For actress Alice Ripley, the musical "Next to Normal" is a dream come true.
The show that begins performances Tuesday at the Benedum Center as an offering of PNC Broadway Across America -- Pittsburgh won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for drama and the Tony nomination for best musical for its creators Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, and Ripley received the best actress Tony for her role as Diana.
But it's the script itself that fulfilled Ripley's dream.
"It felt like I was in my right place. It's what I was looking for," Ripley says. "It's always been my dream to do new characters that haven't been played yet and to do new material that's emotionally raw."
"Next to Normal" is about a suburban family in crisis, struggling with individual emotional problems and those created by the family dynamics. Ripley's character, Diana, is at the center of the emotional storm.
Diana finds little relief from the pills, counseling and shock therapies prescribed to alleviate her long-term, severe depression and her bipolar mood swings. Her husband, Dan, and 16-year-old daughter, Natalie, are sympathetic and supportive, but Diana's unpredictable behavior creates stresses and problems in their lives, as well.
"Diana is a character whom I don't think I've seen before on stage -- a woman who's wild and flawed who (ultimately) liberates herself and makes a decision that's good for everyone," Ripley says. "She's a survivor. It takes strength to survive."
Yorkey wrote the role of Diana with Ripley in mind, and she has been involved with this demanding, emotional and troubled woman from the play's early readings to Off-Broadway and on Broadway and, now, to the national tour.
"I wanted to try to continue to nail Diana," she says. "I learn from her every time I play her."
In preparing for the role, Ripley did research about Diana's emotional problems. She also draws on Kitt's and Yorkey's rock score to bring her character to life.
"I let the score fill my body," Ripley says. "Everything comes from the score in 'Next to Normal.' ... It's almost like I can feel it rhythmically in my body."
The performances often leave her drained. She devotes much of her offstage time to recovering from one performance and then gearing up to do it again.
"I call it the life of a monk," she says. "I take as much time offstage as I can to be still and release stress."
The reward for all this comes from the audience's reaction, Ripley says.
"People see these characters onstage and people in the audience start to recognize themselves," she says.
They often wait outside the stage door to thank her for her sympathetic, realistic and compassionate portrayal of a woman with mental problems.
"The audience tells me it was done with respect and accurately portrayed," she says "Even though it's emotionally and physically draining, it's my job. I love to do it," she says.
Additional Information:'Next to Normal'
Presented by: PNC Broadway Across America -- Pittsburgh
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 1 and 6:30 p.m. April 10
Admission: $21-$57
Where: Benedum Center, Downtown
Details: 412-456-6666 or www.pgharts.org
