Gay Broadway Day Episode #2!

Check out my two favorite men talking about their favorite belters...I'm honored to be included!

Alice Ripley: Don't Forget

Hello, my adoring, beautiful fans! One of the women who has graced the Broadway stage in the last 20 years that has always caught my eyes and ears is Alice Ripley. La Ripley made her big splash in the original Broadway production of Side Show, as the higher belting siamese twin, Violet Hilton. (I secretly understudied in this production. Find out more about my career here!) Before that, she played the role of Betty in Sunset Boulevard. Most people now know her for her Tony Award winning performance as Diana in Next to Normal, the story of a woman who suffers from mental illness...and her family sometimes sings too. Ironically, she and I are often compared for our fearless belting and strange vowels.

Alice Ripley is now often parodied for her mannerisms, but I think it's important to take a look back at her beginnings and remember that she BELTED HER FACE OFF!!! She made singing decisions in Side Show that would have ruined other people after ONE night. In Sunset Boulevard, the show obviously belongs to Norma Desmond (especially when I play it)...but how come in clips of her singing the ingenue role of Betty, I could care less about Norma...especially if it's being played by Glenn Close. If I had been Norma to her Betty (And I almost was!), I would have shot her at the TOP of the show. Get that show stealing, beltress off the stage and get me Judy Kuhn! Here are some of my favorite clips of Alice Ripley in her prime!

     "She's Gone," cut from Side Show. Who can say why they decided to cut this number during previews. It does sort of stop the story in its slow, melodramatic tracks, but COME ON!

Beautiful head voice!!! "Too Much In Love To Care," from Sunset Boulevard

She only appears at the beginning of this video, but listen to her steal the show from Betty Buckley in 30 seconds. 

Veronica Garland: Living Legend?

Veronica Garland has been described as “full-throated ,” “a full figured Julianne Moore,” “frightening,” “loud,” and “frighteningly loud” by both her peers and the press. Miss Garland had her first taste of the musical theatre spotlight when she briefly understudied Patti LuPone in the Australian Production of Evita. She went on for an ailing Ms. LuPone one night and so wowed those in attendance that La LuPone demanded she be immediately removed from the production. While still in the blush of youth, she also secretly understudied other great leading ladies of the Broadway Stage, including Betty Buckley in the ill-fated Carrie, Judy Kuhn in the flop Broadway Production of Chess, Angela Lansbury in the short-lived revival of Mame, and both Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner in cult musical, Side Show. There was never a show in which Ms. Garland did not add a full throated, belted interpolation. Ms. Garland soon felt the glare of the spotlight was too much for her delicate complexion and all but retired from the musical stage. She has been residing in solitude in Los Angeles where her hobbies include painting her face, wishing her eye lashes were longer and YouTubing herself. A few years ago, she was tepidly approached by Zachary Altman (www.highbelting.com) to come out of retirement to do a concert version of Sweeney Todd. She reluctantly accepted and came to define the role of Mrs. Lovett. Never has a comeback been so intensely anticipated and never has an ovation been so richly deserved.

In 2010, Heyer- Anchel Productions mounted a production of Into The Woods specifically for her. Her interpretation of The Witch was acclaimed for its depth, pathos and interpolated belted “F.” Veronica continued to “wow” audiences in the Holiday Revue, The Private Life of Veronica Garland, which was an enormous success. She then scared everyone into hysterics making them think she was REALLY leaving the stage in As If We Never Said Goodbye: Veronica’s Farewell Tour of 2011. Following her farewell tour, La Garland starred in a staged concert performance of Carrie: The Musical as Margaret White, opposite Morgan Anderson as the title role. Veronica’s performance of “Eve Was Weak,” which has thousands of views, can be found here.

Recently, Christiana Little, a New York based singer, actress, songwriter and playwright, approached Veronica about starring in an original musical tailored to her special talents, and so this summer, Veronica will star in Bombshell Baby!