Review: Ali Stroker in Concert at Theatre Raleigh

In June 2016, my mom and I went to New York during Tony Awards weekend. On the day of the telecast, we both walked all the way to the Beacon Theatre (where the ceremony was taking place) while rehearsal was going on. That year, they did some bits where the casts of each nominated musical production came outside to perform classic Broadway songs. It was inspired by Ham4Ham, where the cast of Hamilton performed impromptu concerts outside the Richard Rodgers Theatre to entertain those waiting for the daily digital lottery for ticket discounts. One of the shows that came out was the Spring Awakening revival, performing the title song from Hair. Back then, it was the only time we saw Ali Stroker in person…until now.

Normally when Broadway performers do concerts, they make the audience wait a while before they perform a signature song. Yet with Stroker, the moment she rolled out onstage in her wheelchair, she began the show with ‘I Can’t Say No’ from Oklahoma!, her best known acting credit to date. After that, she revealed that she actually attended the North Carolina State Fair with her almost three-year-old son earlier in the day. She also almost rode a mechanical bull, but didn’t want to risk hurting herself hours before her concert.

Throughout the show, Ali spent it telling her life story. Starting with how when she was two years old, she was in a car accident with her older brother and her mom. It resulted in a spinal cord injury that left her paralyzed. So she’s been in a wheelchair for most of her life. A few years later, one of her neighbors, a staff member from Stagedoor Manor, cast her as the title character in Annie. Her family’s golden retriever got to be in it as Sandy as well as her dad as Miss Hannigan. She then sang the first verse of ‘Maybe’ a cappella, which was quite astonishing to behold. After that, she revealed how the way the audience took notice of her not because of her wheelchair, but because of how good she was inspired her to want to be on Broadway.

Stroker got to go to her dream college of New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where she became the first wheelchair user to earn a degree in Fine Arts from them. Although after struggling getting parts for a while due to her condition, she started doing solo shows. This then led to her singing a stunning rendition of ‘Somewhere That’s Green’ from Little Shop of Horrors. Appropriately enough, some of the lights went green during that number. Ali then reminisced how when Glee first premiered, she noticed how Kevin McHale’s character, Artie, used a wheelchair like her. So she moved out to Los Angeles with the goal of auditioning for that show, and potentially playing his girlfriend.

After Ali first auditioned for Glee, three years went by and she never heard back from them. When she saw that there was going to be a reality competition series to be cast on the show titled The Glee Project, she decided to go on for that. She may have been a runner-up on the second season in 2012, but she still went on to make a guest appearance on Glee’s fourth season the following year. In celebration of her never giving up on that goal, she sang a powerhouse rendition of A Chorus Line’s famous anthem, ‘What I Did for Love.’

In 2015, Ali made history by becoming the very first disabled performer to appear on Broadway. It was as Anna in the Deaf West revival of Spring Awakening directed by Michael Arden. Prior to getting involved with that production’s initial run at Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles, she questioned how the show was going to work with deaf actors. Yet eventually, it all came together with a cast that combined deaf and hearing actors. She then showed the audience a pretty cool demonstration by both singing and signing the opening number, ‘Mama Who Bore Me.’

A couple years later, Ali was playing Olive Ostrovsky in the Cleveland Play House’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. During the run, she was invited to audition for a radical reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! at St. Ann’s Warehouse that was described as “dark and sexy.” They were also aiming for more out-of-the-box casting, which Ali did fit that mold. So she and her then-boyfriend, David Perlow (more on him later), planned to fly out to New York early one day for the audition and fly back to Cleveland for the show at night. However, the flight was cancelled due to inclement weather. So David recorded her singing ‘I Can’t Say No’ twice, and submitted it to the creative team.

Following Oklahoma!’s run at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Broadway’s Circle in the Square Theatre was soon going to be available. The Michael Arden-helmed revival of Once on This Island, which Perlow was an associate director on, played its final performance in January 2019. A couple months later, Oklahoma! was back on the main stem just in time for awards season. For her performance as Ado Annie Carnes, Ali not only became the very first disabled performer to receive a Tony nomination, but also a win. None of which were goals for her at all. The fact that a disabled individual like her managed to pull that off really opened the doors for more to be welcomed on Broadway. In celebration of that, she sang a rousing rendition of ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.’

Ali actually first met David Perlow while they were students at NYU. They later reconnected backstage at Spring Awakening during her run with the show. Eventually, they started dating and got married on a baseball field one morning during COVID-19 in 2021. Shortly thereafter, they began looking into conceiving a child despite Ali’s condition. From a very young age, she knew she had always wanted to be a mother. Following a long journey, their son Jesse was born in November 2022. She then sang heartfelt renditions of three songs, including ‘This Little Light of Mine.’

Ali has been connected to disability rights activist Judy Heumann in more ways than one. After portraying her on an episode of Drunk History in 2018, she went on to record the audio book for her memoir, Being Heumann. A film adaptation directed by Sian Heder (the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind CODA) produced by Apple TV recently completed principal photography. Ali actually auditioned to play Judy in it, but ultimately wasn’t cast. Ruth Madeley is starring in the movie alongside Mark Ruffalo as Joseph A. Califano Jr. While she was bummed about getting the part, she soon realized that what mattered most was carrying on Judy’s legacy. In honor of that, she raised the roof with her rendition of ‘Be a Lion’ from The Wiz.

The night ended with Ali bringing the house down with a song called ‘Here’s Where I Stand.’ It was written by Michael Gore & Lynn Ahrens for Todd Graff’s 2003 independent film, Camp. The tune itself perfectly captures the happiness she has found in her life despite her condition. An important message for anyone with certain disabilities should take with them through life. With that, it marks the end of Theatre Raleigh’s 2025 concert series.