Emily Skinner and Alice Ripley presented their show, Side by Side as part of the Barbara Cook Spotlight series at the Kennedy Center.  “We have scoured the musical theater horizon for songs to sing for you tonight,” said Emily Skinner at the beginning of the show, and the evening was filled with amazing singing of fascinating material.

Emily Skinner scored early on the hilarious “Here Comes the Ballad” which she claimed was originally written for Barbara Cook.  She also delivered enormously heartfelt versions of “No One Is Alone” and “My Brother Lived in San Francisco.”  And she had huge moments channeling Ursula, the sea witch from The Little Mermaid, in “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and performing “Come Up & See Me Sometime” with a neo-Mae West-ian flair.

Alice Ripley presented her own showcase of incredible talent.  Her version of “Losing My Mind” mined more wry humor than I’ve ever seen in the song, and her version of “Somewhere That’s Green” revealed amazing depths and nuance.  “I Miss the Mountains” from her recent show Next to Normal presented a plaintive portrait of a manic depressive going off her meds, and “You Have to Be There” from Kristina (Sweden’s hit musical) was a powerful portrait of a woman exploring her faith.

Of course they also sang together.  And those moments of competitive collaboration were naturally the highlights of the concert: a fabulously combative “There’s Always a Woman,” a charming medley of “Sisters” and “Ohio,” and a sassy version of “Trouble.”

In the land of quibbles, the structure of the show had the performers alternating numbers, entering to perform their song, and exiting when they weren’t performing; this gave the show a start/stop pace, occasionally robbing it of momentum.  And all of the wonderfully performed songs were performed as characters, however subtly.  So one rarely got a personal connection during the musical selections.  One felt much more of that personal connection during the dialogue between numbers.  Ross Patterson’s work on piano was certainly accomplished, but presented fairly straightforward takes on the material.

While watching the closer, it was interesting to ponder that Side Show, the musical that first teamed Ripley & Skinner, ran for only two months, more than ten years ago.  I can’t think of any performing team that has built as solid a career on such a minor Broadway accomplishment.  But hearing the two sing “I Will Never Leave You” at the end of the concert made one grateful that the fates aligned to team these terrific performers — and that they worked to build a career that produces such amazing work.

Michael Miyazaki
Cabaret Scenes
April 11, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org