Alanis-inspired Broadway musical 'Jagged Little Pill' is about “so much more than 'You Oughta Know'”

rambo

6 years ago

“Jagged Little Pill” company; Nathan JohnsonJagged Little Pill, the Broadway musical based on Alanis Morissette’s Grammy-winning 1995 album of the same name, starts performances November 3, and officially opens December 5. Oscar-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody wrote the show, and she was surprised she was able to turn hits like “Hand In My Pocket,” “You Oughta Know” and “Ironic” into a compelling story.

“Ordinarily, if someone said to me, ‘You have to take an album and…create a story around it,’ I would think, ‘OK, there’s gonna be moments in that process that feel a little not organic,” Cody tells ABC Audio. “And I was stunned…to discover that this album really lent itself to a theatrical adaptation.”

“The songs have a really strong narrative to them,” she adds. “It’s really a concept album, in a lot of ways. So it was…I don’t wanna say it was easy, but easier than I thought!“

Tony-winner Diane Paulus is directing Jagged Little Pill and says she was surprised to find that the album “contains so much more than rage.”

“It’s about vulnerability, healing and waking up to things that are inside us that we’re desperately trying to push away,” she tells ABC Audio. “It’s about so much more than ‘You Oughta Know!'”

The musical follows the Healy family, who struggle with hot-button issues like race, gender identity, sexual assault and addiction.

Cody says she was “really lucky to have Alanis involved in just about every step of the process,” and admits her “priority one” was, “I want Alanis to love this show.” Luckily, she does.

“That was such a tremendous relief for me,” she laughs. “And I do also feel pressure to sell it to the rest of the world. But I feel really happy about at least having accomplished step one!”