SOME SHOWS YOU SEE. THIS SHOW YOU FEEL.
Joy, rage, love, heartache, strength, wisdom, catharsis, LIFE: everything we've been waiting and hoping to see on a Broadway stage for over a year is back, in this exhilarating, fearless new musical based on Alanis Morissette's world-changing music.
Nominated for 15 Tony Awards (the most of any show), and a recent Grammy winner for Best Musical Theater Album, this electrifying production about a perfectly imperfect American family "vaults the audience to its collective feet" (The Guardian). You live, you learn, you remember what it’s like to feel truly human... at JAGGED LITTLE PILL.
The aggressive bid for now-ness is both a blessing and a burden in this overwrought, over-stuffed but ultimately affecting show. Wearing its woke sensibility on its sleeve with no hint of cynical calculation but instead with a sincerity that sometimes borders on cringey, the musical addresses a whole curriculum of hot-button bullet points - climate change, opiate addiction, gender and racial identity, white privilege, rape culture, social media-shaming and repressed sexual trauma, just for starters.
All of which brings us to the Broadway transfer of 'Jagged Little Pill,' which originated at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., and whose marquee declares it to be 'inspired by' Alanis Morissette's grunge-flavored pop album about teenage love and life. Most of the songs, co-written by Ms. Morissette and Glen Ballard, come from the album, whose release in 1995 led Rolling Stone to dub Ms. Morissette 'Queen of Alt-Rock Angst.' The stage version, by contrast, is a cliché-prone chronicle of suburban spiritual emptiness whose book is by Diablo Cody ('Juno') and whose characters include a 'perfect' mother ( Elizabeth Stanley ) who is secretly addicted to opiates and her black, bisexual adopted daughter ( Celia Rose Gooding ), who is...well, angst-ridden. The results play like a cross between 'American Beauty' and 'Next to Normal,' and if that notion appeals to you, then you might enjoy 'Jagged Little Pill.' Me, I found it leaden with earnestness. Teen angst, lest we forget, isn't all that interesting when seen from the outside, which explains why the best fictional portrayals of the pain of adolescence have been satirical comedies like 'Daria' and 'Heathers.' And while Ms. Cody's issue-of-the-week book might work as a teleplay, it gains nothing from being used as a dramatic Christmas tree on which to hang the songs.
2018 | Boston |
World Premiere Production at American Repertory Theater Boston |
2021 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2022 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Elizabeth Stanley |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Lauren Patten |
2020 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Tom Kitt |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Lauren Patten |
2020 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Musical | Jagged Little Pill |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Elizabeth Stanley |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Diablo Cody |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Choreographer | Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Diane Paulus |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Kathryn Gallagher |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Lauren Patten |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Musical | Jagged Little Pill |
2020 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Tom Kitt |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Book of a Musical | Diablo Cody |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Choreography | Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Musical | Emily Rebholz |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Musical | Diane Paulus |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Lighting Design of a Musical | Justin Townsend |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Jagged Little Pill |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Tom Kitt |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Derek Klena |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Sean Allan Krill |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Lauren Patten |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Kathryn Gallagher |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical | Celia Rose Gooding |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Elizabeth Stanley |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Musical | Riccardo Hernandez |
2020 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Musical | Jonathan Deans |
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