54 Below Presents
ALICE RIPLEY ALL SONDHEIM
254 West 54th Street Cellar
NY NY 10019
12
August and 23 September 2015
Ever since the original SIDESHOW on
Broadway, I have been a huge Alice Ripley fan. Her powerhouse
vocals and keen interpretation could cut right to the heart of any song. I was
thrilled to hear she would be singing Sondheim at 54 Below.
Well, to
quote the lovely ladies sitting next to me (one can’t help getting to know the
neighbors at 54 Below!), “I was disappointed.”
Alice came out in a dress
that was extremely unflattering. I’m not one to criticize someone’s appearance,
but a dress that emphasizes all the wrong things in a small cabaret room is just
not a good idea. She squeezed herself awkwardly between where the mic had been
set and the piano and stayed there for her first song. Then she moved the mic
out, and I thought, oh, ok, now she will be comfortable. Nope, awkward was her
default stance whether standing or sitting. She just looked so uncomfortable
with the mic. I don’t understand how someone who is that experienced on stage
could appear so graceless.
Her voice, which I love so much, was not in
great shape, either. In "Next To Normal," she had had some pitch
problems on the high belt notes, and that has just gotten worse, not better.
When she wasn’t pushing she sounded fine. But where was her acting? It was
pretty much non-existent. She was just singing the songs. That would be ok if
you were singing in a rock concert, but cabaret is all about interpretation, and
although she talked about how wonderful Sondheim is to perform because the
lyrics have such depth, she sure didn’t demonstrate that.
The exceptions
were a truly fabulous “Here’s to the Ladies Who Lunch,” and some
interesting moments in “Roses’ Turn.” But mostly, she could have been
singing anything.
For an encore, Alice sang two songs from NEXT TO
NORMAL, which while it seemed to be what a lot of her fans wanted, was
strange in a show called ALL SONDHEIM. But when she sang “I Miss the
Mountains,” it made me wonder if perhaps she had taken something to calm
her nerves before the show which made everything feel flat, because I sure
missed the mountains in her performance.
- Jean Tait -