aaron tveit Exclusive Interview with Broadway’s Wonder Boy
jagged little pill Alanis Morissette’s 90’s hit album goes to the theater
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15 years of wicked
Celebrate the show with 15 surprinsinly magical facts
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F E AT U R E S
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The award winning actor opens about a whone new side of himself on stage and off.
15 Years of Wicked: Discover 15 maical facts about the show To celebrate 15 years of Wicked musical magic on Broadway, find out 15 things you didn’t know about this enchanting show.
Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill Heads to Broadway Now Ms. Morissette’s trailblazing 1995 album is taking on new life: as theater.
Sara Bareilles Returns to Broadway’s Waitress Opposite Tony Winner Gavin Creel Grammy and Tony-nominated singersongwritter Sara Bareilles returns to the role of Jenna in her hit Broadway musical Waitress. Starring opposite to Tony winner Gavin Creel as Dr. Pomatter
D E PA R T M E N T S
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Contributors
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Editor’s Letter
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Letters to the Editor
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Inside the Mind
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Production
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Upcoming
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Backstage
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Closing shot
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CONTENTS
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Aaron Tveit: Interview with Broadway’s Wonder Boy
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FEATURED CONTRIBUTORS
LAUREN BLUNT
head of content
PHILIP YANG
Lauren Blunt is the head of content and operations at Thearon. Based in Boston , she helps the editor in chief oversee day-to-day operations across the magazine’s platforms (print and web) and works with the senior leadership team to develop and implement strategies helps Theatron grow and evolve.
photoeditor
Research Editor Jada Worland is a research editor at Theatron Magazine and frequently writes for the magazine and Theatron.com. She has attended Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and English literature.
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JADA SMITH
Brett Stevenson is the senior photo editor, platforms (print and web) at Theatron. Previously, he was a photo and video curator at Instagram, and he was the senior creative producer and photo editor at Airbnb. Brett studied film and video at the University of California at Santa Cruz and currently resides in Boston, with his wife and their dog...
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EDITOR’S LETTER
Theatron Magazine Established 2018 Volume I - No. 2
publisher MassArt Publications
senior editor
T
There are things I have noticed that happen when you live through an era of rapid change, as the one we find ourselves in now. Firstly, there is an inevitable surge of artistic creativity and second the misfits, the contrarians, the underdogs and the anti-heroes come into their own. We witness the rise of the rebel: those who don’t play by the normal rules, who flourish in chaotic, unpredictable times and welcome uncertainty without fear. This issue of Theatron is dedicated to those people, the curious revolutionaries who think differently and want to be more influenced by creativity. We’ve made a bolder, braver magazine to be a distinguished, visual and intellectual, resource for all the aspects involved in the live performing arts, with the intent of not only display and but also raise admiration and understanding of the art form of theater. Therefore, stagecraft is a fundamental component of content, as the term itself refers to just about anything that happens backstage before, during, and after a theatrical production. Additionally, the magazine seeks to inform the reader about the impact of both general and specific international theatrical productions on culture and community, and this issue is one of the highlights of my career as Editor-in-Chief. From our interview with Broadway’s Wonder Boy Aaron Tveit (p36) to Setting Anastasia on Broadway (p16), we have shone the spotlight on inspiring people and topics related to American musicals which I hope will provoke stimulating thoughts...
