{"id":315646,"date":"2026-06-22T14:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/315646\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T14:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T14:38:08","slug":"jagged-little-pill-review-songs-from-the-90s-for-the-modern-storyline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/315646\/","title":{"rendered":"“Jagged Little Pill” Review:\u00a0Songs from the ’90s for the Modern Storyline"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a millennial, Alanis Morrisette\u2019s third album Jagged Little Pill is one that transports you to a certain place and time that no longer exists\u2014the \u201990s\u00a0of moody rockers who did crazy things like be completely naked through an entire music\u00a0video\u00a0(remember \u201cThank U\u201d?)\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then came the musical in 2018, bringing Morrisette\u2019s blockbuster album of bangers to the stage\u00a0(and based on the book by Diablo Cody), bringing new meaning to these nearly 30-year-old songs.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it, the singer-songwriter does not shy away from\u00a0controversy, tough topics, and coarse language, so I was interested to\u00a0see how this would play out\u00a0in a world where musical theatre often steps into the realm of cheesy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jagged Little Pill, performed by Slow Burn Theatre Co.,\u00a0opens\u00a0with the cheery Healy family sitting on their living room couch during the holiday season, mom Mary Jane gleefully typing away about each of her family members\u2019 accomplishments. Her husband\u00a0Steve\u00a0has made partner at the firm, their son Nick\u00a0was accepted to Harvard University, and their adopted Black daughter Frankie is a budding poet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Except things\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0perfect. This is a musical based on a Morrisette album, after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Lauren Chanel as Frankie in \u201cJagged Little Pill\u201d by Slow Burn Theatre Co.<\/p>\n

Mary Jane\u00a0(Kimberly Doreen Burns)\u00a0is addicted to opioids after a car accident, Steve\u00a0(Ben Sandomir)\u00a0watches way too much porn since they haven\u2019t had sex in a year, Nick\u00a0(Isaac Kueber)\u00a0is one\u00a0fake smile away from combusting, and Frankie\u00a0(Lauren Chanel)\u00a0is in a relationship with a girl and struggles to fit in in their white Connecticut town.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0musical\u00a0moves through school, Starbucks, a Soul Cycle class, Steve\u2019s office and the Healy home with ease, with every song\u00a0melting seamlessly into the\u00a0storyline.\u00a0Little details\u00a0are pulled from the lyrics, including Frankie\u2019s classmates pointing out to her that her poem is actually\u00a0not\u00a0ironic, just crap circumstances.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0in her English class that she meets Phoenix\u00a0(Manny Tijerina), who she agrees to go to a party with. Her brother Nick is there too, and the\u00a0musical takes an even darker turn when their classmate, Bella,\u00a0(Emily Van Vliet Perea)\u00a0is raped.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nick sees it happen but does nothing. Frankie is horrified that Bella\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0want to report the crime. Mary Jane tries to get everyone to move on, lest Harvard finds out about this stain on their family. Steve is desperate to save his marriage, but he\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0know why his wife is so distant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Kimberly Doreen Burns as Mary Jane Healy in \u201cJagged Little Pill\u201d by Slow Burn Theatre Co.<\/p>\n

Some of the most powerful scenes\u00a0star\u00a0Burns. When she runs out of refills at the pharmacy, she finds a dealer to get her the good stuff, and in a high she sings\u00a0\u201cSmiling\u201d (from Morrisette\u2019s newer\u00a0Such Pretty Forks in the Road) as she experiences her day in reverse, a dancer serving as the ghost of addiction guiding her through the monotony of running errands.\u00a0\u201cI barely remember who I failed \/ I was just trying to keep it together.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

This \u201cghost\u201d returns throughout the musical, performed\u00a0masterfully\u00a0by\u00a0Madeline Dunn, a member of the ensemble as well as a choreographer for the show. Her rhythmic dance does battle with\u00a0a high\u00a0Mary Jane during\u00a0the haunting\u00a0\u201cUninvited,\u201d as well as\u00a0Bella recounting the night of her rape in \u201cPredator\u201d\u00a0and \u201cNo,\u201d\u00a0the latter written for the stage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Both are difficult to watch;\u00a0yes,\u00a0there are a lot of trigger warnings in this show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Emily Van Vliet Perea as Bella, recounting her assault in \u201cJagged Little Pill\u201d by Slow Burn Theatre<\/p>\n

Jagged Little Pill\u00a0swells with Frankie leading the charge to stand up for Bella, Nick deciding to come forward with what\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0seen, and Steve discovering Mary Jane on the floor, having overdosed on\u00a0pills laced with fentanyl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without giving everything away, the show ends with Mary Jane back on the couch, surrounded by her family once again for the following year\u2019s Christmas card.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a much more honest account of how everyone is doing. Steve reminds her\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0not at rock bottom anymore; more like middle bottom.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I think many of us can relate to that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jagged Little Pill\u00a0is playing now through June 28 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. For details, visit\u00a0browardcenter.org<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a millennial, Alanis Morrisette\u2019s third album Jagged Little Pill is one that transports you to a certain…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":315647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":["post-315646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=315646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/315646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/315647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=315646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=315646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=315646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}