An Evening with Ali Stroker

by Ali Stroker

Ali Stroker won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Ado Annie in a revival of Oklahoma! and before that made history as the first actor in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway. Listeners can now experience her incredible one-woman show as she performs crowd favorites as well as some unexpected songs while telling stories from her life and talking about her personal “Turn your limitations into opportunities.”

Genres: Audiobook

Audio CD

Published May 9, 2023

Reviews

[Cam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was hesitant to count this as it’s more of a live concert than anything, but I did cry in like four separate occasions so I’m counting it

[Rich Thornton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ali is a good singer singing good songs. But I’m used to performances having a story with them, usually with accounts from their own lives. That’s not what this is which is more a problem with my expectations. Still, she does sing well.

[Fallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ali is a phenomenal performer. This is not a book, but rather an Audible exclusive concert. The only song I didn’t like was her opening number-a cover of Queen’s ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’. Her vocal sweet spot is definitely pop and Broadway, which makes two of us
If you have no idea who she is, here’s a snapshot. She’s a singer, actress, and author most famous for originating the role of Ato Annie in a reimagined production of Oklahoma! She won a Tony for that role and made history as the first actor in a wheelchair to be nominated for a Tony. Her win made history once again.

I’ve followed Ali’s career closely since she guest starred on Glee. I was intrigued and ecstatic to see another wheelchair user on TV and crushing it. Her Tony win and speech made me sob uncontrollably with joy. If I’d had an Ali when I was little, I might have not believed the directors who told me I didn’t belong on stage and that there was no roles for me.

There’s an interesting cover of Take Me As I Am from Rent here along with a green cover Hopelessly Devoted To You here. If there’s ever a TV production of Grease again, I could easily see Ali Stroker playing Sandy. If anyone revives Rent, she could play Joann too.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This fell a little flat for me. Ali is an amazing performer and singer, but I found this to be almost totally charmless. There’s no particular throughline to the performance — no real story or connective tissue between songs. Which just sort of made it an odd short album of songs with no thematic connection and which were not all ideally suited to the singer. I really expected more character choices in the songs, something to set apart the performance or make it unique to her. But on every song, except for the Ado Annie parts, I just found myself wishing she would bring a little theatre flair to the music.

[Anne - ReadingfortheWeekend · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is as if they wanted to book Spotify or YouTube but Audible showed up instead. This is a live singing performance with maybe 2% about Ali. Very disappointed - I was hoodwinked by Audible saying this was a book. She is very talented, don’t get me wrong. But it is not a book…it’s a live singing performance that was recorded.

[Angelika Silva · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. Now I really want to watch Oklahoma!

[Adeara Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, easy listen. Fairly entertaining.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good listen. Beautiful singing voice but I wish she had shared more of her life story.

[Kue Tee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was thrown off by this one. She really has a lovely voice. While I would want to give it a 5-star, I could not because I started to get drained with the singing.

[Charlie - disableddaydreamer | itsbarbieparis (looking for mutuals) · Rating 3 out of 5]

an audiobook more in description only, a performance would be more accurate.
there wasn’t any stories to accompany the works but it’s ali stroker, so it was still a delight to hear.

[Tina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is more of a singing performance than an audiobook.

[Ann Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[MELISSA · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a delight to listen to Ali Stroker talk about her music and theatre work and then listen to her singing throughout. Just wow!

[Marie Polega · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not particularly a fan of Ali Stroker, but saw her perform at the Tony awards a few years ago, so this caught my eye. Worth the listen for Broadway fans.