Victoria Modesto
creative director Tony Leone Lisa Rosowsky
managing director Maria Martin
editors Julia Alves Hailey Efron Justin O’Donell Damon Altomare
designers Victoria Modesto Vanessa Cardoza Carlos Ferreira Anthony Lopes
contributiing writers Anna Smith Kevin Frish Farrah Fogg
contributors Anna Smith, Hailey Dier, Farrah Fogg, Fredd Jones, Jesse Brown, Jaskie Williams, Jack Miller, Tayor Robinson, Chirsty Clark and Justin Hill
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VICTORIA MODESTO, Editor in Chief
P.O Box 4269346 Austin, TX 42974 564. 865.9054 theatronmag.com
editorial office 621 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115 617. 879.7000 theatronmag.com
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
I M PA C T Broadway musicals are often thought of as lightweight entertainment. In fact, from South Pacific to The Book of Mormon and even Spring Awekening, many of the greatest shows incorporate serious themes and challenge audience members’ assumptions. I know many people who despise these musicals and shows. My suggestion yo them is to take the first step by making a movie musical night. Nowadays, with online streaming, there are many options to choose from. From the classics like The Sound of Music to the newest ones as The Greatest Showman. Of course, it is different process to make a movie, but watching it can be the front door to Broadway! Therefore, I My daughter and I were visiting NYC. We saw Hamilton but am so very excited about this issue of Theatron. wanted to go to one more show. Having grown up watching This has become my go to because it shows how the animated movie, my daughter had her heart set on Anastamuch creativity, effort and talent it takes to bring sia. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I am so glad we saw it. And with the them to life. Not only that, but also how much it original Anya, Dmitry, Vlad, Dowager —the entire original cast inspires people with the stories, visuals and of was encredible. Vlad was a scene stealer, Anya had an incredible course music. — Karina Nunes, NY voice and more than enough charm needed for the lead role, and I swear the Dowager was straight out of the movie. All of it was everything I would expect from a Broadway show. I am so happy that this was my daughte’s first musical theater experience. Our favorite songs from the movie were in there, and now we have new favorites from the play. We had to come home and buy the soundtrack. I am glad that you featured this amazing production in this issue. It is inspiring to know how everything came to life and how incredible it was the translation from the animated movie to the stage production was. Even though they have changed some aspects into the adaptation, both platforms have As a theater fan, of course uniquines’ to them. Making the experience of each one different I had buy this issue. Therebut similar enough to live up to the wonderful story it is base on. fore, after reading this is— Jackie Smith, NY sue of Theatron Magazine I started to ask myself the question why has theater become such an important art-form? In my imagination, the reason why can be traced back to the time when we lived in caves. I’m pretty convinced that two people, three people or one person sat on one side of a fire, providing the lighting- while a lot of other people sat on the other side of the cave or dwelling… and from time immemorial stories were told by one or several people, to a larger group of people. These stories may have been history, myths or legend…. they may even have been about religion or about grappling with the seasons. Stories have always been told by live human beings to other live human beings, that’s what makes it such an important and enduring form of art in my view. And I dicovered new important aspects each and every time I read another issue of Theatron.
FA M I LY
D I S C OV E RY
TIME
— Heather Vilella, LA
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By Tess Gunty
Aaron Tveit
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a new side of himself onstage and off Even if you don’t know that you know Aaron Tveit, you know Aaron Tveit. The 35-year-old singer and actor first became famous within the Broadway community after his performance as Gabe in Next to Normal, and since then his career has looked something like a theatre kid fantasy: RENT at the Hollywood Bowl, originating the role of Frank Abagnale, Jr. in the Catch Me If You Can musical, Grease Live!, the Les Miserables film,and now starring on the pre-Broadway run of Baz Luhurman” Moulin Rouge! Aaron Tveit is the man everyone wants to be — or to have. His fervent fans, a sweet but somewhat frightening breed, refer to themselves as “Tveitertots,” and listicles chronicling reasons to love him abound. There are even gifs about his hair. But perhaps the most striking thing about Tveit’s appeal is his own indifference to the attention. Upon arriving at the lakefront cottage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where the actor stayed while starring in “Company” at Barrington Stage, an exuberant labradoodle rushes to greet us. “This is Miles,” Tveit grins, and his easy appeal radiateMost of Tveit’s sentences begin with
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Photo by Nathan Johnson Fashion Direction by Carl Barney Styling by James Jean
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Aaron Tveit as Danny Zucco along side costar Julianne Hough as Sandy for NBC’s Grease Live!
