BWW EXCLUSIVE: Alice Ripley on NEXT TO NORMAL Tour, New Album, Fans & A Career Retrospective - Part 2

Over the course of our ninety minute conversation earlier this week, Tony-winning Broadway star Alice Ripley was kind enough to open up about her role in the phenomenon of the Pulitzer Prize-winning NEXT TO NORMAL, which is now kicking off a US Tour beginning in Los Angeles, as well as offer thoughts on many of her significant stage roles that she has taken on over the course of her impressive and varied career. Pete Townshend and THE WHO'S TOMMY to Andrew Lloyd Webber and SUNSET BOULEVARD and TELL ME ON A SUNDAY, to Sondheim with COMPANY (as the greatest Amy of all time), and even a turn in ROCKY HORROR; Alice Ripley has seemingly done it all - and her passion, dedication and insight into her craft are amply evident in both her studied performances on stage as well as in discussing the art of acting in musical theatre in conversation and her inspirations as Diana Goodman, ranging from Albee to O'Neill to actors like Cynthia Nixon, Toni Collette and more. In her most comprehensive print interview to date, BroadwayWorld is proud to present InDepth InterView: Alice Ripley.

Here is Part II of the discussion, you can read Part I here.

Part II: Unexpected Songs

PC: Can you tell me your plans for the new album?

AR: Kurt and I have a new album coming out. It's kind of a secret. No one is supposed to know everything about it yet. It's coming out early next year. It's called DAILY PRACTICE.

PC: Is it like EVERYTHING'S FINE, original material?

AR: No. This is all covers.

PC: Really? What can we expect?

AR: I did a couple of gigs this year. I did about five gigs in New York this summer on my break from NEXT TO NORMAL with my guitar. I just show up with my guitar and I play for the audience. What I tell them is, "This is what I do everyday when I want to reconnect with who I really am." And, who I really am is a teenage girl who plays the guitar and sings, because that's what I really did. I didn't play, really, back then, but now I can play a little bit because I've been practicing all these years. I couldn't really play songs back them. But, now, I have chosen these tunes specifically to play and practice everyday because they are the foundation of who I am as a songwriter and why I want to sing and, in a way, these songs and these writers have kept me alive. I'm really excited to do a series of these kind of songs.

PC: What are some of the songs?

AR: Lucinda Williams. Alanis Morrisette. U2. R.E.M./Michael Stipe. Bruce Springsteen. These are songs that I chose and I practiced them everyday and then I figured, "Well, at first, I'll just invite people and they can give me feedback." So, I decided to kind of start that this summer and then Kurt and I decided to capture it. It was going to be captured as a live album with the audience, but then we decided to do it as a live performance without the audience. So, the album is just me with a guitar captured with ambient mics. My guitars not even plugged in. It's a very straightforward album. It's just me and my guitar and that's it.

PC: And do you have a final mix yet?

AR: I'll tell you what, I can't remember a time when I've been happier with the way a recording sounds just in the beginning stages, I mean, I can hear myself! When I do live gigs with my band, I love it, they are very loud. I like it that way. But, I wanted to take a break from that so that I could just hear my voice and hear the words and hear the songs because this record is really about the songs that I think everyone needs to hear. I mean, there are people in the audience of NEXT TO NORMAL that have never heard "Thunder Road".

PC: Even people in their twenties and thirties are missing out.

AR: And, you know what, it not only needs to be heard but it needs to be recorded and circulated and spun forever. A song like "Essence" by Lucinda Williams or "Thunder Road" by Bruce Springsteen or "Everybody Hurts" by R.E.M., each is an example of excellent songwriter. I'm not so sure there are a lot of songs that are out there these days that fit that category.

PC: So you take inspiration from great music, wherever it originates - pop, rock, theatre, popular or otherwise.

AR: For me, the idea is: I practice these songs everyday because they remind me who I am while I play these other characters - you know, if I start to wonder why I am doing this. This is why. I still get a lot of personal meaning out of these songs and just playing them. The idea that someone wants to listen to me practice is just like a dream come true because you want an audience to respond and you want some feedback, whatever it may be.

PC: You want to take them on the journey. This sounds like it is going to be a great, bridge-building album!

AR: You are the first one I have talked to about this! The album will be out after the first of the year. We haven't mastered it yet, we are still putting all the little pieces together. The songs that I've mentioned are all on there.

PC: This is the album the fans have all been waiting for! We can't wait. You have so many fans on BroadwayWorld and all over the internet.

AR: Thank you to you guys for supporting my work and supporting the show.

PC: What do you think of the internet revolution and your ability to connect with your fans?

