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| re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler | |
| Posted by: BostonTheatre 08:39 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
| In reply to: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - SCH 06:16 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
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| I saw the same performance as you today, and agree with you that Lauren Patten's rendition of You Oughta Know was incredible. However, one song does not make a complete musical. There were several problems with this show, and I'm not sure it can be saved. First, Alanis' songs from Jagged Little Pill are light years better than her other songs included in the show. Every time I heard a non Jagged Little Pill song, I was bored out of my mind. Second, the show is just too unfocused and tries to cover every single issue facing America right now. I much prefer American Idiot, which essentially had no plot, yet conveyed a consistent message. Finally, why tie up this show with a nice bow at the end? It would have been far better if Paulus ended the show like Finding Neverland with the mom dying. It would have been far more effective. I hope they change it. | |
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| re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler | |
| Posted by: SCH 10:53 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler - BostonTheatre 08:39 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
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| I happen to have enjoyed American Idiot a great deal and saw it multiple times. There was much to admire in that show. I understand why you found Jagged Little Pill unfocused since it does take on a great many issues in our society, but I didn't see it that way. I thought that all of the issues were dealt with in ways that were very realistic and relevant today and each issue had a very important role to play in the arcs of the four major characters. What Jagged Little Pill had for me that American Idiot did not was that it made me feel, very, very deeply. I am still shocked at how emotionally overwhelmed I was by it. While I think there are tweaks that could be made to improve this show, I don't believe it needs saving or that it needs major retooling. From the sniffles I heard around me during the show, and the comments I heard from other audience members after the show, I know I'm not the only one who had this experience. I experienced it as a very complete and effective musical (especially the second act) that may not be for everyone. I really found it emotionally cathartic and totally thrilling as a piece of theater. I'm also realizing that there are elements of the choreography that I just can't get out of my head, either. | |
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| re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler | |
| Posted by: Singapore/Fling 09:13 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler - BostonTheatre 08:39 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
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| Based on the audience reaction the day I saw it, the show doesn't need to be saved. It doesn't work for you, but it clearly was working for a lot of people, and will almost certainly continue to do so. I hear your critique of how full the show is, and I went it afraid that it would be overstuffed, but I felt that Diablo Cody did a masterful job of having all of those big issues running through one well-drawn family and their community. I would say the show has a consistent thread, which is what does it take for us to understand each other's humanity and build community? That's why the ending is so powerful: we watch a family begin in a place of superficial perfection that masks a deep dishonesty with themselves and each other, and we see the difficult steps they must take to drop those masks and live as their honest selves, which is a form of healing. All of the plot threads stem from this basic conflict that they are living through, and it's one of the aspects of the book that show how brilliant Diablo Cody is. One of the things that I love about the show is that it winds up being a far more traditional and conservative story than the progressive aggression of the first 10 minutes would suggest. This is a show that ultimately affirms the family and affirms happy endings (but not easy endings), which is what the Great American Musicals tend to do. Why do you want the mother to die? How would that actually help the story that Cody, Paulus, and Morisette are telling? |
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| re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler | |
| Posted by: BostonTheatre 09:31 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Jagged Little Pill - Amazing!! - Dissenting Opinion with Spoiler - Singapore/Fling 09:13 pm EDT 06/03/18 | |
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| I generally agree with your opinions on the shows that you like, ie, Passing Strange, Hedwig, The Light in the Piazza (3 of my favorites), but I disagree with you on this one. You're right, I should have clarified that it probably doesn't need to be "saved" to make money. I mean, just look at the shows mentioned above, how many of them have been "successful"? Since when does populist approval equal artistic success? I hadn't read reviews prior to going in and it's not surprising that the NY Times agrees with me. It felt like Paulus was trying to remake her version of Hair, but how about a little subtlety in addressing rape and the #metoo movement? Everything about it was shoved in our faces. I found the ending predictable, not powerful at all. At least N2N had sort of the right idea with Diana walking out on at the end. The mother dying would show that people actually die from opioid use, something that is happening every day in America, and many people don't know until it's too late. |
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