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As a new musical is
some iteration of: I’m very lucky. It’s his refrain. “I’m in this tiny percentage of people
with a laugh, “which is the best thing I could ask for.” As Tveit discusses, he started out as a classically trained singer before booking a national tour of Rent and switching gears vocally. The musicals he’s starred in since have mostly placed him in the room with living composers. “I absolutely love Rodgers & Hammerstein, these shows in the canon of musical theater,” he says. “The nice thing about working with composers who are fortunately, around is that you get to have your own influence. As a new musical is being shaped, the songs are being written
that jumps out of bed in the morning to go to work because I absolutely love what I get to do for a living,” he says. “I always remind myself of that — especially in this crazy f—ing world that we’re living in right now.” People who court Tveit’s degree of success usually declare that they’re special, but Tveit repeatedly insists that he’s just like everyone else. Anointed with titles like “Broadway Wonder Boy” and “Broadway’s Favorite Boyfriend,” the actor patiently dismantles myths of perfection, instead emphasizing his gratitude. “I’m just a regular guy,” he says. He loves fantasy novels, had a crush on Alicia Silverstone as a preteen, and listens to 90s rap when he needs to cheer himself up. Tveit’s friends from home keep him grounded — they travel far to see him perform and support him at every turn. “But they’re also the first to say: ‘Hmmm, we don’t know if you’ll make it,’” Tveit says
and changed to fit your voice.” That voice, Tveit reveals, is one that early teachers who “knew very much that I had a pop sensibility” encouraged in its unique sound. Tveit goes on to tell the story of how his concert sets evolved, including performing a successful rock set at Darren Criss’ Elsie Fest. On his now-famous cover of Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Getting Back Together,” he reveals, “I felt like my set needed a moment like that, something fun. We tried it and it ended up kind of being the biggest success of the evening. Going forward in the rest of the concerts I’ve done, I try to find moments like that during my shows. I try not to take myself too seriously.” It’s natural to imagine Tveit starring in a series of wholesome vignettes. He loves his parents and visits them often, and recently built a fence around their property for Miles. He’s allergic to dairy, a believer in ghosts,
being shaped, the songs are written to fit your voice.
Aaron Tveit as Frank William Abagnale Jr. and the ladies of Catch Me If You Can
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attention, a reluctant receptacle for desire. He is the observed observer, reflecting the psychologies of those around him while remaining somewhat indecipherable, a blank-canvas quality that separates good actors from great ones. Like Bobby, Tveit is a host of quiet contradictions: He is present but elusive, open but guarded, social but withholding, expressive but hard to read. In the past, actors have played Bobby as a brooding, bitter character, but Tveit chose a different interpretation. “My version of Bobby is an optimist,” he says. “He’s actually the only true romantic in the show.” Tveit references several lines and scenes that support his thesis statement. “He can’t fath-
Karen Olivo and Aaron Tveit promotional campaign for Broadway’s adaptation of Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! pre-run in Boston, MA 2018 Tveit performing at Barrington Stage‘s: Company
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a bit of a nerd. He is a student of the world, equipped with a kind of caffeinated curiosity that never crashes. “I had a teacher once say that curiosity is the best quality you could have as an actor, and that really resonated,” he says. In Stephen Sondheim’s “Company,” Tveit starred as Bobby — the last bachelor in a pathologically matrimonial group of friends — and he is quick to acknowledge his likeness to the character. Approaching his 34th birthday, Tveit remains a bachelor while most of his friends are married with kids. “My buddy came to see the show — I was the best man in his wedding recently — and he said, ‘Oh. So it’s just your life.’” But there are deeper similarities between Tveit and Bobby too. Despite his career choice, Tveit is an unwilling recipient of offstage
