[5] She also performs as a solo artist,[6] while in February 2011 she released Alice Ripley Daily Practice, Volume 1, a stripped-down collection of acoustic rock covers.

[12] Ripley's performance as conjoined twin Violet Hilton in Side Show earned her and her co-star Emily Skinner critical acclaim, a cult following, and a shared 1998 Tony Award nomination, making them the first to be co-nominated in a musical.

From March 27, 2009 to July 18, 2010 at the Booth Theatre, Ripley starred in the Pulitzer Prize-winning[14] Next to Normal, a performance which earned her the 2009 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical.

[15] In 2016, Ripley appeared in the Broadway musical, American Psycho, playing the mother of the main character, Patrick Bateman, as well as the roles of Mrs. Wolfe and Svetlana.

Additional Off-Broadway roles include Nelly Bly in Cather County (1993, Playwrights Horizons), Daisy Mae in Li'l Abner (1998, New York City Center), various characters in The Vagina Monologues (2002, Westside Theatre), Olivia in Five Flights (2004, Rattlestick Theater), Marsha in Wild Animals You Should Know[16] (2011, MCC/Lucille Lortel Theater), Mary Todd Lincoln, Lewis Payne, and other roles in A Civil War Christmas[17] (2012, NYTW), and Sook Faulk in A Christmas Memory.