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JAGGED LITTLE PILL is an exhilarating new musical impressed by the themes and uncooked feelings laid naked in Alanis Morissette’s seminal album of the identical identify. The Healys look like a picture-perfect suburban household – however appears to be like could be deceiving. When the cracks beneath the floor start to indicate, they have to select between sustaining the established order or dealing with harsh truths about themselves, their neighborhood, and the world round them. “Pressing, wildly entertaining, and wickedly humorous in all the precise locations” (The Boston Globe), this unique story is ignited by Morissette’s groundbreaking music – together with such hits as “You Oughta Know,” “Head Over Toes,” “Hand In My Pocket,” and “Ironic” – plus brand-new songs written for the present. Hailed by The New York Instances as “a big-hearted musical that breaks the mildew,” Jagged Little Capsule “takes on the nice work we’re all the time asking new musicals to do: the work of singing about actual issues.”
Drama Desk Award nominee Elizabeth Stanley (On the City), Sean Allan Krill (Honeymoon in Vegas), Derek Klena (Anastasia), and newcomer Celia Rose Gooding, and star as The Healy Household (Mary Jane, Steve, Nick, and Frankie, respectively), alongside Lauren Patten (Enjoyable Dwelling) as Jo, Kathryn Gallagher (Spring Awakening) as Bella, Antonio Cipriano as Phoenix, and Logan Hart as Andrew, all of whom reprise their roles from the musical’s world premiere engagement. Finishing the corporate are Annelise Baker, Yeman Brown, Jane Bruce, John Cardoza, Ken Wulf Clark, Laurel Harris, Zach Hess, Max Kumangai, Heather Lang, Ezra Menas, Kelsey Orem, Yana Perrault, Nora Schell, Kei Tsuruharatani and Ebony Williams.
Let’s examine what the critics need to say!
Jesse Inexperienced, The New York Instances: The good information for “Jagged Little Capsule,” and for us, is that its artistic workforce, led by the director Diane Paulus, did extra than simply fiddle with a present that, although blurry, was already entertaining. The overhauled model that opened on Thursday on the Broadhurst Theater is totally in focus: clear in its priorities, wealthy in character, honest with out syrup, rousing and actual. It simply clears the low bar of jukebox success to face alongside the darkish unique musicals which were sustaining the very best hopes of Broadway in recent times.
David Cote, Observer: A extra constructive method to spin the scenario is to say, Jagged Little Capsule is a humiliation of riches, simply heaped in an ungainly pile. In lots of areas, it’s. The forged is enormously interesting, with Stanley doing excellent work as a mom who could be narcissistic, shallow, and horrid, however whose journey to the underside is really heartbreaking. How an actor so wholesome and contemporary can develop gaunt and haggard on command is a marvel. Gooding, because the brash, no-wave feminist in quest of herself, is pure charisma with a pop belt to die for. Patten (whose DNA was clearly spliced from Laurie Metcalf and Bebe Neuwirth) is an immediate star. Klena and Krill have much less to do, however they do it fairly nicely.
David Finkle, New York Stage Overview: Paulus and Cherkaoui have the six principals on their toes all through, every of whom is impressively dedicated to his or her function. Whereas they nail each second, there may be one efficiency that threatens to dislodge the Broadhurst roof: Lauren Patten giving Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” all of the sizzle Peter Luger steak used to have.
Jesse Oxfeld, New York Stage Overview: The musical, which opened tonight on the Broadhurst Theatre, is, just like the album, surpassingly glorious, if additionally barely flawed. What makes it so good? It is the best exemplar of a sure form of jukebox musical, one which hangs an artist’s catalogue onto a fictional story, typically to laughable consequence.(See: Everybody from the lovelorn Spring Breakers of Escape to Margaritaville to the wandering cowboy of Ring of Hearth.) Right here, within the palms of Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody, Jagged Little Capsule fashions a narrative with characters which might be really compelling: A contemporary, seemingly all-American, upper-middle-class household, wherein all of the members have their very own issues. A cynical theatergoer, weary of this type of jukeboxer, may nicely discover himself stunned to be emotionally engaged within the story.
Terry Techout, Wall Avenue Journal: All of which brings us to the Broadway switch of “Jagged Little Capsule,” which originated on the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., and whose marquee declares it to be “impressed by” Alanis Morissette’s grunge-flavored pop album about teenage love and life. Many of the songs, co-written by Ms. Morissette and Glen Ballard, come from the album, whose launch in 1995 led Rolling Stone to dub Ms. Morissette “Queen of Alt-Rock Angst.” The stage model, against this, is a cliché-prone chronicle of suburban non secular vacancy whose guide is by Diablo Cody (“Juno”) and whose characters embrace a “excellent” mom ( Elizabeth Stanley ) who’s secretly hooked on opiates and her black, bisexual adopted daughter ( Celia Rose Gooding ), who’s…nicely, angst-ridden. The outcomes play like a cross between “American Magnificence” and “Subsequent to Regular,” and if that notion appeals to you, you then may take pleasure in “Jagged Little Capsule.” Me, I discovered it leaden with earnestness. Teen angst, lest we neglect, is not all that fascinating when seen from the surface, which explains why the very best fictional portrayals of the ache of adolescence have been satirical comedies like “Daria” and “Heathers.” And whereas Ms. Cody’s issue-of-the-week guide may work as a teleplay, it positive aspects nothing from getting used as a dramatic Christmas tree on which to hold the songs.
