Jagged Little Pill preview thread

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 10:24am

Jagged Little Pill starts previews tonight. Anyone going?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 10:34am

I will be there Tuesday night, and I will share my thoughts.

[n2nbaby]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 11:27am

Going next Wednesday! This may be my most anticipated musical of the season. Very excited!

[Hamilfan2]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 12:18pm

PSA: They are doing a rush policy, $40 for the typical side orchestra partial view

[VanillaIceCream2]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 2:06pm

Thanks for the info, Hamilfan! Did you hear that from the box office? I’ve been looking out for a post on social media about rush but haven’t seen anything yet. I assume it starts immediately?

[Tking0012]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 6:08pm

Do we know how many they have?

[steven22]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 6:24pm

Going tonight. I can't wait!

[Hamilfan2]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 6:43pm

VanillaIceCream2 said: "Thanks for the info, Hamilfan! Did you hear that from the box office? I’ve been looking out for a post on social media about rush but haven’t seen anything yet. I assume it starts immediately? "

Yep I heard from the box office.  I went to the box office this afternoon on a whim and was surprised to hear them say they had some rush tickets.  I was able to snag a rush ticket for first preview tonight.  Not sure how many they have total, but without an official announcement I’m gonna assume they are pretty easy to get since not many people know about them yet.

[mailhandler777]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 6:51pm

I'll be there tonight.

[cjmclaughlin10]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 7:01pm

Merch reports will be appreciated

Updated On: 11/3/19 at 07:01 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 7:04pm

Seeing it next week. Hope they are selling that Jagged Little Broadway tee shirt. It needs to be in my closet!

[steven22]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 7:57pm

T shirts (a few variations), sweatshirt, beanie hat, and window card is what I noticed

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 8:37pm

uncageg said: "Seeing it next week. Hope they are selling that Jagged Little Broadway tee shirt. It needs to be in my closet!"

FYI - I believe this shirt was a pre-Broadway special. It’s listed on their website as “Last Call” and is on sale for $25 (orig. $35) so you might want to grab one from there if it’s a must have! Not sure if it’s going to be available at the show. 

[uncageg]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 10:08pm

GreasedLightning said: "uncageg said: "Seeing it next week. Hope they are selling that Jagged Little Broadway tee shirt. It needs to be in my closet!"

FYI - I believe this shirt was a pre-Broadway special. It’s listed on their website as “Last Call” and is on sale for $25 (orig. $35) so you might want to grab one from there if it’s a must have! Not sure if it’s going to be available at the show."

Yes, I saw it on their website but their delivery fees are outrageous. And the order takes a week just to process and then shipping time. As much as I want it, I am not paying 11 bucks for shipping. I will settle for the magnet if it doesn't show up at their merch stand.

 

[steven22]

Posted: 11/3/19 at 11:23pm

Just got out of the show. I'm terrible at comparisons to previous versions. But this show is excellent. Elizabeth Stanley is excellent and hope she gets tons of praise.

[confyde]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 12:31am

Would love to hear about some of the changes that have been made.

Looking at the tracklist for the cast recording on Apple Music, there seems to have been quite a bit of movement in the placement of some songs in Act 1. "Perfect" is now in Act 1 as well as a track called "Lancers Party (So Pure)". Interested to know how much of the song "So Pure" is performed. Is the brief use of "Your House" still in the show as well?

[Jmuep2]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:09am

To have a completely different POV, I thought the show was a mess. There were times it worked, but most of the evening was spent with me thinking “isn’t this gonna be over soon?” If you took out the musical numbers, I would think this was a television pilot. There’s so much going on and chunks of it doesn’t even get tied up and what does gets tied up so fast that I didn’t feel anything. There’s definitely no “less is more” mentality here. It’s just “more is more.” As a result, very few of the performances landed for me. And like musicals from based on a catalog, several of the songs felt liftable and just completely unnecessary beyond “we need a number here” or “somebody’s gonna wanna hear this song.”

Also, this and ALMOST FAMOUS have sexual assault musical numbers. Neither of which worked for me. My immediate reaction was to laugh at the absurdity and had to refrain.

It’s funny and has some great one-liners, which you’d expect from Diablo Cody. And the choreography was very different from what I feel like I’ve seen on a Broadway stage before. Some of the numbers really land and when it works, it really works. Those moments just felt fewer and further between.

The audience last night was primed and they loved it. I just don’t know how an average audience is going to respond. It’s really dark and preachy in a way I wasn’t expecting and felt numbing to me. I love dark stuff in general, but this didn’t work for me. The whole thing felt like a Woke After School Special set to Alanis music. 

Having said all this, it seems like the team is very happy with what they have, so I wouldn’t expect them to fix many of the problems other than small tweaks.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:34am

Sounds like they really didn’t use the full year they had to improve on any of the shows problems and just decided that since the kids like it, they might as well leave it as is and not bother to fix the insanely long list of issues the book has.

[haterobics]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:38am

Jordan Catalano said: "Sounds like they really didn’t use the full year they had to improve on any of the shows problems and just decided that since the kids like it, they might as well leave it as is and not bother to fix the insanely long list of issues the book has."

Or, as it's known around here, "the usual."

