Fans of Alanis Morissette’s album Jagged Little Pill, we have great news for you: the album will be turned into a musical and it will be released in May 2018!
The idea of adapting the landmark album for the stage began in 2014, but the team was formed only this year. Diane Paulus, who directed the revival of Hair and Pippin, will direct the show; Tom Kitt, who is behind Next to Normal and American Idiot, will be the musical arranger; and Cody Diablo, who wrote Juno and Jennifer’s Body, will write the book.
Cody worked with Morissette on the book, and the story will focus on a “modern and multi-generational family and their complex dynamics, touching on issues of gender identity and race.”
The songs will be lifted from the singer’s iconic album, but some melodies will be lifted from her other albums.
Jagged Little Pill was released in 1995 and is considered as one of the best-selling albums of all time. The album had the hits “You Oughta Know,” “Hand in My Pocket,” and “Ironic.” At the 1996 Grammy Awards, Morissette won five out of the nine nominations she received, including Album of the Year. The singer was the youngest musician to be given that award for 10 years.
Tony Award-winning actress Idina Menzel will lead the reading, but she will not star in the musical as she is engaged with the off-Broadway play Skintight. A stage reading is done to measure the effectiveness of a dialogue, pacing, and flow.
Morissette is excited about the project.
She said, “This team that has come together for this Jagged Little Pill musical is my musical theater dream come true. The chemistry between all of us is crackling and I feel honored to be diving into these songs again, surrounded by all of this searing talent. Diablo and Diane are already taking these deeply personal songs that are part of my soul’s marrow to a whole other level of hope, freedom, and complexity.”
The musical is set to premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Harvard University, where Paulus is artistic director. There’s no word about a Broadway bid.
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