Robert Hofler, The Wrap: Cody makes her Broadway debut with the guide for “Capsule,” and the “Juno” screenwriter offers Mary Jane sufficient trauma to set off a dozen somber musicals, a lot much less one dangerous flashback. She’s referred to as Mary Jane as a result of in any other case Morissette’s track “Mary Jane” from the album would not match into the stage present. Irrespective of that the track is about marijuana and lady born to clueless dad and mom within the late 1960s would have shortened it to Mary to keep away from all these inevitable jokes about guys eager to smoke her stash. Jonathan Deans’ sound design for “Capsule” is so mushy you will not have the ability to perceive the lyrics (by Morissette and Glen Ballard) anyway. Do bear in mind, each character in “Capsule” has a number of crap to get off his, her or their chest.
Alexis Soloski, The Guardian: However flip that report over. On Broadway, Jagged Little Capsule harnesses the hyperemotionalism of its supply to shake off the cynicism and formulaic strictures of the standard jukebox musical. Sure, its plot is shaky and contrived, its songs – and there are so, so a lot of them – histrionic. It seizes on sufficient hot-button points – sexual assault, the opioid epidemic, web dependancy, workaholism, misogyny, intercourse and gender id, and OK, certain, gun violence, too – to singe the primary row. It’s, indisputably, an excessive amount of and that too muchness is what makes it so watchable.
David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter: The aggressive bid for now-ness is each a blessing and a burden on this overwrought, over-stuffed however in the end affecting present. Sporting its woke sensibility on its sleeve with no trace of cynical calculation however as an alternative with a sincerity that typically borders on cringey, the musical addresses an entire curriculum of hot-button bullet factors – local weather change, opiate dependancy, gender and racial id, white privilege, rape tradition, social media-shaming and repressed sexual trauma, only for starters.
Marilyn Stasio, Selection: Proper from the beginning, the viewers feels underneath assault by the fierce hormonal vitality of angsty adolescents and the unfocused nervousness of their dad and mom. Unsurprisingly, “All I Actually Need” is correct up there, near the highest of the present, with all the firm articulating their inexpressibly painful wants. The spastic actions devised by choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui present a brilliantly crazed vitality that well displays their raging hormones and unfocused outrage. Even Emily Rebholz’s rag-bag costumes contribute to the disjointed adolescent feelings that overflow the stage.
Greg Evans, Deadline: With Tom Kitt’s attractively amped-up preparations and performances by an impeccable forged of tremendous singers (even when they’re too typically guided to shout-sing from the lip of the stage), Morissette’s offended, street-poetic dispatches from a fiercely singular artist largely stand up to the out-of-context placement on this troubled-family saga. And what troubles. Packed to bursting with hot-button points as bluntly conveyed as the numerous hand-painted protest indicators toted by its idealistic younger characters, Jagged Little Capsule front-loads its fictional household with sufficient issues, secrets and techniques and cliches to gasoline three years of Lifetime films.
Rafer Guzman, Newsday: You would be stunned. “Jagged Little Capsule” is not any blast-from-the-past jukebox musical however an pressing, rock-driven slice of recent life that tackles practically each challenge of the day: sexual id, opioid dependancy, racial pressure, rape. As its author, Oscar winner Diablo Cody (“Juno”), has readily admitted, absolutely anything with a hashtag is in right here. What makes “Jagged Little Capsule” work so nicely is its multigenerational storyline, a self-aware humorousness and Morissette’s surprisingly sturdy songs. (The manufacturing consists of picks from different albums and two new numbers by Morissette.)
Jerry Portwood, Rolling Stone: As a result of, in fact, it is Morissette’s music that saves the day. After the floodgates open with “You Oughta Know,” the star of the present, MJ (a surprising Elizabeth Stanley), takes over, writhing on her couch within the grips of an opioid overdose, singing the Grammy-winning “Uninvited,” with a doppelgänger dancer-demon mimicking her agony. “Hand in My Pocket” brings a smile. “Head Over Toes” is cute. “Ironic” will get massive laughs as a result of it is set amid a high-school creative-writing workshop and invokes all of the criticisms which were launched on the track’s quirky lyrics: It isn’t ironic, y’all! And the elegant motion by Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (who additionally choreographed sequences in Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s “Apeshit” video) remembers the spastic, emotive movement you’d acknowledge from a Sia music video.
