Singer-actress Alice Ripley, who starred in this summer's production of Company at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, will return to the famed D.C. theatre this winter to headline a production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me On a Sunday. The news was revealed on Ripley's official website.
Tell Me On a Sunday is a one-woman song cycle that concerns the adventures of an English woman in America. Originally produced as a record album starring English musical theatre star Marti Webb, the show was combined with Lloyd Webber's "Variations" to form Song and Dance, a two-act concert for the London theatre. Marti Webb and Wayne Sleep starred in the initial London mounting.
The show, in a revised form, opened on Broadway in 1985 starring Bernadette Peters, who won a Tony Award for her performance as English hat designer Emma. Betty Buckley succeeded Peters in the role on Broadway. Others who have sung the score, which includes such Lloyd Webber-Don Black tunes as "Tell Me On a Sunday," "Unexpected Song," "Take That Look Off Your Face" and "Come Back with the Same Look in Your Eyes," include Lulu, Sarah Brightman, Liz Robertson and Gemma Craven.
Alice Ripley earned a Tony nomination for her performance as conjoined twin Violet Hilton in the musical Side Show. She has also appeared on Broadway in The Rocky Horror Show, James Joyce's The Dead, Sunset Boulevard, The Who's Tommy, Les Misérables and in the City Center Encores! production of Li'l Abner as well as the concert run of King David. Ripley's non-show recordings include two discs with Side Show co-star Emily Skinner — "Duets" and "Unsuspecting Hearts" — and a recording of her own compositions, "Everything's Fine."
The busy Ripley will appear in the New York production of Vagina Monologues Aug. 20 through Sept. 29. There is also word that she may star as Audrey in the upcoming Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. Ripley's agent explained that an offer is expected, although negotiations have yet to begin. Tell Me On a Sunday will play The Kennedy Center's Eisenhower Theater from Dec. 17, 2002, through Jan. 12, 2003. For information, call (202) 467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.
