It was…surprisingly boring and formulaic. Maybe it just didn’t speak to me. But:
stereoptypical middle aged white woman addicted to opioids
stereotypical lawyer husband who is working all the darn time
stereotypical white son who is outperforming! everyone! and feels intense pressure to always be the best
The only interesting character was the adopted daughter. Now like I said maybe it didn’t speak to me because I share very little in common with the main character
no kids here
in a very happy marriage
no addictions except cofffee
But a minority stuck in a majority culture, that certainly spoke to me. But this musical won a ton of awards!
I did enjoy the songs. Alanis was big when I went to college and it brought back amazing memories of college. 80s songs are my growing-up cultural touchpoints but Alanis is when I came of age. And it made me miss my college friend so much, she ghosted me several years ago and I think of her at least every week.
But, besides the nostalgia I personally brought, I was pretty bored, unfortunately. Glad I bought the cheap seats!
Thanks for the review. There was a period of time when that album was the only one I played. The musical is on my list of ones to watch, assuming it comes to L.A. sometime. I’ll have to look into it some more to see if it’s worthwhile. (Although we typically get a season package where the criteria is “choose four out of six shows”, so not too picky.)
Yes - Jagged Little Pill.
Here at Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady some seats are sponsored by the Lia Group, so I got my ticket for 55.50.
Proctor’s is like 10 minutes from my house, so I didn’t have to worry about travel. It is a fantastic theatre and I can’t say enough good stuff about it.
That’s really cool. We have the Count Basie, but instead of getting a good Road Show, it is mostly a crappy local theatre group. So we need to go to Broadway generally to see a good play. The ticket price isn’t terrible at least, and no travel expense really helps.
Holy cow,Anaamika, I had to double check that this thread isn’t a zombie. It’s really good to see your name / read your words! Perhaps you’ve been here all along and I just
haven’t run into you, but it sure is good to have you back.
I sort of sneaked back a few days ago without much fanfare. But thank you. I started thinking about how much I missed casual online interaction. Everyone is so angry nowadays and the only place I hang out is reddit and I rarely post, just read stuff.
(I get local news faster on the Albany & Schenectady subreddits than ANYWHERE else, it’s super weird).
As for JLP… I am always skeptical of jukebox musicals. Like, no one says: “you know, this album is all right, but you know what would really elevate this music? Turning it into a musical!!”
Instead it’s: “how can we make more money using existing cultural properties as a way to draw in audiences who will pay $$$ to see the Disney-fication of their childhood?”
Eonwe, YES. That is exactly what I felt like, it was super capitalizing on the nostalgia of Gen Xers. Like, those guys have money, they’ll surely come to this!
The other tickets were really expensive too, like almost $200! I only went because of the subsidized Lia seats.
The book was excellent. I’d agree the situation wasn’t exactly new, but the dramatics carried it well. The characters’ pain made great drama and they were well drawn and transcended the familiarity.
Can’t say much about the score. The music sounded ok, but the lyrics were lost in the sound, a big flaw in any Broadway show. I suppose it wasn’t a problem if you listened to the record a lot, but I hadn’t, so I couldn’t follow.
I did love the way they staged “Ironic.” I know little about the song except for the controversy that nothing in it expressed irony. The leaned right into that instead of trying to ignore it. Very smart idea.
Just a note on this, Jagged Little Pill won awards during the COVID year of the Tonys, when because of the shutdown only four musicals had opened that were even eligible to be nominated for anything. (The Best Actor race that year only had one nominee!)
But thank you. I started thinking about how much I missed casual online interaction. Everyone is so angry nowadays and the only place I hang out is reddit and I rarely post, just read stuff.