10 QUESTIONS YOU REALLY WANNA ASK ABOUT ‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’ BUT THINK YOU ALREADY OUGHTA KNOW
How long ago was “Jagged Little Pill” the album?
June 1995. Yes, almost 25 years ago. Alanis Morissette, a Canadian television child star from Ottawa, had just turned 21. It was her third album but her first released internationally. For “Jagged Little Pill” and its breakout hit, “You Oughta Know,” she won the 1996 Grammy Awards for album of the year, best rock album, best rock song and best female rock vocal performance.
2. Did the album have a theme?
Depends on who you ask. Diablo Cody, who wrote the book for the new Broadway musical, told The New York Times she had always considered it a “concept album,” with a latent narrative.
3. Does the Broadway show “Jagged Little Pill” have a theme?
Oh, it has everything. A theme, a sizable cast of characters. and lots of plot. That’s Mary Jane Healy (Elizabeth Stanley) above, a Connecticut wife, mother and opioid addict. Her workaholic husband is addicted to porn. Her adopted black daughter thinks she may be gay. Her son just got into Harvard, but even that has its complications. And then a neighbor is raped, which brings up all kinds of memories and reactions.
4. What are critics saying about the show?
Things like “brilliant and powerful” (The Daily Beast). Rolling Stone really got into the metaphor, declaring the show “essential medicine that must be swallowed and enjoyed so we can be cured.” The New York Times threw out some glowing adjectives, then concluded that “Jagged Little Pill” was “the first jukebox musical to truly make sense of the genre.” This, trust me, is high praise (even with the split infinitive).
5. How is “You Oughta Know” used in the show?
Jo (Lauren Patten) sings it about halfway through Act II, placing it in the grand tradition of what used to be called eleven o’clock numbers. It’s been known to stop the show. It inspires midshow standing ovations.. Jo is in agony because Frankie (Celia Rose Gooding), who she kind of considered her girlfriend, is suddenly hanging out, in meaningful ways, with a cute boy (Antonio Cipriano). In swing photo: Gooding and Cipriano.
6. What on earth is an eleven o’clock number?
The Press Nights Glossary will explain.
7. Who are all those other people associated with the show?
Well, Diane Paulus (in photo, with Glen Ballard), the director, has done a few other things (and won a few Tonys): “Hair,” “Pippin,” “Waitress,” “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess.” Diablo Cody is best known for her screenplay for the film “Juno” (which won an Oscar). Ballard, who is credited alongside Morissette for music, has six Grammys, and his next project is “Back to the Future: The Musical.” (!!)
8. What’s the show going to win Tony Awards for?
Who knows? But we’re betting on at least one category: Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui for best choreography. The Tonys are on June 7 this year, by the way. Nominations coming our way on April 28.
9. Where did the production start?
Harvard, of course. It ran at American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., in 2018.
10. What other big hit songs are in the show?
A bunch, including “Hand in My Pocket,” “Ironic” and “You Learn.” Almost two dozen musical numbers total.
“Jagged Little Pill,” Broadhurst Theater, 235 West 44th Street, jaggedlittlepill.com. By Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard and Diablo Cody, directed by Diane Paulus. 2 hours 40 minutes. Opened on Dec. 5, 2019. Open run.
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