Matt Windman, amNY: Even when Diablo’s script feels overstuffed (just a few uncomfortable sequences might in all probability be lower) and by-product (particularly of the 2009 Pulitzer-winning musical “Subsequent to Regular”), it’s character-sensitive and keen to delve into tough and well timed cultural points similar to opioid dependancy, #MeToo, racial and gender id and sufferer shaming. It additionally accommodates a number of humor, similar to when an English class debates the lyrics of “Ironic.”
Johnny Oleksinski, The New York Put up: Extra social points are addressed in “Jagged Little Capsule” than at a Democratic presidential debate. Opioid dependancy, race, bisexuality, sexual assault – the Alanis Morissette musical, which opened Thursday night time on Broadway, has bought ’em all. However, like attempting to shove Elizabeth Warren’s complete platform right into a single night, practically each subject will get brief shrift.
Chris Jones, The New York Day by day Information: And if you would like a fast lesson on simply how a lot our tradition has coarsened since then, you will discover one on the Broadhurst Theatre, the place lean songs that bled with poetry and irony and worry and rage have been become a moralistic musical so over-stuffed and simplistic, so predictable in its hashtags and heroes and villains, as to tear nearly all of the complexity from the natural and unfiltered human materials that offered the supply.
Peter Marks, Washington Put up: “Jagged Little Capsule,” the humorlessly banal new musical customary out of Alanis Morissette’s agonized songbook, belongs to that burgeoning class of musical theater that cynically imagines any cycle of pop melodies could be repurposed for Broadway with the addition of a serviceable story.
Melissa Rose Bernardo. Entertainment Weekly: Alongside the best way, we undergo protests, marriage counseling, back-alley opioid scores, bitchy Connecticut espresso klatches, an overdose, and a particularly dangerous breakup. That is when Jo discovers Frankie in mattress with one other classmate, Phoenix (Antonio Cipriano) – “He was sporting canine tags with no shirt like a douche,” Jo yells – and vents with “You Oughta Know.” Patten begins the primary halting phrases in nearly a whisper: “I would like you to know / That I am comfortable for you.” However because the track builds in quantity and depth, it is clear she’s not merely singing; she’s attempting to tug the love out of her physique. It is an emotional exorcism – and a efficiency that leaves her, and the viewers, exhausted and exhilarated after its rock-concert-level conclusion.
Tim Teeman, The Day by day Beast: It is a double Christmas miracle. Broadway has a brand new star-Lauren Patten-and a jukebox musical that basically is totally different and units a normal for others to aspire to the identical; and one that’s as provocatively written as it’s fantastically carried out.
Joe Dziemianowicz, Theater Information On-line: A dose of Jagged Little Capsule, the Alanis Morissette jukebox musical on Broadway a few dysfunctional American household, delivers fascinating jolts to the top and coronary heart because of vibrant performances and hits like “Ironic,” “Head Over Toes” and “Hand in My Pocket,” songs which were capably threaded into storylines. However this Capsule additionally produces undesirable unintended effects. On the Broadhurst Theatre, residence of the musical drawn from the Canadian singer-songwriter’s angsty megahit 1995 album, they embrace however aren’t restricted to: Extended itching for a targeted, impactful plot; dulled senses from acquainted conditions and characters; and ear pressure as a result of efforts to grasp drowned-out lyrics. Is there a script physician in the home?
Jeremy Gerard. Theater Information On-line: Songs from Jagged Little Capsule, augmented by others from Morrisette’s again catalogue and two new ones written for the present, are folded into the story. The numbers themselves, spiky with adolescent angst and a extra pronounced sense of concern over how the feminine of the species is abused no matter age, have misplaced none of their energy. (I say this as somebody who will need to have been AWOL when the album was launched, however who discovered the songs as pungent and on the right track as in the event that they’d been written as we speak.) That does not save JLP from a little bit of Mamma Mia-itis, which is what occurs when a narrative is supposed to border a track checklist (there’s additionally further music by Morrisette and Glen Ballard), however the songs do not all the time fairly match, requiring a slather of narrative mortar.
Matt Feldman, Time Out New York: However Subsequent to Regular has a robust concentrate on a single story, and an unique rating created to help that focus. Morissette’s songs, most of them cowritten with Glen Ballard, weren’t designed for that work. Cody has discovered intelligent locations for a few of them-“Ironic” is framed, self-deprecatingly, as a highschool pupil’s gangly try at writing poetry-but the steadiness is off. Two of Morissette’s definitive numbers, “Hand in My Pocket” and “You Oughta Know,” are assigned to the aspect character of Frankie’s sort-of-girlfriend, Jo (a first-rate Lauren Patten); the latter is a bona fide showstopper, nevertheless it’s too massive a second for its place in a romantic subplot. And the present’s defining incident-the sexual assault of Nick’s pal Bella (Kathryn Gallagher) at a home party-is fleshed out a lot much less totally, with a generic rich-white-jock predator because the villain. At a sure level, it begins to really feel like a number of after-school specials crammed into one.
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