#jlp broadway

[derekklenadaily]

antoniocipriano_ : lots of love for these little liars

final ep of #pllsummerschool tomorrow!!!

[maybeigotwithsophie]

“Must be somewhat heartening to watch the flawless fall from grace

- Uninvited, Jagged Little Pill

[snixxxxxxxxxx]

really the lore itself has two paths: there's the nonbinary erasure of Jo (Lauren Patten's character) (making Jo into someone questioning their gender or just a gender nonconforming woman, but prior to the Broadway run they were explicitly nonbinary. Celia Rose Gooding (who played Frankie in the obc) left the production prior to its Broadway return and mentioned the pain the production had caused to trans and nonbinary individuals. Then the producers denied that fact about the character, saying that Jo was a woman from the beginning), but then there's the mistreatment of cast members by the production (production staff asked Nora Schell to delay a surgery for their PCOS). Nora Schell and iris menas (who did perform as Jo at some point during the Broadway run) (there may or may not be a video out there of the full show with them) (they were also Anybodys in 2021 West Side Story w/ Rachel Zegler) left the production together. the broadway production then hired diversity officers nad did try to put the work in but of course all this work came around Tony's season (the 74th tonys were such a... something. Aaron Tveit was the ONLY actor nominated for best performance by a leading actor in a musical for moulin rouge. so of course he won. but that's beside the point. lightning thief was not nominated. that upset people. this is all beside the point) (Lauren Patten [Jo] won supporting actress in a musical) (Celia Rose Gooding was nominated in the same category) (Antonio Cipriano was also in JLP and he's friends with Rachel Zegler. iirc Rachel and Celia are friends) (Celia Rose Gooding's mom is LaChanze which is also wild!) (LaChanze original Broadway Ti Moune and Celie, among many more credits) THEN there's the Australian production casting a nonbinary performer as Jo which caused some internet people to get in a fuss over the "erasure" of cis women who like to dress masc which ????

anyway.

[greensparty]

Theater Review: Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill

June 14, 2023 @ Citizens Bank Opera House (Boston, MA)

Jagged Little Pill promo

The Song of the Summer of 1995 was Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know”! Hands down!  The Canadian singer-songwriter came seemingly out of nowhere, even though she already had some albums under her belt and had been a child actress (she got her start on You Can’t Do That on Television). The accompanying album Jagged Little Pill became one of the biggest albums in history. She was the biggest among the wave of female musicians in the mid-90s who weren’t afraid to fill their songwriting with raw emotion. “You Oughta Know” was a perfect example, depicting a jilted lover not holding back on how furious she was at her ex for doing her wrong. I picked up Jagged Little Pill when I first got to college and really dug much of the album, but over time it’s an album I outgrew. But periodically I’ve returned to the album and there’s no denying her talent. The broad appeal and lasting impression of the album (today it’s considered one of the greatest albums ever made) is that it was catchy enough to appeal to pop and Top 40 radio, but edgy enough for the Alternative Nation. She’s also had multiple moments in pop culture: she gave Taylor Hawkins his start as the drummer in her band for the Jagged tour, she played God in Kevin Smith’s Dogma and she also appeared on Weeds among many other performances. Skip ahead to 2018, when a musical based on the album Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill began at A.R.T in Cambridge, MA (just down the street from me) before going to Broadway in 2019. It even won some Tony Awards. Last year, it began a North American tour and this month the production hits Boston at Citizens Bank Opera House, where I caught it on Wed. night!

the 1995 Jagged Little Pill album cover

Taking place in Connecticut, the Healy family prepares their annual Christmas letter: mom Mary Jane is still recovering from a car accident and has secretly become addicted to painkillers, dad Steve is a workaholic with an online porn addiction, son Nick has just been accepted into Harvard and their adopted daughter Frankie struggles with fitting in as a black teen in a white household and being bisexual. Nick witnesses an incident at a party that brings back some traumatic memories for Mary Jane. The music of Jagged Little Pill plays a pivotal role in the story as does Morissette’s post-JLP music as well. Worth noting is that the song sequence has changed and also the meaning as well, i.e. on the album opener “All I Really Want” (the best song on the album IMHO) was originally sung as one voice, here it is a voice singing one verse and then next verse is a different character’s perspective. 

What truly made this more than just a jukebox musical was the book written by Diablo Cody, who is using the music to address one of her favorite themes, suburban malaise. So much of her films like Juno, Young Adult and the criminally underrated Tully address the idea of seemingly perfect suburban characters who seem to have the perfect family, house, and life, but it’s not as perfect as it seems. This play addresses a ton of topical themes like opioid addiction, #metoo movement, LGBTQ+ rights, etc. I think the strongest performances were from Mary Jane (Heidi Blickenstaff) and Frankie’s lesbian friend Jo (Jade McLeod). At times some of the characters bordered on archetypes (and almost tinkering on clichés), but stay with it, as the cast and the music lift it up. I liked the contrast between the parents and the kids both searching for meaning in their lives. It’s easy to compare this to American Beauty, but there is that same sense of confused kids and even more confused grown ups trying to figure things out.

my friend Jenn and I at the Jagged Little Pill selfie station in the lobby

Not all 90s music can lend itself to musical theater, but this album truly does. Now if only we could get a musical of Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville!

For info on Jagged Little Pill: https://jaggedlittlepill.com/

4 out of 5 stars

[neighborhood-theatre-gay]

are u ever watching a musical and then they hit The Pose™️ from those promo shots that u see all the time and you’re just like wow

[cuteangrycoconuts]

How the Tony Awards nominations actually went

[thomasmxller]

y’all ever watch clips of lauren patten as jo in jlp on broadway and j u s t

[reneemj]

reneé rapp pfps ✨

please either like or repost if you plan on using one!!

[theroyalmisfitmess]

watching jlp through a bootleg is so awkward because it doesn’t show the background dancers dancing around who are basically the representation and concrete visualizations of the inner emotions of the principal characters lmao

[stilin-ski]

Here, I made this for you

[derekklenadaily]

derek_klena: #FBF to one of the most memorable nights of theater I can remember. @paradebway and it’s entire company are so powerful.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 I’m not crying, you’re crying… 📸: @jennyandersonphoto

[crystallineirises]

JAGGED LITTLE FIFTEEN NOMINATIONS

[wild-feminist]

At this point, I would give up my first born child & a fucking organ for a video recording of Lauren Patten performing “You Oughta Know”

[randomness189]

The performance of “That I Would Be Good” from JLP hits too goddamn hard

[neighborhood-theatre-gay]

the end part of forgiven who agrees with me

[rapunzhel]

so uhm if anyone has a jagged little pill boot um please you know like give it to me