om why anyone would get married without love.” While the other couples encourage Bobby to settle, Bobby holds out for something more. “I relate to him in that way. I’m an optimistic, happy person — and I’m a romantic. I believe that when you know, you know.” When pressed on what he means by the word “romantic,” he elaborates with ease, traveling a well-worn neuronal path through the topic. “Deep down, I believe we’re all going to meet these great loves of our lives,” he says. “The verdict’s out whether it’s one person or many people — but we have the chance to open ourselves up, and I relish that opportunity.” Tveit upholds an ideal of marriage, which he believes Bobby shares. “If and when I get married,” says Tveit, “I want it to be once.” His parents have been together for nearly forty years, and Tveit describes their relationship with aspirational reverence. He summarizes the flimsy reasons that Bobby’s friends present him to buckle into lifelong commitment — “Because you have to, because it’s time, because you need to settle down, because that’s what real life is” — but neither Bobby nor Tveit cares for this sterile social contract. They care about love. Love in the particular. Love with claws and freckles and a fear of crosswalks. Love in dorky pajamas. Love with allergies. “I hope to be married one day and I hope that I’m going to meet someone that makes me feel…that way,” he says. It’s hard to tell whether Tveit is an introvert or an extrovert, so it’s no surprise that he
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identifies as a “weird combination of both.” Around friends, he’s silly, unfiltered — but around strangers, he’s cautious. “Someone once told me that I had Norwegian reserve,” he says. “When I meet people for the first time, I sit back a little. If I’m psychoanalyzing myself, I guess I’d say I like to understand people before I interact with them. I don’t know if it’s a guarding mechanism — I’ve always been that way.” His guarded nature might explain why he’s so hesitant to share on social media. Self-promotion has never been easier, and public figures have never been more pressured to capitalize on it, but Tveit finds most digital approaches pernicious. He did finally concede to Instagram, Twitter but he mostly uses these platforms to promote projects. (Miles hasn’t made it onto Instagram. Nowadays, most young performers work to groom their brand, to generate an impression of intimacy between themselves and their followers. Tveit isn’t one to sneer, but
he finds the platform-as-diary approach silly at best. “At the end of the day, I just don’t see why anyone would be interested in what I do outside my work. I see posts like that and I just think, who cares?”
I’m an optimistic, happy person and I’m a romantic. I believe that when you know,you know.
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Flower print shirt, button-down shirt and trousers by Burberry, tie by Prada, shoes by Tom Ford
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Aaron Tveit as Danny Zucco and cast of NBC’s Grease Live! performing Grease Lightning
I have a really hard time resting. I don’t vacation well because I don’t, like, sit down very well. Those are tough qualities sometimes in my personal life, but as an actor I think they serve me really well.
What you’ll find on his social media is Tveit the actor. What you won’t find on his social media (or anywhere else online) is Tveit the person, and perhaps that’s why he still possesses a kind of purity. Mostly, Aaron Tveit’s social media proves that he is a man who works — hard and often. “I’m a person who’s never, ever satisfied,” he says, “and I have a really hard time resting. I don’t know how to vacation well because I don’t, like, sit down very well. Those are tough qualities sometimes in my personal life, but as an actor I think they serve me really well.” Tveit says the performers and creative professionals he’s worked with over the years have provided “shining examples.” “You look at these people who have this insane level of success, and then you meet them and they’re the nicest people in the world,” he says. “Hugh Jackman is someone I really, really look up to in that way. I mean, when we did ‘Les Mis,’ he had the hardest job of anyone there, and he was the nicest person in the room. He knew everyone’s name, was never late — led by such an ultimate example.
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BY STACY CONRADT
To celebrate 15 years of Wicked musical magic on Broadway, here are 15 things you didn’t know about this enchanting show.
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Jessica Vosk as Elphaba
magical facts about
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1 Jessica Vosk as Elphaba
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there’s surprising connection between elphaba and jordan catalano Winnie Holzman, the writer who wrote the musical’s book, also created one of the most beloved TV shows of our era: My So-Called Life. She also participated in the writing for Thirtysomething and Once and Again.
