Now I’m 20, the same age Morissette was when her ’90s alt-rock smash album dropped in 1995. “Jagged Little Pill” and its songstress still inspire not only my music habits, but my life in general. Morissette has taught me that there is no limit to how much a person can feel. She taught me women could be complex: shameful and shameless, brass and meek, loving and hateful, all at the same time.
“The Album Project: Jagged Little Pill” tangles with the same struggles of Morissette’s young adulthood, including broken romances, mental illness and discovering one’s self. Nearly Naked Theatre’s production comes directly from Los Angeles, where the show premiered earlier this month.
Directed by LA-based Kate Sullivan Gibbens, the show avoids a clear-cut plot, instead following a loose narrative that focuses on the songs and emotions of despair, joy and anger that they conjure.
The eight-person cast consists of various stand-ins for Morissette or people in her life described in the album. The most prominent Morissette stand-in is Mary Jane, played by Caitlin Ary. Following the intense break-up during “You Oughta Know,” Mary Jane is institutionalized. There, she and other characters explore their failures and triumphs.
Morissette wrote most of “Jagged Little Pill” following the emotional break-up chronicled in “You Oughta Know” and an armed robbery that left her with intense anxiety and daily panic attacks.
The show follows “Jagged Little Pill” in order except for two notable exceptions. “Death of Cinderella,” a song written around the time of the album’s release but never released itself, is placed between “You Learn” and “Head Over Feet.” While the number features some of the most engaging dancing in the show, its addition could have been smoother. Even though it was written around the same time as “Jagged Little Pill,” it doesn’t perfectly fit in with the album or, therefore, with the production.
The show also chooses to combine the album’s final two tracks, “Not the Doctor” and “Wake Up,” as a conversation between two characters. This risk does pay off, presenting the songs in such a way that I saw new emotions and meaning in them for the first time in years.
Morissette’s songs all take to the stage surprisingly well for how intimate and wordy they can be. Some of my favorite numbers include the company rendition of “All I Really Want,” an appropriately dramatic “Forgiven” and a beautifully understated “Mary Jane.” However, the best moment of the show was one of its last, with a haunting rendition of the a capella hidden track on “Jagged Little Pill,” “Your House.” The inclusion of the track alone should be a special treat for Morissette fans.
While all the cast members arguably have better voices than Morissette, they willingly take on some of her more unusual, even divisive, vocal tics.
Caitlin Ary plays Mary Jane beautifully, through all the lowest lows and highest highs Morissette feels in “Jagged Little Pill.” Other cast standouts include Casey Hayden as Mr. Nice Guy (an equally complex love interest for Mary Jane), Tyler Olshansky as Mother Teresa (delivering a show-stopping “Forgiven”) and director-turned-actor Gibbens as Rebel.
The choice to forego a traditional narrative for what the show calls “an impressionist theatrical journey” is a wise one. Shoehorning a storyline into an album already so full of characters and passion would have been awkward and diminished Morissette’s work. The show instead explores what emotions naturally emerge from the songs, and following their lead.
“The Album Project: Jagged Little Pill” is a must-see for fans of the album. However, non-fans will still enjoy the show for its exploration of being young and troubled, as well as the staying power of Morissette’s songs.
“The Album Project: Jagged Little Pill” from Nearly Naked Theatre is playing at Phoenix Theatre at 100 E. McDowell Road through September 14. Tickets are $19 plus box fees for students and $24 plus box fees for general admission.
Contact the author at ascovill@asu.edu. Contact the columnist at molly.bilker@asu.edu
