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Ripley told it like she plays it
One good thing about playing troubled offbeat characters your audience can relate to is that when you go a bit over the top, it’s easy to forgive you.
That’s Alice Ripley, who was so excited to win her first Tony Award Sunday, June 7, that what seemed to be a prepared acceptance speech became a brief outburst of several strong and spontaneous emotions.
It appeared at first as if she might cry when she started to quote John F. Kennedy after accepting her prize from presenter David Hyde Pierce. That quickly shifted into the evangelical fervor of one with an important cause — in this case, the importance of the arts and creativity in a world dominated by war and politics — and that morphed into anger.
Ripley, who grew up in West Carrollton, plays a woman battling bipolar disorder in the new musical “Next to Normal.” She won the Tony for best leading actress in a musical, besting the likes of fellow Daytonian Allison Janney and Stockard Channing.
The passion and depth of her performance seems to have bled over into her speech.
For the record, here’s the JFK quote that provoked her: “I am certain that after the dust of centuries has passed over our cities, we, too, will be remembered not for victories or defeats in battle or in politics, but for our contribution to the human spirit.”
Bloggers and tweeters and chatters were stirred to react. One surmised “she was just trying to hold it together after one of the most triumphant moments of her life.” Another described it as a “Howard Dean crazy shouting moment.” Another guessed that her emotions “caught her off guard.”
The New York Times has described Ripley’s performance as Diana Goodman as a “nakedly anguished performance.”
Especially by her hometown fans, who can be proud that she was anything but boring in victory, Ripley should be forgiven for being swept up into the significance of the occasion.
Permalink | Comments (7) | Post your comment | Categories: Awards, Theater
Comments
By Jenna
June 9, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this
I don’t think Ripley needs to be “forgiven” at all. It was her acceptance speech. She didn’t hurt anyone. Not an observation worthy of an article, or any of the hype that has generated. I too can browse BroadwayWorld.
By allthewayAlice
June 10, 2009 2:01 PM | Link to this
Any article that praises the work of Alice Ripley is a good thing.. but NO there is nothing to forgive.
By Cody Watson
June 16, 2009 12:35 PM | Link to this
I don’t understand why there is anything to be forgiven. It was a great speech and I agree, a lot of it was just emotions.
By Aimable
June 18, 2009 12:35 AM | Link to this
Alice’s genuine and heartfelt concern for arts education is commendable at a time when the arts are being excised from the curriculum in many schools. Her brilliant performance in “Next to Normal” is well-deserving of her Tony Award.
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