Ripley, who recently completed a run in Wild Animals You Should Know with MCC Theater, has appeared on Broadway in Side Show (Drama Desk, Tony Award nominations), The Rocky Horror Show, James Joyce’s The Dead, Sunset Boulevard, The Who’s Tommy and Next to Normal (Tony Award).
Other theatre credits include Five Flights, The Vagina Monologues, Tell Me on a Sunday (Helen Hayes nomination), Shakespeare in Hollywood (Helen Hayes nomination) and Company (Helen Hayes nomination).
Ripley will soon release a music video for the song "Essence" from her most recent album, "Daily Practice."
| Full given name: | Alice Ripley |
| Where you were born/where you were raised: | San Leandro, CA/Cleveland, OH |
| Zodiac Sign: | Sagittarius |
| What your parents did/do for a living: | Mother: Having 5 kids before the age of 28. Father: Keeping the pantry stocked with cereal and bread. |
| Current audition song/monologue: | Like I'm gonna give that away! |
| Special skills: | Running in heels, "instant" headstand, lecturing fellow subway riders about how to ride the train the right way (hello!! I am still in the doorway, would you please keep moving? You have got to be frickin' kidding me!)
Fixing beds, saving myself at the last minute. |
| Something you're REALLY bad at: | Reading without my glasses, teaching animals English. |
| First Broadway show you ever saw: | FOUR WORDS: C. A. T. S. |
| If you could go back in time and catch any performance, what would it be? | Moose Murders |
| Current show you have been recommending to friends: | Current Rent Off-Broadway. |
| Some favorite musicals: | Sweeney Todd Oklahoma! The Fantasticks! The Who's Tommy Crazy For You The new Rent Off-Broadway. |
| Favorite showtunes of all time: | "Everything's Coming Up Roses" "Something's Coming" "Much More" "Applause" "I'm All I've Got" "Sunday" "I Remember" "Superboy and the Invisible Girl" |
| Favorite modern playwrights/composers: | David Mamet, Tom Kitt/Brian Yorkey, Alan Menken, Tracy Letts |
| Stage or screen stars of the past you would most have loved to perform with: | Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart |
| Your personal acting idols, living or dead: | Harold Guskin, Kevin Kline, Meryl Streep, Michael Caine |
| The one performance – attended - that you will never forget: | Bernadette Peters in concert circa 1989 in San Diego, from the front row. |
| Music that makes you cry, any genre: | Samuel Barber's "Adagio for Strings" only makes me WANT to cry. Jimmy Webb's "If These Walls Could Speak" makes me actually WEEP every time I hear it, and "One" from A Chorus Line makes me cry with HAPPINESS from the breathtaking thrill of it all. |
| MAC or PC? | TWO ALL BEEF PATTIES SPECIAL SAUCE LETTUCE CHEESE PICKLES ONIONS ON A SESAME SEED BUN. |
| Most played song on your iPod: | "Take Five" |
| Most-visited website: | Huffington Post, YouTube, Google Maps |
| Favorite Tweeters: | Caps Cop (@CapsCop) |
| Last book you read: | Currently reading "Just Kids" by Patti Smith |
| Must-see TV shows: | "Slings and Arrows" "Arrested Development" "Extras" "Hoarders" "What Not To Wear" "The Singing Detective" |
| Last good movie you saw: | "My Week With Marilyn" |
| Some films you consider classics: | "North by Northwest" "A Christmas Story" "La Dolce Vita" "The Deer Hunter" "Rocky" "When Harry Met Sally" |
| Performer you would drop everything to go see: | Dave Matthews Band |
| Pop culture guilty pleasure: | Taylor Swift, but who feels guilty??!! |
| Favorite cities: | Toronto, San Francisco, NEW YORK CITTAY |
| Favorite sport/team/player: | Cat Juggling/Steve Martin |
| First CD/Tape/LP you owned: | "Hitchin' a Ride" by Tommy and the Shondells. Owned, not really. I stole it from my brother. |
| First stage kiss: | 11th grade, David Heckert in The Music Man. Oh boy, there will be no containing him now that his name is in this answer. |
| Favorite or most memorable onstage role as a child/teenager: | Flying Monkey in The Wizard of Oz |
| Moment you knew you wanted to perform for a living: | See above |
| How you got your Equity card: | Des McAnuff's Silent Edward at the La Jolla Playhouse |
| Favorite pre-/post- show meal: | Tea and Sympathy at Jane and Greenwich Streets |
| Favorite liquid refreshment: | Iced green tea unsweetened from Starbucks |
| Pre-show rituals or warm-ups: | Hot bath, yoga, breathing, scales |
| Most challenging role you have ever played: | Diana in Next to Normal |
| Worst flubbed line/missed cue/onstage mishap: | HAHA what are you, a sadist? |
| Worst costume ever: | Anything that involves cut-off shorts |
| Worst job you have ever had: | Answering questions that could get me blacklisted. Haha cracked myself up on that one! |
| Who have you played on "Law & Order"? What editions? | Zzzzzzz... oh sorry that was me missing the boat, as I am the only actor in NYC who has not been on "Law & Order." Any editions! |
| Something about you that surprises people: | I tell it like it is. |
| Something you're embarrassed to admit: | I kill dust bunnies. |
| Career you would want if not a performer: | Homemaker |
| "I'll never understand why…" | ... some people believe in hate instead of love. |
| Words of advice for aspiring performers: | Make your own work every day. Start specifically with something you are not so good at doing, and practice it religiously and consistently, with a fervor and hunger to improve. |
