The musical will be largely made up of songs from Jagged Little Pill, Morissette’s iconic album from 1995 that changed the lives of ’90s women and the meaning of the word irony forever. However, it will also include “melodies from her extensive body of work.”
Making a show out of music that’s as iconic and adored as Morissette’s is no doubt a challenging task, and while there are many hugely popular jukebox musicals (Jersey Boys, Mamma Mia, On Your Feet! etc.) there are just as many terrible, and outright forgettable ones. An amazing track list does not guarantee an amazing show and while nostalgia can be great as a tool, a story needs more than shallow familiarity. It is exciting and reassuring, then, that the writer for the book is Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody of Juno, Jennifer’s Body, and Young Adult. Cody has, according to the press release, “written a new and original storyline that revolves around a modern and multi-generational family and their complex dynamics, touching on issues of gender identity and race.” Directing is Tony Award winner Diane Paulus of the Pippin revival and Hair, and Tom Kitt of If/Then and Next to Normal will write the orchestrations and arrangements.
Of the project, Morissette said in a statement,“This team that has come together for this Jagged Little Pill musical is my musical theatre 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 show is set to debut next May 2018 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts which Flavorwire points out was also the starting point for popular shows like Waitress, Finding Neverland, and 1984.
Are you looking forward to an Alanis Morissette musical? What songs are you looking forward to seeing on stage?
(via Flavorwire, Image: Maverick/Reprise, Lions Gate Films)
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