N2N

[JeanGudio]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:37am

How did Alice in n2n do that many shows . It is amazing she even managed to do 8 a week such a show.

[binau]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:39am

She didn't manage. Poor attendance and ruined her voice.

[yankeefan7]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:00pm

I saw it with my oldest daughter and it was a couple of weeks after it had opened and she was amazing. Ms. Ripley was also very sweet after the show when she signed our Playbill's.

[cordialcherry]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:36pm

Did Alice have poor attendance during her Broadway run as well as on the tour?

[ahhrealmonsters]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 12:55pm

She definitely missed more performances as the run progressed, but I don't know if I'd say she had poor attendance during the Broadway run.

[jolly1]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 5:27pm

I saw N2N on Broadway and loved her voice. I also saw N2N on tour and admittedly her voice was just not as good. She was still great just not as spectacular as before. I believe the show had a pretty negative impact on her voice.

[binau]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:21pm

When I first saw next to normal in April 2010 (Monday night) Ripley was out and Jessica Phillips was on, when I went back in December Marin Mazzie had replaced Alice Ripley. I then tried to catch her near the end of the tour. Because of her controversial attendance I booked tickets for four performances; she was in for half of them (5/8 for her stop in Charlotte in total). I probably didn't get the 'performance' she won her Tony Award for, and she probably shouldn't have been performing in this state, but it was quite an interesting experience. When she tried to belt/give everything she could to sing the line "And you find some way to survive" with her broken voice I did feel it sometimes added something, though.

Updated On: 6/16/12 at 07:21 PM

[GatorNY]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 7:29pm

Her record of attendance was excellent throughout the Broadway run. I saw the show many, many times before she exited after 15 (?) months and I never saw Jessica go on as Diana.

[someone.else's.story2]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 8:06pm

I saw her in the tour in Los Angeles a few times. I know that her attendance declined as the tour went on but I believe that she rarely if at all missed any shows here. Her voice sounded great too, although it was the first stop of the tour. I agree with qolbinau that it must have been interesting and it probably worked even when she was having a bit of trouble vocally. With that role, I would be far less worried about vocal perfection than with most others and she does act it amazingly.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 8:45pm

I preferred a vocally damaged Alice Ripley to the operatic sound that Marin Mazzie brought to the role, which was just incredibly jarring and completely inappropriate for the score.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 6/16/12 at 11:40pm

If the role damaged her voice so much, why did she perform a 15-month run and then go on tour?

[Kevinoes]

Posted: 6/17/12 at 7:19pm

I worked at the FSC in Toronto during the last 2 weeks of the run. Yes, her voice was shot. Yes, she sounded tired. But she pushed through and gave an incredible performance. Nuanced and honest. There were days you could tell she was vocally tired wouldn't push as much but she was still amazing. For the 2 weeks, she missed two shows. And bless her understudy, Pearl Sun. She sounded great (and healthy!) but for me (IMO) I preferred Alice. She let Diana have a sense of humor about her illness which Pearl dealt with rather dryly. Just my taste, I guess.
And it would be a strange thing. People came because they heard that Alice Ripley was a "Tony Winner" and on the two shows she missed, people were outraged that she called out. And a handful (not many, but some) people would complain when she did perform, saying her voice was shot and she should have called out. She really couldn't win with some people.

To me, it's an iffy thing. She wasn't in top vocal form, but she gave an incredible performance all the same. The closing night is something I will always remember. The house was full of fans of the show, of Alice, and people who had no idea who the hell Alice Ripley or what this show was about. And they responded so incredibly to it. All of them.

I hope she manages to rest up and get her voice nice and strong.

Updated On: 6/17/12 at 07:19 PM

[Bwayman2]

Posted: 6/17/12 at 7:32pm

I saw Alice Ripley in Charlotte, NC, and no understudy was on for her that night, but a friend of mine saw it the night after and said she was out.