‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley. Photo: Matthew Murphy

JAGGED LITTLE PILL
Lyrics by Alanis Morissette
Music by Alanis Morissette & Glen Ballard
Book by Diablo Cody
Directed by Diane Paulus
Broadhurst Theatre
235 West 44th St.
212-239-6200
https://jaggedlittlepill.com/

By Scott Harrah

Back in 1995, Alanis Morissette became a superstar with her seminal album Jagged Little Pill. Alanis, then just 20, defined emotionally raw music for a new generation of young women with the album’s iconic smash hits, from “You Oughta Know” and “Hand in My Pocket” to “Ironic.” Alanis’s music was highly personal, neurotic, hauntingly poetic and angry—all things we’d never heard before from a female artist so young and unapologetically feminist. Her music sounded so genuine because the pain she sang about came from such an organic place. Perhaps that’s why Jagged Little Pill on Broadway is so, well, hard to swallow. With a book by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno), this jukebox musical only uses Alanis’s songs as the soundtrack for a story about a dysfunctional suburban family in Connecticut.  The story, while told with intelligence and a multi-talented cast of actors with good voices, is all too familiar and strained at times. Alanis’s classic songs are all here, performed with panache and with new added nuances, but they often seem out of place with such heavy-handed material.

Mary Jane Healy (Elizabeth Stanley)—cleverly named, of course, after the song “Mary Jane” on the Jagged Little Pill LP—is referred to by the nickname MJ. She pretends she and husband Steve (Sean Allan Krill), a workaholic attorney, have the perfect family. Their son Nick (Derek Klena) has just received word that he’ll be attending Harvard University when he finishes high school, but he hates the pressure to succeed this puts on him. The family also has an adopted African American daughter Frankie (Celia Rose Gooding). Of course, nothing is as idealistic as it seems. MJ was in a bad car accident and has since developed an addiction to opioid painkillers and has lost interest in sex with her husband. Steve, she discovers, has a secret addiction as well—to internet pornography. Daughter Frankie is hiding a shocking secret as well: She is bisexual and has been carrying on a lesbian fling with friend Jo (Lauren Patten). Trouble arises when Frankie meets new boy in town Phoenix (Antonio Cipriano) and falls for him.

Ms. Cody spins quite a tangled yarn here, covering enough controversial topics to fill a whole season of TV’s “Movie of the Week.” In two and a half hours (with an intermission), Jagged Little Pill covers topics ranging from rape and opioid addiction to bisexuality, marriage counseling, and so on. Despite its attempts to be “woke,” Jagged isn’t exactly original. The recent teen musical Dear Evan Hansen handled similar subject matter better because its narrative was more focused and less contrived.

The setting is 2019, but some of the characters still wear 1990s-style Seattle grunge gear. Alanis fans will love the way many of her classics are presented. For example, “Ironic” is performed during a high school writing class and characters stop to say what people said back when the song first topped the charts: Many of Alanis’s examples of “ironic” things like “a black fly in your chardonnay” or “rain on your wedding day” aren’t ironic at all. Regardless, “Ironic” is a great song.  “You Oughta Know”—the scorned woman’s anthem that made Alanis a household name, with its lyrics like “would she go down on you in a theater? —takes on a whole new meaning as sung by Lauren Patten as Jo.

Some of Alanis’ later hits are also included and used in clever ways to weave their way around the narrative. “Hands Clean” from Under Rug Swept—a song about sexual abuse Alanis encountered when she was a teenage pop singer in Canada, years before Jagged Little Pill—is used to tell the story of the rape of a teen character, Bella (Kathryn Gallagher). The infamous yet catchy “Thank U” is also here—the 1998 hit in which Alanis thanks India, terror and silence.

The Alanis songbook nearly 25 years after the release of Jagged Little Pill is still influential and groundbreaking in its own right. Alanis was always “real” and truly ahead of her time. She was singing about abusive men and helping to empower women years before the “#MeToo” movement.

Diablo Cody’s turgid story is overwhelming at times and so full of “issues” that it becomes absurd.  An experienced director like Diane Paulus should have been able to fine-tune the story much better, and Sidi Larbi Cherakaoui’s choreography is literally all over the place.

There are many fine performances in Jagged Little Pill, particularly Ms. Patten as Jo. However, despite all the talent on the Broadhurst stage, it is unfortunate that Alanis’s music could not have been used for a more satisfying musical.

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published December 12, 2019
Reviewed at December 11, 2019 press performance.