[ACL2006]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:39am

Until I get a review from Whizzer, I'll wait to make any judgements on buying a ticket.

[Falsettolands]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:53am

I attended last nights preview on a whim. Stopped by the theatre around 4 to see if they had any rush and miraculously there was an opening in the orchestra, second row on one of the sides. It's a decent view if they end up utilizing them as their normal rush seats. I should preface with the fact that I don't have any strong affinity for Morissette's music. I was fairly familiar with more of the popular songs from the album, and I don't have any ill thoughts about her work as an artist or musician; above all else, the music in this show is never the problem in its honesty and integrity. I can't dispute its greatness and I dare anyone else to try to, there are more than enough accolades that would push you in the minority. I did not know about the subject matter going in. I didn't even know that Paulus directed, for some reason I thought it was Michael Greif. Which makes sense, considering...

If you managed to catch the original production, or even a serviceable regional one, Next To Normal remains seared in your mind the entire time watching JLP. Because when it isn't trying to tackle 4 or 5 hot button, complicated issues at one time that shy away ever so slyly from N2N's laundry basket of topics, it still manages to lightly tap all of the themes from N2N too. That isn't to say JLP handles any of them in an embarrassing manner, but on the other end it really doesn't try to say anything we haven't heard before in a more polished, coherent package. But it's more than an eerie similarity; from the get-go all the way to the very end when the cast joins hand in hand for "Light" (whoops, I mean "You Learn" we feel like we've watched the Goodman's in an alternate universe where Gabe never died and Natalie was actually adopted.

At its lowest points, Next To Normal suffers from a lack of specificity to character, and some of the lyrics are very simple- and not in a profound way. We don't have the same problem exactly in JLP, but it doesn't help that if you're not entirely familiar with the album, trying to understand what anyone is saying during some of the louder ensemble songs is a challenge. JLP is at its best when the songs transcend the story around them and our full focus and love is on the music- "Head Over Feet" being a great example. In that moment, it didn't matter that I felt the characters were thinly outlined and circumstances unremarkable- the song takes over and I'm in love.

Elizabeth Stanley is finally given the opportunity she's deserved for quite some time. She's making so much out of so little, and even when she's saddled with some of the quieter and less interesting songs, she shines. There is a moment (won't spoil) in Act 2 where she's asked a question about something from her past that she cannot answer to, and the sinking look on her face is still haunting me today. It's a damn good performance and I hope she gets the 4th or 5th slot for Best Actress. It's 100% deserved.

Lauren Patten was the other standout of the evening, and rightfully so. She demolishes everything in her path with her rendition of "You Oughta Know," and even received a standing ovation from the audience. I wished so much that her character didn't feel like an afterthought; this show could benefit from more of her.

All of this being said, the audience filled with fans, producers, creative team, and family really ate it up. For the casual theatregoer with fondness for the album, it's what it needs to be. For anyone else, who knows? I would love for it to be successful. I would also love for it to be good.

Updated On: 11/4/19 at 10:53 AM

[YvanEhtNioj]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 10:56am

My friend saw it last night and though he said he loved it, he mentioned some of the same things as Jmuep2.

To quote him, "It was really fun and I loved it, but it feels like an episode of Degrassi. Too many plots" 

[barcelona20]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 11:02am

If these reports are true, it's totally inconceivable and baffling that they did not make any improvements to the scattered book.

[Hamilfan2]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 11:23am

I’m going to echo was said above. I will say Act 2 is a marked improvement over Act 1. Act 1 was messy, there are so many characters and plots and none of them really relate to each other. The vocals were incredible, but I didn't find that the songs really moved the plot forward (as is the issue with most jukebox shows). The 1 finale gave me chills though. However, Act 2 I thought was MILES better, it felt tighter and the songs worked much better in terms of moving the plot forward. For the most part Act 2 really worked for me, aside from the admittedly rushed ending.

I just think ultimately it's just a fundamentally flawed show. In order to fit all of the songs in they had to add in all these characters and subplots that could tie in a given song. Like the character of Jo who literally only exists so she can sing You Oughta Know, and that is the best scene of the show so it's aaaaalmost worth it but still the dramaturg in me asks if that character is really necessary to the story they are trying to tell (she’s not).

There is also this one plot line with Kathryn Gallagher’s character that I won’t spoil but it seemed to come out of nowhere and felt super extraneous to the main plot (it doesn’t really involve anyone in the main family). It feels like there are 2 shows here: one about a family who is struggling to connect with one another and then this other plot line which would be a great show on its own but in this show just feels tacked on. But for me the two plot lines never connected in a meaningful way that really worked for me. That is my biggest criticism of the show.

Also Derek Klena was completely wasted in this show and did next to nothing, I was disappointed in that. His character could be removed from the show completely and nothing would really change. I think ultimately what this show needs is focus. There is no main character or A plot. It’s a bunch of C plots mashed together and as a result it can feel very meandering at times and a lot of the characters feel thinly written at best and like plot devices as worst. I didn’t hate the show, it definitely has its moments of greatness and I am glad I saw it. But it is a deeply flawed show and I really wish they had taken the time to tighten it up for Broadway.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/4/19 at 11:42am

What's the design like?