104 new york | november11–24, 2019
thought,Oh,theydothis to anywoman
whoisenjoyinghersuccess.”
I couldnotfindanorigin story ofhowyou
gothookedupwithJagged LittlePill.
I wasactuallyoneof the last piecesto
slideintoplace.Theproducers andAlanis
havebeentryingtoget this madeforsev-
eralyears.Theyknew they wantedto
makea Broadway musical featuringthe
songsofAlanisMorissette, and theyknew
theydidn’t wantit tobe autobiographical.
Alanis,specifically, didn’t wanttodoThe
AlanisMorissetteStory.I hadneverwrit-
ten a play before, let alone a bookfora
Broadway musical. It was daunting,but
occasionally you get those gutfeelings
that you have to trust, and I just hada pull
toward this project.
How did you devise the narrativesin
the show?
I’ve watched a lot of jukeboxmusicals
since being hired to write this one.There
are some that I watch and I think,How
did the writer do this? These songsare
inane. You really have to be ageniusto
figure out how to work this intoa narra-
tive. Whereas Jagged Little Pillwasa
cinch. You listen to that album:It is cin-
ematic. The songs are telling stories.
It seemed like the songs were originally
about Alanis wrestling with childstardom
and her overprotective parents.
People always think about “YouOughta
Know,” but that song is kind of ananomaly,
actually. It’s like the one aggressivesongon
the album, and everything elseisabout
wanting to be seen by her family,wanting
to be recognized as this artist anda spiri-
tual person, which she really is.Themost
prominent theme on the albumis “Wake
Up,” this idea of You cannot avoidpain.
You cannot put your head in thesand.You
have to face things. Well, that’s something
I can certainly relate to, having grownup
Catholic in the suburbs with a familythat
was very concerned with presentation.
I was really surprised at how muchthe
politics are in the forefront of theshow.
Yeah. We lean in on this one. Oneofthe
central characters, Frankie, is anactivist.
It just seemed impossible to tell amodern
story about activism and empathyand
not acknowledge the climate emergency,
not acknowledge mass shootings,
not acknowledge racial tensions, not
acknowledge sexual assault. I knowthere
are some people who feel that theremight
be too many issues in this show, andthat’s
fine with me. That makes me wanttopile
on more, because the reality isthereare
too many es in the. I e
were livi a simple ati re
we only had one or two things keepingus
awake at night. But I have like seven,and
they are all represented in thisshow. I
guess it’s just a window into myparanoid
psyche. I get really emotionalwatching
this show. The opioid epidemic has
affected my family personally ina major
way, and for me to write aboutthat has
been cathartic.
What was your writing processwith
Alanis like?
We always use the term fairy godmother,
because that’s what she is. Shegets
involved. She gives you the best notesever,
thenshebacksoff. SoI’vehada tonofcre-
ative freedom. I have found myselfsitting
in my garage, rewriting Alanis Morissette
lyrics, which is something I neverdreamed
would happen to me in my entirelife.At
the same time, she will let us knowif some-
thing in a performance isn’t workingfor
her, if a line’s not working for her.We hear
from her at least once a week. Sheusedto
be more physically present, butshejust
had a baby so she is nesting.DidyouandAlanistalkaboutmaking
thejokesinthemusicalabout“Ironic”
notbeingironic?Wasshecoolwiththat?
We didn’t discussit at allinadvance.
I juststronglyfeltthat wehadtoaddress
thecriticismofthatsonghead-onand
makesomethingcharmingoutofit.It
wasactuallyoneofthevery firstscenes
I wrotefortheshow,andit wasleft largely
unchangedsincetheworkshop,which
iscrazybecausetherest oftheshow
changedsignificantly.AndAlanisisa
reallygoodsport. Shewastotallydown
withit fromtheveryfirststep.
I readthatwhentheshowopenedin
Cambridge,thecharacterJowasques-
tioninghergender,butthataspecthas
beencut.
Well,thisissucha gnarlysubject. It’s
sohardtotalkaboutthisstuff. Thepub-
licistsfortheshowaren’t evenhere,and
theyjust shudderedsomewhere.I want
tobeclearthatJo issomebodywhois
experime withhergenderexpres-
sionbut isisnota transornon-
binarypersonat thismomentintime.Obviously, obviously, we would never
cast a cis person in the role of someone
who was trans or nonbinary identifying,
ever. My worry is that there are people
who didn’t see the show in Cambridge
who are convinced that the character
was gender nonbinary in Cambridge,
and it was never, ever that stated. Jo has
always been she/her pronouns, and I do
feel shitty if there was a misread or
misunderstanding—especially when the
show was still a work-in- progress, which
is what an out-of-town tryout is. I don’t
wantanybodytofeel excluded,hurt,
triggered by this show. I want people to
come and feel good about it. I know that
I can’t please everybody, but, you know,
we have so many experts involved. We
have like an entire task forcedealing
with this issue. So I just have to listen to
them, keep my own mouth shut.I’m not
on any kind of gender journey. Aside
from being a boring-ass cis lady.
I heard the decision to take out the
gender questioning was also criticized. If
you are a creator who wants to embrace
wheretheconversationisnow, itdoes
kindofputyouinthisweirdposition
whereyou’redamnedifyoudo, damned
ifyoudon’t.
OhmyGod,that’smy favoritephrase.
You’rescrewedeitherway ona lotofissues.
I thinkimportantworkcreatesa dialogue,
andthere’s alwaysgoingtobeoppositesides
ofa goodconversation.I’mokay withit
becauseI’moldandI’vebeenthroughso
manycontroversiesinmy career. I’vebeen
throughit all,man.I’vehadtoapologizeto
pro-choicepeople.I’vehadtoapologizeto
peoplewithpostpartumdepression.Even
thoughit wasanexperiencethat I person-
allywentthrough,I hadtoapologizefor
writingaboutmyownexperienceandtrig-
geringpeople.
I founda recentinterviewinwhichyou
saidsocialmediaisn’tfunanymore.
It’sdefinitelynotfunanymore.I’ve
beenoffTwittersince 2013 now. I don’t
thinkmyvoiceis necessary. I thinkthere
area lotofquirkywhitewomenexpress-
ingtheiropinionsonTwitter.
Youstartedasablogger, writinga
blogaboutmoonlightingasa stripperin
Minneapolis.Inthoseearlydays ofblog-
ging,theinternetdidfeellikethisexcit-
ingcommunity, andpeoplewere putting
everythingoutthere.Youincluded.
Yes.It wasconfessional.Forme,there
wasjusta desperationtobeheard,because
I wasanaspiringwriterandI wastryingto
get published and failing. Suddenly,
I becameawareofthisopportunityto
writethings,self-publishthem,andnot
havetogetpermissionfromanybody.IThe CULTURE PAGES
“I don’t have
much of a
relationship with
Diablo Cody
anymore.”