AR: I host all my own websites. It's a full-time job that I really enjoy. I enjoy having contact with the audience and I enjoy being in control of the content. I don't really edit much at all, though, the visitors provide all the content. Except, sometimes, if it's a little bit slow one week I'll give 'em something to chew on. (Big Laugh.)

PC: Your Facebook page is quite a scene when that happens, I've seen!

AR: I have three sites on Facebook because the first two only allowed 5,000 friends per site, so we keep sending people to the next one as they reach capacity.

PC: You have some rabid fans, too!

AR: My fans are faithful. They are loyal. And the NEXT TO NORMAL fans are devoutly so.

PC: Did you intentionally try to confuse people or play a different role with your YouTube channel?

AR: On my YouTube Channel, that's like a public display of my personal sketchbook. I'm glad for any kind of response I can get. I see the YouTube Channel as my sketchbook with videos. I see they how they all hang together - all the sites - because they're all me. I guess I'm entertained by my silliness. I make them for myself and then if I stop making them I'll get a note saying. "Hey, how come you stopped making videos?" And I say, "I've posted 300 videos! How many more do you need?" and, they say, "I need a new one everyday!" (Laughs.)

PC: So, you love it all - Facebook, YouTube, BroadwayWorld, blogs, everything.

AR: It's nice to know people are paying attention. At the end of the day, I guess that's what I'm an expert at: getting people's attention! (Laughs.)

PC: You were my first Fantine in LES MISERABLES. Did you like doing that show?

AR: Well, that's probably my favorite musical. Richard Jay-Alexander cast me as Fantine and staged it. He showed me how to do Fantine. He acted it out for me!

PC: Do you remember the Today show performance?

AR: Every time I was ever backstage at the Imperial or backstage about to sing that, I would just say to myself: "I could do this everyday." The score is so beautiful and it's such an incredible piece. It's the kind of a piece an actor wants to be associated with. It's so well-written and the score is so great and the characters are interesting. It's just something that everybody should get to do at least once. But, I don't think there is another show like LES MIZ.

PC: It'd be fascinating to hear the score re-orchestrated - either in a more classical style, or a more outright contemporary rock sound.

AR: It'd be interesting to hear that, wouldn't it? I bet you they will do that someday.

PC: The John Cameron orchestrations are great, but they will date the piece eventually.

AR: I know what you mean.

PC: How did you become involved with doing TELL ME ON A SUNDAY at the Kennedy Center? Did you do the new version of the show with the trip-hop song and the new finale?

AR: No, I think that was right after we did. Andrew changed it right after we did it. I don't think we had anything new added, but I think there were some things omitted. I'm not sure, though. I have to refresh my memory.

PC: The new songs are great, actually. At least the new finale.

AR: Oh, well, then I better make sure I go back and listen to it, then!

PC: That's such a tough role. Did that kind of role prepare you for Diana, in a way?

AR: It probably did - without me even knowing it! (Laughs.)

PC: It is a one-woman-musical, after all.

AR: I remember that at the start of that show I would come in with suitcases - there would be the sound of this jet plane going over our heads - and I would be onstage with my suitcases. What they did at the Kennedy Center, in the Eisenhower [Theater], what they decided to do was put the orchestra in another room and pipe them in, because they wanted the pit to be filled with seats.

PC: How did you react to that?

AR: It was very strange! I would walk onstage and the orchestra wasn't even in the same room with me; the conductor wasn't in the same room with me! They were behind this iron wall.

PC: How bizarre. What did that do for your confidence?

AR: I was terrified at the beginning of every performance of that because, for the first few seconds every night, I'm thinking, "Oh, my. I have to do this by myself? I have to do this illusion by myself for seventy-five minutes? There's nobody out here with me!"

PC: Just you.

AR: No other breathing person that knows the secrets. You know, the audience is there but they don't know what's gonna happen. So, that was really daunting. It was something I had to jump over every time I started the performance. Then, once I got about five minutes into it, I was so busy just connecting all the dots that I didn't have time to be scared anymore. Then, it started to get fun.

PC: Was it hard to memorize the role? It has a lot of lyrics.

AR: Oh, no. Actually, that's kind of the easy part, really. If you give your attention to your rehearsal, like you should, the memorizing is really easy. It's just a matter of the more you do it - you know, it's like how you drive to work and sometimes you don't know how you got there, or you ride the train to work and you say, "I don't remember even riding the train today!" - it's that kind of thing. But, learning it is the difficult part; connecting the dots. Once you learn how to connect the dots, then you just kind of tell the story and all the words and action are there to support you.

