I attended opening night of Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill: The Musical this past Tuesday night at the National Theatre and really enjoyed it!
Jagged Little Pill is a 'jukebox musical', meaning it uses the music of an artist (or artists) to tell the story.
I've seen jukebox musicals before, including Mamma Mia (using the music of ABBA) and Movin' Out (Billy Joel music) and was expecting this one to feature great Alanis music, but perhaps not a whole lot of story. Boy, was I wrong!
Jagged Little Pill is a lot heavier and deeper than other jukebox musicals. It starts out light and funny with the opening scene showing a Connecticut housewife writing her annual Christmas letter. What starts off as a story about family dysfunction evolves into a darker story exploring themes of drug addiction, rape, and gender and race identity.
The band is fantastic, the cast is strong, and of course Alanis' music is phenomenal. Seeing this reminded me of how much I love the Jagged Little Pill album!
The lead character, Mary Jane Healy, is played by Heidi Blickenstaff, who did the role on Broadway when the show opened up again after COVID. She's fantastic!
The book is by Tony and Oscar award winner Diablo Cody. She won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Juno, and won the 2021 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for Jagged Little Pill.
I recommend seeing this show! It's not appropriate for young children, but should be fine for teenagers. There are no graphic scenes, but there are frank discussions about the aftermath of sexual assault.
I was choked up during several scenes, and feel this is an important story to tell.
Jagged Little Pill runs through March 26 at the National Theatre, part of the Broadway at the National series. You can find out more and get tickets HERE.