ripley is out this evening. On the plus side, this is the text I received:

"At intermission. Diana - Pearl Sun - is incredible. Chillingly real. Incredible voice."

At least Pearl is doing a good job :)

[smokeline]

Posted: 5/16/11 at 12:40am

Oh, and I forgot to mention before that I was sitting pretty close and her knees were visibly banged up. I really don't think the knee injury excuse in Chicago was just an excuse, it looked like they hurt.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 1:00pm

"How you feel about "Next to Normal" may depend on how you feel about lead actress Alice Ripley's unusual voice. Ripley plays a woman with bipolar disorder in the rock musical, which finds her and her family at a crisis point after years of medication and therapy have failed to get Ripley's Diana Goodman anywhere near the elusive "normal" of the title. It took me a few numbers to get used to Ripley's throaty, all-cried-out, Ann-Margret-like voice, which sounds almost nothing like it does on her original cast recording of the show, and to her odd vowel pronunciations, which are not identifiable as any accent I've ever heard. It is not a beautiful sound but, the more I thought about it, a woman who is struggling to hang onto her sanity probably wouldn't have a beautiful voice. "I don't feel anything," Diana says early in the show, and that's on a good day, when she's not accidentally burning the house down, diving into the pool at her daughter's swim meet or manically assembling sandwiches on the floor. Diana is a character unlike any other in the American musical theater, one who often isn't sure if what she sees is real or the product of her troubled mind. And, if Ripley's vocal efforts to project that scary place often sound harsh, there is nevertheless something beautiful in the vulnerability of her heroic Diana, a performance that won her a Tony in the original Broadway production. (I saw a less compelling actress with a gorgeous voice play this role on Broadway, and I can tell you I'd pick the acting over the voice every time.)"

- St. Paul Pioneer Press

So I guess that tells us how her voice is doing...

[PurpleFanta]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 1:15pm

"I saw a less compelling actress with a gorgeous voice play this role on Broadway, and I can tell you I'd pick the acting over the voice every time."

I couldn't agree more. I've seen Alice a few times on tour, and her voice is certainly harsh and abused, especially when comparing it to the cast recording, but it never took away from my enjoyment of the show.

[broadwaybabytn]

Posted: 5/22/11 at 1:20pm

I wonder if the reviewer was talking about Marin Mazzie or (u/s) Jessica Phillips...