History-making Tony nominees Alice Ripley and Emily Skinner reunite for their first NYC appearance in nearly nine years, and you bet it's become the show of the month to see. The Side Show pair headlines Unattached at Feinstein's/54 Below February 3 through February 6.
Read on as Alice and Emily talk share their first impressions, favorite Side Show memories, and much more.
My first impression of her was:
Alice:
I felt like we were matched.
Emily:
She seemed beautiful and completely original. I was right.
I think our most memorable performance of Side Show had to have been:
Alice:
Probably closing night. The audience had become a part of the show—they called themselves Freaks—and everyone who had seen the show came back for closing night, and it was like a family.
Emily:
The night we split apart (!) on a set piece that was supposed to be locked together (and wasn't) and the entire audience GASPED!
My favorite track of hers from one of our albums:
Alice:
Oh my gosh, it would have to be “My Brother Lived in San Francisco”.
Emily:
“You Have To Be There” from our Raw At Town Hall CD.
I think we continue to work so well together because:
Alice:
I just got goosebumps. There’s something that’s bigger than us that draws us together. It’s also that we love each other; we love working together; and the audience loves us together. It’s a lot of reasons working in the same delicious pool of goodness.
Emily:
People continue to be willing to pay to see us...?
Off-stage, my co-star and I bond over:
Alice:
Well both of us have a tendency to buy the little things that are by the register—the stuffed animals in Starbucks and stuff like that. (Somebody has to do it.) Then we give it to each other.
Emily:
Our distress at how difficult it is to exist in NYC and our irritation with musical theater composers who expect women to belt in dog whistle ranges.
I’m in awe of her ability to:
Alice:
I don’t know how to chose one thing. She has an uncanny knowledge of musical theatre in her brain—a huge storehouse. She’s been doing it since she was a toddler, and it’s always amazing to me how much she knows about musical theatre.
Emily:
Exist with no self-edit.
If I had to describe her in a song, it would be:
Alice:
There’s a song we sing, written for the movie Chicago, called “I Move On”, and we are doing that in the set. I think that defines both of us right now. The line “we hang our bonnets out of town”—in other words we don’t worry about it; you put it aside and it takes care of itself.
Emily:
"I Will Never Leave You” (Because lord knows, she never will).
Don’t miss your chance to see Alice and Emily together again in Unattached at Feinstein’s/54 Below February 3-6.
