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 -