PC: Now, without further ado, let's talk about your other iconic performance at the Kennedy Center, the best Amy ever in COMPANY. Sondheim told me he loved that production, as did I.

AR: Oh, my gosh! I was just telling a story about that the other day, too!

PC: It was one of the best Sondheim productions ever.

AR: Well, that was it - that was the role I got to be funny. First, I did Janet and then I got to do Amy.

PC: I will never see yellow rubber gloves the same way again!

AR: (Laughs.) It's so funny because I have yellow rubber gloves in NEXT TO NORMAL in a scene as Diana, but I just kind of hold them. It's sort of a little inside joke to myself.

PC: I noticed that, too! How funny. So, who's idea were they?

AR: Oh, it was definitely my idea. I was like, "You gotta have these rubber gloves onstage!" Because, I don't know, I always wanted to take a rubber glove off onstage and have it hit me in the face. (Laughs.) And, I actually got to do it! I can't believe they let me do that!

PC: It was a perfect character choice.

AR: I mean, the things that they let me do, I was really happy they let me do these things. We were in rehearsal and we were blocking "Getting Married Today" and I was holding my prop version of the bouquet, hanging upside down from the kitchen counter, singing. You know, (Sings.) "Pardon me is everybody there / Because if everybody's there / I want to thank you all for...." And, Stephen Sondheim is sitting there in the room.

PC: How did he react?

AR: Well, I mean, a few minutes earlier I was kneeling before his loafers. (Laughs.) It was part of the staging, you know?

PC: I know.

AR: Well, it was just a rehearsal, but after we were done and we were through figuring out what the number was going to look like, we had a break and I went up to him and I was like, (Perky Voice.) "So, what do you think? What do you think about this and that?" And, he just said, (Deadpan.) "All you have to do is say the words." (Pause. Laughs.)

PC: He's not one to waste words, himself!

AR: Right. So, I just, "Oh, I can do that!" And, he was right. He was right because there is no other that you can do that song but say the words. If you can get through the words and make it you get some sort of medal at the end.

PC: But, you took the last note up the octave at the end, right?

AR: Yeah. (Laughs.)

PC: You were great at the SONDHEIM CELEBRATION concert, too. It was a shame that that production of COMPANY, or that concert, was not filmed.

AR: Yeah. Well, I kind of have mixed feelings on live theatre being captured with a camera. You know, I don't ever watch videos of shows that I've done. So, to know it's out there is one thing, but I don't think I'd ever look at it. I don't want to know too much. Now, I had that memory of: the audience's response after I finished that number; and, you know, Matt Bogart's beautiful face, kissing me; shaking Stephen Sondheim's hand; my crystal dress that I was wearing at that concert - I have all those memories inside me. And, those are great memories because, like I said, I don't think it gets any better than Sondheim's work. No one else knows how to write a musical like him. I think SWEENEY TODD is another of my favorite musicals.

PC: I never saw anyone make that scene with Amy and Bobby work quite that way as it did in that production. What was working with John Barrowman like?

AR: Oh, that's nice to hear. I love John Barrowman. I think he was a really good - a perfect - Bobby.

PC: Do you have any fond memories of working with Lynn Redgrave in that production, particularly in her recent passing?

AR: Oh, yeah. I mean, she's just one of those people you want to be in the hallway with and, through osmosis you acquire the wisdom of her experience. So, the fact that her dressing room was just two doors down - because, of course, Emily was right next to me! (Laughs.)

PC: Of course!

AR: Lynn was two doors down from us so we got to notice everything: notice how she comes in; notice how she leaves; notice what she brings with her; what she takes out; how she looks before she comes onstage; how she looks after - all that stuff, you are learning. You know, "How does this woman's experience, how is it going to make my experience more useful to me?" She was a consummate professional and I thought she was really good in the role, too.

PC: And she made it her own, too. Not many Joannes do, after Stritch.

AR: Totally.

PC: What Sondheim roles would you like to play? Mrs. Lovett?

AR: Well, actually, I played Mrs. Lovett when I was nineteen. (Laughs.) I should just go to jail for that, it shouldn't be allowed!

PC: How were you chosen?

AR: My voice teacher said, "There's no one else who can do it but you!" (Laughs.)

PC: Sally in FOLLIES?

AR: Oh, yeah. (Pause.) I mean, I like to say that I prefer new material over revivals because you get to own more of it as an actor - or, at least you feel like you own more of the creative process if it all hasn't been defined yet. But, when it comes to Sondheim shows, I can't imagine ever saying no. (Laughs.) I just can't imagine it! I'd just say, "You can have your pick, you tell me!"

PC: Mary in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG? Have you ever sung "Not A Day Goes By"?