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Kathryn Gallagher. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Celia Rose Gooding. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Celia Rose Gooding, Lauren Patten & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Derek Klena & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Derek Klena. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Elizabeth Stanley & Heather Lang. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Lauren Patten & cast. Photo: Matthew Murphy

‘JAGGED LITTLE PILL’: Celia Rose Gooding & Antonio Cipriano. Photo: Matthew Murphy

The post ‘Jagged Little Pill’: Angst & Alanis’ songbook appeared first on StageZine.

‘SPRING AWAKENING”: Katie Boeck (left) providing vocals for Sandra Mae Frank in the American Sign Language revival of the Tony-winning musical. Photo: Joan Marcus

SPRING AWAKENING
Based on the play by Frank Wedekind
Book & lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Choreography by Spencer Lift
Directed by Michael Arden
Through January 24, 2016
Brooks Atkinson Theatre
256 West 47th Street
(888-250-2929), http://www.springawakeningthemusical.com/

By Scott Harrah

When Spring Awakening debuted on Broadway nine years ago in 2006, it was a well-crafted, ambitious musical adaptation from Frank Wedekind’s play about misunderstood teens in 1891 Germany and the clashes with their uptight, Victorian-era parents, with an outstanding score by Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik. The show won eight Tony Awards, including one for Best Musical. Fast forward to nearly a decade later. This is no ordinary revival as the show has been completely reinvented by director Michael Arden and Deaf West Theatre, featuring actors using American Sign Language, including Oscar winner Marlee Matlin. It is not really a gimmick, but is a totally new interpretation. However, it would be remiss to not point out that some of the original drama and intensity, performed by both deaf and hearing actors, is lost in translation here.

The plot is emotionally packed indeed, centering on sexually repressed teens in late 19th century Germany and dealing with such then-taboo topics as sex education, teen sex and pregnancy, wet dreams, masturbation, abortion, child abuse, etc.

It can be quite moving to watch American Sign Language in the theater, but also a hindrance when seeing it used in a musical. Changing tempos in a song or trying to enact a dramatic moment—and this piece has plenty of such moments—it breaks up the tension. Although it usually works here, it can be frustrating for mass Broadway audiences trying to understand the structure of the musical while reading projected signs and not knowing American Sign Language symbols. The narrative, even in the 2006 production, was hard to follow at times, and that’s certainly the case here because watching and listening to one actor signing while another speaks or sings takes some getting used to for non-deaf audiences.

We see Wendla (charming and sweetly played by Sandra Mae Frank) interpreting the lyrics in American Sign Language to “Mama Who Bore Me,” while Katie Boeck sings and plays the guitar. Look at the Playbill and you’ll notice that for nearly every deaf actor, there is another listed as “Voice of” who also plays guitar or piano. However, one of the show’s standouts is Austin P. McKenzie as Melchior (Wendla’s boyfriend), and he signs, sings and speaks with conviction.

A few scenes are done solely in American Sign Language, with subtitles projected onto a giant screen. This multimedia effect is innovative, but again dilutes some of the story’s dramatic tension for non-deaf audiences.

The show features two big name actors. Marlee Matlin looks gorgeous and brings a lot of raw intensity to the multiple roles of Frau Gabor, Frau Bessell and Frau Schmidt, but most of her talents seem underutilized here. Camryn Mannheim, who also takes on multiple roles and sometimes acts as Ms. Matlin’s voice, is powerful, but her German accent as Wendla’s mother, among other characters, comes off exaggerated at times and, thus, difficult to understand. A noteworthy performance is given by Krysta Rodriguez as the young outcast Ilse.

Michael Arden’s direction and vision are wonderfully executed. However, in the 2006 production, each character was uniquely distinct and identifiable. In this revival, with so many actors (and others doing their voices), the characters are more undistinguishable and the show’s overall impact is less effective.

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Marlee Matlin. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’ (left to right) Katie Boeck (back), Sandra Mae Frank & Camryn Mannheim. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Austin P. McKenzie (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Austin P. McKenzie (center) & cast. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: (seated, left to right) Joshua Castille, Austin P. McKenzie & Daniel N. Durant; (top row, left to right) Alex Wyse, Miles Barbee & Andy Mientus. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Austin P. McKenzie & Patrick Page. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Daniel N. Durant, Austin P. McKenzie & Alex Boniello. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: (counter-clockwise from bottom left): Treshelle Edmond, Ali Stroker, Amelia Hensley, Lauren Luiz, Kathryn Gallagher, Krysta Rodriguez & Alexandra Winter. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING” Daniel N. Durant & Krysta Rodriguez. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Treshelle Edmond. Photo: Joan Marcus

‘SPRING AWAKENING’: Russell Harvard & Daniel N. Durant. Photo: Joan Marcus

Edited by Scott Harrah
Published October 5, 2015
Reviewed at press performance on October 3, 2015

The post ‘Spring Awakening’ Returns to Broadway appeared first on StageZine.