Alice Ripley to Play Margaret White

The press release is a little off;
"Kassebaum was the first to replace Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda in Wicked"
While she originated the tour, Jennifer Laura Thompson was the first Broadway replacement.

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I hope they can add that "Peppermint Twist" song into the score somehow.

Considering Marin Mazzie replaced Alice in Next to Normal and Marin was Maragret off-Broadway, it will be great. Its always cool when two actresses both serveral parts (Adam Pascal and Will Chase come to mind).

That beign said, I WISH I lived in Seattle to see this.

Updated On: 6/12/13 at 03:10 PM

I wonder if Margaret White would post lots of youtube videos.

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"The voice will be fine. She only has 2 full songs."

I'm really not so sure. Not only is a lot of strong belting required, but there are a lot of high notes. After hearing her attempt to sing "So Anyway" at the end of the N2N tour, it is difficult for me to imagine her singing those "They'll make promises, They will break your heart, then they'll laugh at you watching you fall apart" lines in "Those boys").

The high notes in Open Your Heart, the strong belting in Eve Was Weak, the belting and high notes in Those Boys, the high notes in When There's No One and Evening Prayers. This is a mammoth score, which as described in that Carrie LA production audition notice, "requires an actress with extreme stamina as a singer."

This is extremely exciting casting. I hope she can pull it off.

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Her voice will be fine. She's had almost two years to recover from next to normal and she's done minimal work since that requires regular use of her singing voice. At the end of the tour, even her speaking voice was in shreds, but I saw her in Clybourne Park a couple of weeks ago and even just listening to her speak, you can tell her voice has recovered. A nice, youthful timbre.

I wish this wasn't so far away. She'll be incredible in this role for sure.

Has someone re-written this Turkey?

I thought I saw something re: Alice in a N2N production in Chicago too! Someone tweeted it and Alice retweeted it..

I wrote about this a couple of days ago before the official press releases were out.


Anyway, as I stated in the other thread, Alice did end up performing three songs that night, "When There Is No One" from Carrie, "I Miss The Mountains" from N2N, and a medley of songs from "Tommy". She sounded great in all three of those songs. "I Miss The Mountains" sounds almost like she did on the cast album, so I think her voice has returned. It's only a three week run with I think five shows a week, so she'll be fine.


"Carrie: The Musical" in Seattle

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Updated On: 6/12/13 at 09:15 PM

Because the score is also only orchestrated for seven pieces (including two keyboards and 2 guitars) -- it also shouldn't be difficult for the music to be lowered and positioned specifically for her voice. I'm sure she will give a fabulous performance.

The Chicago N2N that is at the Drury Lane would run from August 15 - October 6, 2013, while Carrie in Seattle would start October 11. Kind of cutting it close but doable, that is if the rumor is true and this is actually the production.


Next to Normal in Chicago

Updated On: 6/13/13 at 03:09 PM

Wow! Airfare is CHEAP to Seattle in October. If you got a friend to stay with or can find a cheap hotel you can make a weekend of it and see the show.