Alice Ripley

In 1992, Ripley was cast in the La Jolla Production of "The Who's Tommy" and she traveled with the show to NYC and Broadway. Shortly thereafter, she moved over to "Les Miserables" playing Fantine and delivering the showstopping "I Dreamed a Dream." Ironically, that role eventually brought her back to California when she joined the show's national tour. While in Los Angeles, Ripley was cast as Betty Schaefer in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Sunset Boulevard" which she reprised when the production transferred to Broadway in 1994. She remained with the show through its various leading ladies (Glenn Close, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige) but also branched out by appearing in a 1996 workshop of "Side Show," playing half of the conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton.After inaugurating the restored New Amsterdam Theater as Bathsheba in the concert staging of the Alan Menken-Tim Rice oratorio "King David" in the spring of 1997, Ripley joined Emily Skinner to star in "Side Show" on Broadway. Although highly fictionalized and speculative, the musical earned mostly favorable notices and a small but devout audience. Ripley and Skinner, who when made up looked remarkably alike, made a perfect duo and their stellar work netted them a rare joint Tony Award nomination for Leading Actress in a Musical (although they lost to Natasha Richardson). Still, the pair enjoyed working together and went on to record two albums together, "Duets" (1998) and "Unsuspecting Hearts" (1999). They even shared a dressing room again when they both were cast in the ensemble of the musical "James Joyce's The Dead" (1999-2000). Following that show's untimely closing, each went off to other projects, with Ripley landing the coveted role of Janet in the much anticipated revival of "The Rocky Horror Show." In addition to her stage work, Ripley and her musician husband Shannon Ford collaborated in a rock band called Uncle Daddy (formerly lame). Ripley and the group recorded an album which was released in 2001.