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there was an elphaba before indina menzel Though it’s hard to imagine anyone but Idina Menzel making the role famous, she wasn’t the first person to step into Elphaba’s pointed shoes. Stephanie Block read the part while the show was being developed, but was eventually replaced by Menzel, who already had a Tony nomination under her belt. Block would have her day, though: She originated the role in the first national tour in 2005. At her second audition for the role of Elphaba, Idina Menzel’s voice cracked badly on the ending high note in the big number Defying Gravity and she cursed. She went home in tears, convinced she had lost the part, but director Joe Mantello and Stephen Schwartz found the mistake endearing. She eventually was cast and went on to win the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the role.
the wicked witch was not named elphaba in the l. frank baum’s oz’s book
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The Wicked Witch is not named in the original L. Frank Baum novel. Gregory Maguire invented the name for her using Baum’s initial — L.F.B. — Elphaba.
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the idea came to stephen schwartz on vacation. Stephen Schwartz, known for writing the musicals Pippin and Godspell, was on vacation in Hawaii in 1996 when a friend mentioned an interesting book she was reading about the origins of the Wicked Witch of the West. Intrigued, Schwartz got the book—Gregory Maguire’s Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West—and was immediately hooked. As soon as he got home from vacation, Schwartz called his lawyer and started working on obtaining the rights.
5 how to defy gravity The high point of the show, both figuratively and literally, arrives at the end of the first act with the climactic Defying Gravity number. Elphaba finally realizes her powers and ascend from the Wizard’s palace without the aid of wires. Technical production manager Jake Bell explained to us how the trick is done. Then, Elphaba runs across stage to a hidden deck and then takes off. And it’s operated by the actress herself. “When she steps into the device, it locks, she standing on a steel plate, and the whole thing lifts her off the ground and it looks like her skirt is extending forever and she’s flying,” says Bell. “She’s completely safe, the device is locked around her waist and there’s no way for her to get out unless she presses the release button. There are all kinds of safety mechanisms in the unit to make sure it does not fail.” Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda
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Jye Frasca as Boq ! with Kristen Martin as Nessarose.
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the show wha a hit from the get go... Usually, it takes even the most successful productions two to three years to recoup the original investment. Wicked made back the $14 million that had been put into it in just 14 months.
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... but critics weren’t initially on board “The yellow road has a few bricks missing,” wrote Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle. According to San Jose Mercury
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News reviewer Karen D’Souza, “Dorothy isn’t the only one who thinks there’s no place like home. About an hour into Wicked, this reviewer started to yearn for a pair of ruby slippers. Style over substance is the real theme in this Emerald City.” After these reviews, Holzman and Schwartz spent three months reworking the show before its Broadway debut.
listen closely for a tiny little tribute to over the rainbow The first few notes of the song Unlimited/I’m Limited theme pay homage to the show’s roots. But it’s only the first seven notes due to copyright law: “When you get to the eighth note, the people can come and say, ‘Oh you stole our tune,’” Schwartz has said. “And of course it’s obviously also disguised in that it’s completely different rhythmically. And it’s also harmonized completely differently … It’s over a different chord and so on, but still it’s the first seven notes of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Kevin Chamberlin as The Wizard
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Kristen Martin as Nessarose.
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a powerful show that requires, literally, a lot of power It takes a lot to put the show on every night. Literally. The electronics department uses enough power to supply approximately 12 homes, while the carpentry department has about 175,000 pounds of scenery to wrangle, which is automated by five miles of cable. In addition, about 250 pounds of dry ice has to be deployed to create the drama onstage.
Isabel Keating as Madame Morrible.
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find the costumes on display The show had and still has so much prominence that Elphaba’s costume and broom are now on display in the American Stories exhibit at Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. The items were presented to the museum’s popular history collection by the show’s costume designer Susan Hilferty, who won the Tony for her creations.
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Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Ryan McCartan as Fiyero.
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the secret to elphaba’s emerald skin: mac makeup The trick to getting Elphaba’s skin so brilliantly verdant is a product you can buy at any MAC makeup store: Chromacake, a solid watercolor cake activated with water. We’re assuming the Wicked folks are able to get the stuff in quantities larger than the 3.3 oz. size sold on the website.
nasa has used “defying gravity” as an austronaut’s wake-up call NASA often provides wake-up calls for astronauts in space. Sometimes it’s based on astronaut requests, and other times the song is space-themed or related to the activities planned for the day. On April 8, 2010, Defying Gravity was played to wake up Mission Specialist Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger.
