Jagged Little Pill Rock’s the Orpheum and Rings My Ears.

Jagged Little Pill, the third album from Alanis Morissette released in 1995 was kind of a big deal to my generation. We were in our early twenties transitioning into adulthood which is what the album felt like for Morissette, less pop, a little darker, with a more mature sound and lyrics. After 5 straight days at the Minnesota Fringe Festival and 26 shows, I needed to switch gears and was looking forward to shaking it up a little bit. Then it happened, our soccer team Minnesota United progressed in League Cup to the round of 16 in a penalty shootout…a home game on the same night. This is as close as I ever want to be to a Sophie’s choice situation. Theater is my passion but as Dani Rojas says, “Football is life”. Professional, or in my circumstance hobby, integrity won out and I opted to honor my commitment to review Jagged Little Pill: The Musical. Spoiler, I watched the game after the show and the the Loons won again in a penalty shootout and are progressing to the quarter finals this Friday at 7:30 PM! I will be honoring my Fringe commitments and watching the game around midnight, at least it’s an away game. But I digress, in the end I made the right decision even though I missed singing Wonderwall with my Loonatics at Allianz, I got to see a show that defied the pigeon hole we tend to put Jukebox musicals in. Jagged Little Pill: The Musical is a show that actually addresses our human flaws and allows us to see that good people do bad things but facing those mistakes is how we heal.

Featuring music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, with additional music by Michael Farrell and Guy Sigsworth. The book for the musical won the Tony Award in 2020 and is by Academy Award winner for Original Screenplay(Juno) Diablo Cody. The story tackles multiple issues with parallel storylines running throughout the show. Among the topics explored are rape, consent, LGBTQ+, Drug addiction, marital problems, privilege, adoption, and race to name a few. The show opens and closes with Mary Jane Healy composing her yearly Christmas letter so we get a nice little summary of where each of the characters in the family who are the focus of the show are at in the beginning and a nice little wrap up at the end. Mary Jane is recovered from a car accident suffered that year. Her husband Steve works 60 hours a week as a partner in his law firm. Son Nick has just been accepted into Harvard. While adopted daughter Frankie is always championing a cause, while secretly dating Jo a gender nonconforming classmate. This is a heavy show thematically but all of these themes do coalesce and illustrate how life’s struggles are systematic. Trauma from sexual assault can lead to a need for control, not dealing with it can lead to substance abuse issues, which can lead to marital issues which affect your children. Control can lead to expectations which can create pressure in one child and feelings of second best in another. I don’t want to say anything more about the plot because I think it sounds heavier than it is. It ultimately ends in a good and very real to life place and one of hope. What really is amazing about the show is how naturally the songs work, typically jukebox musicals tend to have a lot of songs that feel shoehorned in, like square pegs pounded into round holes. The tone and feel of the show emulate the vibe of the original album.

The female and nonbinary cast is very strong led by Heidi Blickenstaff as Mary Jane has a powerful voice and turns in a performance laced with sarcasm, vulnerability, and denial, at times wickedly funny and others heartbreakingly devastating. She’s the character everyone thinks is so perfect and in control, but underneath she’s the one spiralling out of control. Ironic don’t you think? Lauren Chanel plays her adopted, black daughter, Frankie. Chanel also has a very good voice and finds the tricky path to walk playing the girl we side with at times but also allowing us to see her privilege, which is also kind of ironic, don’t you think? Finally, Jade McLeod, who identifies as nonbinary, plays Frankie’s romantic interest Jo. McLeod gives Blickenstaff serious competition for best vocalist and they gets a couple of best songs from the album to perform “Hand in My Pocket” and “You Oughta Know“. The men don’t fair as well both Dillon Klena who plays Nick and Rishi Golani who plays Phoenix, another romantic interest of Frankie’s both seem too weak vocally, I’m not sure if the parts are out of their vocal comfort zone or if it’s something else.

Speaking of something else, the one major criticism of the production is the sound mix and design by Jonathan Deans. Everything is too loud and it causes the voices to become distorted, so the audience loses the lyrics that are being sung at times. It’s at the worst when there are multiple characters singing at once, particularly if they are singing different parts. The solo songs and quieter ones are best. The show is well staged and directed by Diane Paulus who uses Lucy Mackinnon’s video projections sparingly and effectively in coordination with Riccardo Hernandez Set Design. Projection as part of scenic design is here to stay, I’m not in favor of its use instead of actual sets. I think it works much better when it’s utilized like this to complement the physical set design. The show allows for a surprising amount of creative lighting given its setting in white upper class suburban Connecticut, but Lighting Designer Justin Townsend gets some moments to really shine creatively, pun intended.

If you are a fan of Alanis Morissette’s album Jagged Little Pill or a fan of musicals like Next to Normal you’re likely to really connect to this show as I did. For your enjoyment there are a couple of suggestions, bring some ear plugs, better to have them and not use them then not have them and wish you did. Second, please note this message from the Hennepin Theatre Trust website for this show so you are aware of anything that might be triggering for you.

Please note: This production contains strong language, adult themes, drug use, and moments of sexual violence that some may find upsetting. Jagged Little Pill addresses many topics of contemporary life, including sexual assault, opiate addiction, transracial adoption, gender and LGBTQIA+ identity, marriage struggles and mental health.

https://hennepintheatretrust.org/events/jagged-little-pill-broadway-tickets-minneapolis-mn-2023/

Jagged Little Pill: The Musical runs through August 13th at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis. Click the link above to purchase tickets. It’s one of the strongest new musicals to come around in years. Tackling complex human issues and illustrating the ways in which we are all more than one thing. We are not one issue, we exist within families and communities and we all affect and influence one another.

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