A Jagged Little Musical Is Coming Soon
Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” album was turned into a musical, and it’s really amazing to hear how it was translated and written.
By DAVID on May 21, 2018
Ok, so it’s not actually called “Jagged Little Musical,” but it’s really a musical, and it’s coming soon. Rather, is happening now, but over seas in the UK. It’s Alanis Morissette’s album “Jagged Little Pill” was released in 1995, and it’s now hitting the stage. “But that album had its time in the spotlight, why is it getting attention now?” Glad you asked, we’ll explain it below.
I know, it’s a little bit of a random topic to bring up, but it’s relevant to current times, we’ll get to that. So, back in 1995, somewhere after grunge radio started taking off, Alanis released the album “Jagged Little Pill.” She had a lot of great hits that are still getting radio play today. “You Oughta Know,” “Ironic,” “You Learn,” and a whole bunch of others. A lot (most) of her songs were considered to be “angsty.” Alanis was also often said to be “angry at men.” But really she was just singing about bad past experiences with relationships, using the music as her way to express that.
Diane Paulus, the artistic director of the American Repertory Theater, got a call from a producer with an idea. “Give it (Jagged Little Pill) another listen, the producer said. The producer of course had the idea for the musical, and wanted Diane to direct the project. Diane says “I think a lot of people associate ‘Jagged Little Pill’ with this watershed moment of female rage.” If you think about it, today there’s the #MeToo movements, female directors in Hollywood getting much more attention and recognition now than in the past, as well as a handful of other social issues. So it really seems like it’s the perfect time to have a “Jagged Little Pill” musical.
The idea is to take the songs and make them an actual story. Actors will be “playing” the parts in the songs, and acting out the scenes. Diane and the writer, Diablo Cody, had to come up with the ideas. They had to analyze the songs and figure out how to tell their story. Together, they turned it into a full-on story centered around a family. “It revolves around an upper-middle class New England family struggling to maintain a façade of perfection as the parents and their two teens struggle to face their challenges — and each other.” It sounds interesting, and I think it would actually do really well here in the ‘States too. Read a lot more about the musical and plot-breakdown here. No word on if or when it’s coming to America, but we’d like to see it.