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maguire’s novel is somewhat darker than holtzman’s book for the musical
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Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda
Winnie Holtzman’s book for the musical is more family-friendly than Maguire’s somewhat darker novel. In the novel, two supporting characters, Madame Morrible and Doctor Dillamond, are killed, but in the show, they arrested and fired respectively. In Maguire’s version, Elphaba’s sister Nessarose is born with no arms, but is able to walk; in the musical, she has all her limbs, but is wheelchair-bound
there’s a movie in the works... In 2014, Schwartz told Vulture last year that “We’re starting to do some work on it. I don’t know exactly how many years away it is. [We can] really look at it again and say, ‘Oh, we can do this, and we’ve always wanted to do that and we couldn’t onstage, but we can in a movie.’ We’re actually having a blast.” It took a few years, but the film is finally slated to hit theaters in December 2021. The film adaptation will be directed by Stephen Daldry, who previously helmed Billy Elliot.
15 ... but don’t expect menzel and chenoweth to reprise their roles “I would die to be in [the film], except … they told us we’re a little over the age for that,” Menzel told Andy Cohen last year.
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Jessica Vosk as Elphaba and Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda.
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Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Diane Paulus, Alanis Morissette, Diablo Cody and Tom Kitt.
The stage version of “Jagged Little Pill” sets a story steeped in hot-button issues like opiate addiction and gender identity to the singer’s raw 1995 album.
Everyone seems to have a story about hearing Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” for the first time. The writer Diablo Cody was listening to the radio when a D.J. said, “This is going to be huge.” The composer Tom Kitt was in college, feeling like the whole world had stopped. I was a kid who got grounded for accidentally saying the F-word while singing along to “You Oughta Know.” The album’s parade of fearlessly raw hits was as integral to ’90s pop culture as AOL promo disks and Doc Martens. Its success vindicated Ms. Morissette, who was previously rejected by radio stations saying they didn’t need another woman after Sinead O’Connor and Tori Amos. “For those in the patriarchy who thought women were not bankable,” she recalled in a recent interview, “that went out the window.”
BY: JOSHUA BARONE PHOTO: MATTHEW MURPHY
broadway
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Celia Gooding as Frankie Healy
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Now Ms. Morissette’s trailblazing 1995 album is taking on new life: as theater. And don’t expect a fun, nostalgic jukebox musical about the ’90s. “Jagged Little Pill,” which opened at the American Repertory Theater here on May 24, 2018 is very much of the present and may just be the most woke musical since “Hair.” The show tackles hot-button issues like opiate addiction, gender identity and sexual assault, as well as more quietly urgent ones like transracial adoption, marital bed death and image-consciousness. It also contains imagery from the Women’s March and the #NeverAgain gun-control movement. Picture a pageant of liberalism, with your favorite ’90s songs as the popular and beloved soundtrack. “Alanis’s songs were written 23 years ago,” said Mr. Kitt, the production’s music supervisor and composer of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical “Next to Normal.” “But they feel like they were written yesterday. These are all human issues that we’ve been dealing with for years.” To pull off what may risk coming off as heavy-handed, American Repertory has assembled a team of A-list collaborators in addition to Mr. Kitt and Ms. Morissette:
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Celia Gooding as Frankie Healy and Antonio Cipriano as Phoenix
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the Tony Award-winning Diane Paulus, the company’s artistic director; the renowned choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui; and Ms. Cody, the screenwriter of “Juno” fame,” who wrote the book. (The unsung hero, they all said, is Lily, a French bulldog puppy that has become the production’s de facto therapy dog.) “When you’re dealing with an album that has such meaning for people, you have to respect that,” Ms. Paulus said. “We know people are definetely going to expect some sonic universe and emotion. But if we do our job right, people are going to think: I’ve never heard these songs like this.” The songs, which also include Morissette tracks outside “Jagged Little Pill,” are convincingly theatrical in the context of the musical, which
may be a surprise considering the material actually comes from two outsiders; Ms. Cody didn’t even take an academic stab at dramatic writing while growing up, she said. “I don’t think I ever had the confidence in my younger years to say I could tell a story on the stage,” she said. “I was never an assured creator. I didn’t think I had anything to contribute.” But Ms. Cody’s book for “Jagged Little Pill” — which strips away the picture-perfect veneer of a Connecticut family over the course of a year — is unapologetically on brand: by turns bitingly satirical, touching and frank. In fact, it may even be a more honest reflection of her writerly mind than we typically get onscreen. “I come from a world of parent companies and advertisers and suits and caution,” she said.
