The only other time Alice Ripley was nominated for a Tony Award she had to share a lead actress nod with her co-star Emily Skinner. That seemed to make sense as the pair played conjoined twins in the 1998 tuner "Side Show." They lost to Natasha Richardson for her much-lauded performance in a revival of "Cabaret." Now as a woman suffering from bipolar disorder in the critically acclaimed "Next to Normal," Ripley is the front-runner to win the lead actress award according to the predictions of all the pundits piping in at Gold Derby.

In our interview, Alice Ripley is joined by her on-stage daughter Jennifer Damiano, who contends in the featured (supporting) actress race. The teenager faces stiff competition from Haydn Gwynne ("Billy Elliot") and Karen Olivo ("West Side Story") on June 7.

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