AR: In the shower! (Laughs.)

PC: I'd love to hear you sing some of the stuff from SINGING OUT LOUD, there's so much great stuff in there.

AR: Oh, I don't know that score! Now I'm gonna have to make some calls! (Laughs.) I think that he's going to have another resurgence.

PC: Define collaboration.

AR: I think musical theatre is good when it has a true collaboration at its best. I'm not so sure that musical theatre is always as good as it could be. Part of it is because collaborating with that many people is not easy.

PC: Definitely not. But, it's necessary.

AR: But, the thing with musical theatre and the idea that all these people are collaborating - that's why we love it! Because, it's another reason to go back and do it again. You want to try to get it in the bull's eye. It's not easy to do, but you keep trying. That's why I love doing it - because it's so difficult to do.

PC: That's what keeps you interested, in every role.

AR: If it was easy to do, I think I would have lost interest in it, to a certain degree. But, because it's so difficult to do well, it's like you are constantly trying to get it right in the center of the dot. And, when or if you ever do, it just feels incredible. To know how many people it takes to put on a musical, and, then, to see it hit the bull's eye or feel it hit the bull's eye with the audience - that's why I do what I do.

PC: So, collaboration is elementary to musical theatre.

AR: I think it's difficult to collaborate. I think I'd define collaboration as being able to listen and being able to understand that the overall idea is to take the best idea out of everybody's combined ideas and go forward with that. And, to understand that everyone in the room with you is an expert - you are not the only expert. Of course, you know, that's all relative, but you want to see everyone have as good an idea as you have.

PC: Is there any show you ever done in workshop or a demo that you felt very disappointed that you didn't continue on with the show, or it didn't ever get produced at all?

AR: Oh, there have been lots of workshops I've done and material I have worked on in a raw state that had not seen an audience. There have been so many of them, I can't even count.

PC: Is there one that sticks out? The one great could-have-been?

AR: Ummm, I'm not sure that there would be one. For example, SUMMER OF '42 was a show that I worked on, and, when it was produced, I was not in the production. But, still, the work that I did on it, I think, was very important to its growth as a piece. And, I did take a song - "Losing Track of Time", that's not even in the show anymore - I took that song and I recorded it on one of my albums with Emily. So, I think that maybe that was one of the reasons that the show was produced later - or, at least, maybe, helped contributed to that.

PC: It made me aware of the show for the first time when I heard that recording. Touching song.

AR: To me, when I can bring forward a composer's work - because I always say that the writer of a musical is a composer, whether they are the lyricist or the person at the piano - that is the source. So, if I can somehow make that source a little clearer, what they are saying - bring that out what they are saying - and make it more clear. If I can do something to make it more clear, even if I leave the show, then I feel like I can move on. So, I don't feel like anything I've worked on is still waiting to come to fruition. But, I have worked on a lot of pieces in their raw state and have been really attracted to what was there, and, suddenly, I'm not working on it anymore for one reason or another.

PC: Are you going to be involved with LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE?

AR: No, they haven't asked me, yet. I am a Bill Finn, fan though. I'd be interested to see it - those are great characters.

PC: Have you worked on any of Henry Krieger or Bill Russell's new shows - such as KEPT, that disco musical?

AR: No, I haven't worked on anything with them together. But, I did ELEGIES [FOR ANGELS, PUNKS & RAGING QUEENS] with Bill. Also, I've done several other little things with Bill over the years - concerts, recordings, things like that. Actually, there is a piece that he wrote with Peter Melnick called LAST SMOKER IN AMERICA.

PC: Of course! Is that moving ahead?

AR: I'm not sure. It started out as two one-acts and, now, I don't really know - I think they are still being developed. That is a song - "The Last Smoker In America" - I also recorded that, as well.

PC: With the cigarette song from LITTLE FISH!

AR: Yeah, at the RAW AT TOWN HALL album I recorded "Cigarette Dream" and "Last Smoker In America" together. I remember I got notes from some audience members saying, "We're scratching our heads as to how these two go together," and, I'm thinking, "How could you not understand that?" (Laughs.) I mean, to me, it was pretty obvious that they would sit well back-to-back.

PC: One last question: Is that indie movie-musical TEMPTATION you were in ever going to be released?

AR: I don't know! I've never even seen it! (Laughs.)

PC: This was absolutely fantastic. I cannot thank you enough. This was an amazing interview. You have a show tonight, too, don't you?

AR: Yeah, I guess I better get in the shower, then! (Laughs.) Thank you so, so much for doing this! Have a great holiday! I'm sure I'll talk to you, soon. Bye.