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Derek Klena as Nick Healy and The Chorus of American Repertory Theater’s Jagged Little Pill.
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The vibe behind the scenes of the musical is, like its material, inclusive and socially aware.
“If I want to express a belief of my own, I’m asked to temper it so that we don’t alienate anyone. This is the exact opposite.” If there is anything keeping Ms. Cody’s book in check, it’s the music itself. But part of her task has been to twist the poetic ambiguity of Ms. Morissette’s lyrics in the service of an original story. That means framing “Mary Jane” as a husband’s whisper over his wife’s hospital bed, or “One Hand in My Pocket” as musical theater’s prototypical “I want” song. But in some instances the production leaves Ms. Morissette’s cherished music alone: The staging for “You Oughta Know,” sung by the scene-stealing Lauren Patten, is so spare it could just as easily be an intimate concert. “Ironic” is sung in the context of a high school writing workshop and the scene makes a joke from the elephant in the room. Which are the decades of pedants nit-picking the song’s misuse of the word “ironic.” “I’m probably laughing the hardest in the midst of the audience,” Ms. Morissette said, adding that when she worked on the song with the songwriter and producer Glen Ballard, “we didn’t give a about the malapropism.”
Elizabeth Stanley as Mary Jane Healy and The Chorus in American Repertory Theater’s Jagged Little Pill.
transcends race. And Elizabeth Stanley, who plays her mother, chose to research transracial adoption. “Everyone shared really vulnerable personal stories,” Ms. Stanley said. “It forced us as a company to be gentle with each other.” Members of the cast and crew have also been one another’s shoulder to lean on amid what Ms. Paulus called “the last two years of major trauma in America,” which shaped “Jagged Little Pill” throughout development. Some material has even gone straight from headlines to the stage, like a sobering moment in “All I
Reflecting on jagged little pill
She also didn’t think many people would even hear it. But once “Ironic” became a hit, there were entire website forums dedicated to shaming the song and — in true internet fashion — thinking of ways to murder Ms. Morissette. “I naïvely thought fame would be me kumbaya-ing with Johnny Depp lying on my lap at a campfire and Sharon Stone offering me a drink,” she said. “It was the complete opposite, totally isolating. I just stopped reading any comments.” The vibe behind the scenes of the musical is, like its material, inclusive and socially aware. Early in the rehearsal process Ms. Paulus asked everyone in the cast to give a presentation on a topic from the show. Celia Gooding (the daughter of the current Tony nominee LaChanze) — who plays the queer, protest sign-toting daughter Frankie — spoke about colorism, a form of discrimination based on skin color that
31 I’ll never forget the moment I first heard Alanis Morissette’s music. And I would venture to say that, in that moment, I felt a sensation shared by many: the feeling that a force had been unleashed on the world, bringing with it an emotional authenticity and power that was undeniable. Alanis’ gifts—the fearlessness in her writing and her ability to speak so honestly about important human issues, all set to music that is both propulsive and achingly beautiful—have changed the face of music and the lives of the people who experience it. Alanis’ writing has had a profound effect on my own work in that she challenges me to dig deeper and to never be afraid to bare my sound. And now, to call her a collaborator and a friend is an honor indeed. - Todd Almond music & lyrics, Kansas City Choir Boy
I remember hearing the lyrics “would she go down on you in a theater,” along with that huge, mainstream, bombastic pop production, and thinking: “Okay, Amanda, the rules of mainstream songwriting now include permission to sing about blowjobs. Clearly, the rules are not what I thought. Progress = check!” - Amanda Palmer Cabaret, The Onion Celar
Alanis Morissette has always been one of the female artists I have looked up to and learned from. Jagged Little Pill was one of the records I listened to the most growing up, and it remains one of my favorites. I am awe-struck at how she handled dark emotions with such grace and power, and gave them a voice with no apology or shame. I found her to be an incredible force that was fearless in her authenticity at a time when that was not the “norm.” She’s a true badass. - Sara Bareilles music & lyrics, Waitress
