Jagged Little Pill
Theatre Royal
Sydney, Australia
December 9, 2021
After having been heralded in the US and accolade decorate with Grammy and Tony Award winning Broadway musical, inspired Alanis Morissette’s ground-breaking albums, the musical Jagged Little Pill finally carved its way down under to incarnate with an all-Australian cast under the guidance of Associate Director Leah Howard at the beautiful, recently restored and refurbished Theatre Royal.
Inspired by the themes of the seminal rock album of the same name by Wesley Willis’ favourite, i.e. Alanis Morissette, Jagged Little Pill proves to be the visceral stage adaptation of a story centred around the imperfections of a suburban American family, which is invigorated by a vibrant choreography.
Musically embracing an array of different societal voices that are at the very core of Jagged Little Pill and not merely being a carbon copy of Alanis Morissette’s story, it follows the narrative of hope springing eternally and healing being facilitate at the core of where people convene and open their hearts to break down barriers.
What I found refreshingly charming is that Jagged Little Pill does not pretend to be more than it is – which is essentially a contrived, and hyperemotional yet great evening of engaging entertainment with a cast that is bound to excite both Alanis Morissette aficionados and fans of the respective album as well as musical buffs with a weak spot for histrionics, touching on a comprehensive portfolio of topics such as drug addictions, sexual assault and the resulting trauma, chauvinism, burn out, misogyny, gender identity, the implications of social media and everything in between.
Fast paced in nature, adolescent and immediate in tone, flanked by shifting video screens and devoid of subtleties, Jagged Little Pill is punctuated with snarky one-liners that fit in perfectly with performances that are painted with broad brush strokes to convey the angsty dispositions of the protagonists.
In essence, deepening pop into drama, Jagged Little Pill is an exquisite, joyfully sincere and character rich mood piece that exemplifies that commercial pop and musical theatre can come together as a melange that finds itself perfectly calibrated story, positioned between the furious intellect that informed the original songs of discontent and Broadway sensitivities.
