A Jagged Little Pill Musical Is Happening And Alanis Morissette Is Involved

Alanis Morisette playing Audra in Weeds

The production of new Broadway musicals is a tricky beast. In this day in age, wholly originally pieces are very rarely written, with adaptations of popular films and plays becoming a far more common practice. And now Alanis Morissette is getting involved in the game, as her iconic album Jagged Little Pill is being adapted into a stage musical, set for a debut in 2018. This upcoming show has gesticulating since back in 2013, so Morissette's generations of fans should be very excited for this project.

This news comes to us from EW, who has the details about the unnamed musical's production team and debut location. The Jagged Little Pill musical will be produced American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and will begin performances in May, 2018. A.R.T. is a major figure in the world of theater, so a well received production could easily find itself making a Broadway transfer, especially with Alanis Morissette involved in writing the new music for the stage

The show will be helmed by Diane Paulus, who directed the Tony Award winning revival of Pippin a few seasons ago. There is major talent writing the book as well, with Oscar Winner Diablo Cody (Juno, Tully) bringing dialogue into the play. Tony Award winner Tom Kitt will be handling the vocal arrangements, and the show will be produced by Vivek J. Tiwary, Arvind Ethan David, and Eva Price. So in addition to Alanis Morissette's fantastic album, there seems to be heavy hitters from the world of both theater and film involved in bringing Jagged Little Pill to the stage.

Jagged Little Pill is one of the most iconic rock albums of the 1990's, and helped Alanis Morissette become a household name. A slew of massively popular singles were released from the album, including hits like "You Oughta Know", "Ironic", "Hand in my Pocket" and "You Learn". In addition to Alanis' fantastic voice and unique melodies, Jagged Little Pill was also a game changer in regards to the female voice in pop music. Alanis' songs were full of angst and contempt for the patriarchy, revealing double standards that women deal with in regards to love and life.

The adaptation of albums into musicals is not entirely unheard of (I'm looking at you, American Idiot), but is a refreshing change to the movie adaptations that have become so commonplace in theater. And considering that Jagged Little Pill is chock full of stunning pop songs, it seems like a great choice. Now I'm just hoping that "You Oughta Now" becomes the 11 o'clock number that knocks the roof off the place. I mean, wouldn't you cheer for that?

It should be interesting to see the Jagged Little Pill musical's journey to the stage. We'll be sure to update you on any big news regarding the new musical.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.