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Really Want” when the song suddenly stops — leaving the audience with the tableau of Frankie holding up a #NeverAgain against a backdrop of images from the Parkland student protests. Ms. Paulus’s inspiration for moments like this is “Hair,” which she directed for Shakespeare in the Park, and later Broadway, nearly a decade ago. “They were reflecting in real time what was happening in the world,” she said of that show’s original production, in 1967. “Guys were getting their draft cards delivered to the stage door; it was that real.” With that in mind, the version of “Jagged Little Pill” I saw could change tomorrow. It
something I’ve always related to.” “I love that the album has served as such an incredible platform from which to jump off of, and to add to. This collaborative experience is my dream come true. I just think the team is crackling and incredible. The story that Diablo Cody is writing in her inimitable style— direct, poignant, layered, intelligent, hilarious; Diane Paulus’ genius lens, sense, vision and perspective; and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s soulful, wild, spatially masterful choreography: it’s truly a case of one plus five equaling 5,000. I like the community aspect of it; I like the interdependent aspect of how we are all working together. I have a sense of belonging, and
could even be a totally different show if it were staged on Broadway, as many of her American Repertory productions are. “I feel like theater is all about the present,” Ms. Paulus said. “When and if we get another shot at this in the future, I’m sure things will change one way or another.” But, she was quick to emphasize, any quick revisions based on current events would have to take their lead from Ms. Morissette’s music and lyrics — which, she added, provide a hopeful and maybe even joyful outlook in the age of bleak push notifications. “The pain and anger of my songs are all on this spectrum,” Ms. Morissette said. “The darker the song is, the more that hope is just this pilot light that was there the whole time.” When asked about her music inspiration Ms. Morissette said: “I think that storytelling itself drives the melody and drives the harmonics. Then, my temperamental highsensitivity makes it such that when I write, it’s a physical, visceral, urgent experience, and it all happens very quickly. I find writing music to be a way to be responsible for the current of energy and emotions that course through me moment to moment. Writing is the ultimate filter and processor. In terms of musicality, I’ve been influenced by such a wide cross-section of genres, mainly having been exposed to them through my parents playing music in the seventies. Everything from Carole King, Joni Mitchell to Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston—storytellers and activists who use music and writing as a means to an end, with the end being service. That’s
I have to be transparent about the fact that that is not an ongoing thing for me. These are my people.” says about whats she’s most excited in terms of her 1995 ablum taking new life on stage on Broadway.
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I find writing music to be a way to be responsible for the emotions that course through me moment to moment.
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Alanis Morrisette perfoming All I Really Want on U.S. tour of Jagged Little Pill
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CLOSING SHOT
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Matilda
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Les Miserables
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Dear Evan Hansen
The Great Comet
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Sara Mearns
Moulin Rouge!
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Anastasia
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Aladdin
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Bandstand Carousel
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jonathan stafford & wendy whelan
derek hough taking the lead
hiplet : the fusion of hip-hop and ballet
The duo on leading the New York City Ballet.
dancing his way up to the stars and success.
How this powerful fusion is redefining the dance world.
the dance issue
fall 2019 | n0 03
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