There is genuine healing in a beautifully crafted musical theatre song, like Stephen Sondheim's 'Losing My Mind,' or a pop music gem like Joni Mitchell's 'Help Me.'

Alice Ripley

Categorized in : Me Song Mind Music

It's hard being a Barbie doll all the time.

doll hard barbie time

Teachers want to teach you theory, and that's fine, but when it comes to rock and roll, you only need three chords. There's something comforting about that.

teachers you rock-and-roll want

'Closure' is the word used for a loss that's not acknowledged - and the habit this causes, physically and mentally, for anybody who is participating in that.

who habit used loss

My favourite roller coaster is the Millennium Force at Cedar Point in Ohio.

point roller-coaster ohio force

Everyone has some sort of connection to mental illness.

connection everyone mental-illness

I love having a basement.

basement having i-love love

I don't honestly have the time or energy to support anybody else's cause but my own, which is self-expression. So I guess, if I had a cause, it would be education.

my-own support education time

For me, in the audition, the song that you choose should make you cry. It doesn't matter why: it could be because you're happy, but it gives you that feeling that you're overflowing.

me you happy song

When 'Next to Normal' won the Pulitzer, that was the moment I felt the show was being defined. There's a certain confidence that comes with being selected.

being moment confidence next

When everything kind of hit the fan, my dad married Jo Anne, and suddenly there were five kids from the Ripleys and five kids from the Doughertys. Then my dad and Joanne had a baby. I usually have to make a diagram.

make everything dad baby

I'm kind of a double middle child.

double child middle kind

Now, I come from a long line of narcissists. And I also have no kids - by choice - but I understand not being a mother and the pain that comes from that.

understand pain mother long

I'm drawn to raw material and raw emotions.

raw-material material raw emotions

Uzo Aduba over at 'Godspell' is doing an even more entertaining Donald Trump than Donald Trump's Donald Trump.

donald-trump over more doing

I have a soft spot for vintage movie houses covered in goo; what can I say?

spot soft say vintage

Nothing is hanging on my walls.

walls hanging nothing

All day I wait for my job, which I do at night, and once I get there, I walk a tightrope, jump through hoops, and take breathtaking dives.

walk job day night

I was always a big fan of 'Pippin' and 'Godspell,' even before I heard 'Meadowlark.'

big-fan before big always

Oh my God, I love Max von Essen.

oh-my-god oh god love

I love D.C. I love working there.

working i-love love