TWO CRITICS REVIEW 'JAGGED LITTLE PILL'
One rock critic. One theater critic. Same performance.
Alix, nice to meet you.
We’re talking about the touring production of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill, which opened at the Academy of Music on Tuesday. The musical is directed by Diane Paulus and the book is by Diablo Cody, with lyrics by Morissette and music by her and Glen Ballard.
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The show is a jukebox musical, with most of the songs from Morisette’s 1995 album Jagged Little Pill, which is one of the biggest sellers of all time. (Wikipedia has it at #13, just behind Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell and ahead of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack).
But it’s not a typical jukebox musical, in that it doesn’t tell an autobiographical story about Morissette’s life. Instead, it has a whole other contemporary story that the songs are woven into.
My question for you is: Have you seen a lot of other jukebox musicals, and how is this one different, and better? Or worse?
Like many theater artists, I’ve seen my fair share of jukebox musicals. I don’t know if I’d put things in terms of different, better, or worse, but a word that springs to mind is “refreshing.”
The last time I saw a jukebox musical that didn’t go biographical was Mamma Mia! and that one smashed it (many tours and several movies later!). But Jagged Little Pill goes the extra mile to tackle timely sociopolitical issues, which is commendable.
What did you think? Are you familiar with jukebox musicals?
Not really. I’m more familiar with the concept than the reality. I guess I’ve been skeptical about the value of seeing actors sing songs strung together by a thin narrative rather than hear the original artists’ versions. I like ABBA, but I must admit I’ve never seen Mamma Mia!
With Jagged Little Pill, what intrigued and worried me was reading about how this complicated story about a wealthy family in Connecticut — that you might expect to be happy but is going to be anything but — was going to be grafted onto an album of angsty ‘90s rock. That seemed like a tall order. But when I saw that the book was by Cody, who won an Oscar for the screenplay to Juno, I started to get more hopeful.
What were your expectations going in? You hadn’t seen it on Broadway, had you?
I didn’t get to see it when it was on Broadway, but I’ve been tracking the development of the musical for a while. It hasn’t been without its controversy, but it seems like Paulus and the rest of the creative team came out the other side of that a little wiser — ”You live, you learn,” as Alanis would say.
I feel like I was probably one of the target audiences for this musical because Jagged Little Pill was the first CD I ever owned. I was six when the album came out, but I came back to it as a teen when my mom let me listen to it. If the number of scratch marks on the back of the CD correlate to the amount of love, that album was CHERISHED. When the first harmonica wail and guitar lick kicked off (in the musical) like it does in the original opening of “All I Really Want,” it hit the nostalgia bone just right.
That said, I was concerned about the “overfullness” of the book, as I’d heard about that from earlier criticisms.
Wow, that is cool. So you are or at least were a huge Alanis fan.
I might be listening to the album right now as we write this…
So what was it like to hear those songs sung by not-Alanis?
Her sound is iconic, and it can be difficult to divorce yourself from the memory of that, but it didn’t take me long to settle in and appreciate how each actor approached the music and made it their own.
What about you? What’s your Alanis experience been, and how did the actors measure up?
I lived through that period, but I was never a huge fan. Not to sound “too cool for school,” but I was more into Liz Phair, Bikini Kill, PJ Harvey, Sinead O’Connor, and Hole (and Pavement, who also have a jukebox musical in the works) than Alanis. But I’ve gone back and listened to Jagged Little Pill this past week, and it is stunning how many hits from the album are burned into my brain.
I have various thoughts about the music in the play. A number of songs have an element where she expresses contrasting points of view within the songs. That’s true of “All I Really Want,” which all the family members sing parts of, listing their demands and grievances. And “Not the Doctor,” which Mary Jane, the mom (Heidi Blickenstaff), and Steve, the dad (Chris Hoch), sing when going to marriage counseling. I thought those worked really well.
I also loved how “You Oughta Know” was handled, sung by Jo (Jade McLeod), the character who feels betrayed by Frankie (Lauren Chanel), the family’s Black adopted daughter. In general, I thought the songs that worked best were the quiet ones, like when Frankie and Phoenix (Rishi Golani), her other love interest, were singing “That I Would Be Good” while hanging out on the playground swing set.
The songs I didn’t love were the ones that tend toward bombast in their original form, and then got delivered at howling volume in the show. I occasionally felt like I was being pummeled.
What I really wound up liking more about the show than I expected was the script, and how Cody managed to pull so many strands and characters together. The New York Times asked if it is, “the most woke musical since Hair?” In some ways, it does seem like a laundry list of hot topics.
But in the end, I thought it really worked. What did you think?
The book is a little kitchen sinky, but when I stand back from the experience, I see how Cody accomplished weaving it all together. On paper, it makes sense. I can’t say that I walked away having felt catharsis, but I wonder if that is even what the creatives intended? The lyric, “The conflicts, the craziness, and the sound of pretenses falling. All around, all around” from “All I Really Want” kept playing in my head. That really sums up what this show is crying — or howling — for: removing masks and engaging with what needs our attention.
The teens, like Frankie and Jo, criticize the adults and society at large for their apathy, the swath of complacency around issues that are having deadly consequences for their generation, such as school shootings and sexual assault. This is where form really meets function; the rock concert vibe, from the blasting speakers to the vibrant lighting by Justin Townsend is anything but subtle. It’s very in your face. But these hot topics aren’t asking for subtle, quiet conversations. Younger generations are done with quiet and polite.
I think Jagged Little Pill wants audiences to leave thinking and having conversations that might make them uncomfortable but are necessary.
“Kitchen sinky,” I like that.
Right, there’s a question at the start in “All I Really Want” that Alanis sings and I think Frankie handles in the show: “Do I stress you out?” Well, yeah. But that’s kind of the point. Everybody gets pushed to a breaking point, so they can come to the show’s pretty comfortable conclusion, from another Jagged Little Pill song: “You live, you learn.”
The show is funny! The messaging may be unsubtle, but it often works because it’s delivered with humor. It makes fun of Morisette’s definition of “ironic.” And Blickenstaff, who’s very good as Mary Jane, has lots of sarcastic lines. And dark humor.
And it’s seasonal! The framing device is a year in the life of the Healy family, bookended by family Christmas letters, and with a tree onstage. So now is the time to see it. Philadelphia is lucky that the touring run didn’t end up here in July, and have had to experience the winter holiday season on stage in summer. Would that have been ironic?
I walked out of that show feeling like I don’t know what irony is anymore!
I agree the humor is so well-executed. The show deals in heavy themes with great sensitivity, but there’s levity and hope in equal measure — something Alanis brings into the album as well.
"Jagged Little Pill" runs through Jan. 15 at the Academy of Music. More information at kimmelculturalcampus.org.
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