Ben Apfelbaum

JAGGED LITTLE PILL : A GREAT NIGHT OUT

JAGGED LITTLE PILL comes to Australia with stellar credentials having garnered fifteen Tony nominations and winning two awards for Best Book of a Musical for Diablo Cody and Best featured Actress in a Musical for Lauren Patten, and a Grammy for best Musical Theatre album. 

The production is a coup for Trafalgar Theatre Productions as this opening production for the Theatre Royal is the first production of the show outside of Broadway.

Its creation is based on the angst ridden, psychologically insightful and semi autobiographical album of the same name by Alanis Morisette. Morisette recorded this album with her musical collaborator Glen Ballard when she was just nineteen years old.

The musical features music and lyrics by Morisette and the Book by Diablo Cody deals with issues such as alienation, rape, substance abuse, work/life balance, moral cowardice, marriage pressures, the earnestness and narcissism of youth, all leavened with a good deal of humour.

Is the Australian cast up to the task in conveying these issues in a nuanced and seamless way? They most certainly are!The play centres around the Healy family who have to undertake a great deal of healing before the play’s conclusion. 

Natalie Bassingthwaighte plays the control freak, emotionally stitched up mother with a dark secret. Bassingthwaighte in depicting the unravelling of the Mary Jane Healy character is masterful whilst delivering a bravura and emotionally packed vocal performance.

Tim Draxl plays the anguished father Steve Healy who realises, almost too late, that his priority of work over his family has alienated them from him. Draxl’s delicate tenor powerfully conveys the regret and despair in his character.

Emily Nkomo plays their black adopted daughter Frankie. She resents the way her older brother Nick Healy is lauded by her mother to her detriment. She feels that he was naturally conceived, blonde and blue eyed, and that the family, at its heart, may be racist. 

Accordingly she is rebellious, forms a sexual relationship with her best friend Jo, played by Maggie McKenna, who form a group seeking to expose a rapist culture.Nkomo’s powerful voice conveys the vital vigour and hopefulness of youth. She skillfully depicts the ambivalence  of the teenage years where she both hates and alternatively deeply loves her family.

Adding to the multiplicity of her complex emotional feelings she naively displays a narcissism where she can have the gay love of her best friend Jo and the straight love relationship of her boyfriend Phoenix.

Liam Head plays golden boy Nick Healy who has just gained admission to Harvard to the obsessive and boastful delight of his mother. Like many golden boys Nick has feet of clay. Amidst all the striving for perfection there is a crevice of moral cowardice.

When Nick realises the destruction he has wrought by his self absorption, Head potently conveys the agony of his inability to act in a noble fashion.

Maggie McKenna, the star of ‘Muriel’s Wedding The Musical returns to the Sydney stage in the role of Jo, best friend and lover of Frankie. When Frankie betrays Jo’s love it sets up the highlight of the show, McKenna’s rendition of Morisette’s biggest hit ‘’You Oughta Know’ which was full of fury, and raw, unbridled passion and commanding vocal fire-power. Midway through the performance the audience leapt to its feet, swept along by the authentic depth of feeling emanating from McKenna and the chorus.

Echoing the sexual assaults inflicted on Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins, Grace Niell plays Bella, the virginal student who is manipulated into a drunken stupor so that she can be raped. Bella, at first, blames herself for what happened but with the help of Jo and Frankie comes to realise that she is the blameless victim of a crime. Neill and Aydan, who plays Phoenix, Frankie’s boyfriend, booth give strong performances..

The ensemble are triple threats in that they can sing, act and dance. Their sparkling harmonies and powerful choruses whilst dancing intricate choreographic steps successfully tests the acoustics of the Theatre Royal whilst salting the senses with their wall of sound as well as their striking movements. 

All this is augmented by a band playing live on stage led by Musical Director Peter Rutherford and eight other members producing sounds akin to a symphony orchestra. 

The lighting design by Justin Townsend complements and enhances the mood and emotions portrayed on stage. 

The vigorous and youthful ensemble do justice to the implementation of Australian Associate Choreographer Adam Blanch’s vision. 

The striking backdrops were designed by Morgan Maroney and Michael Waters, the Australian Associate Sound Designer especially in the soaring choruses produced a pleasing conduit for the performances.

This huge, intricate and multi-layered production was realised by Resident Director Leah Howard based on the work of Broadway director, Diane Paulus.

An important musical such as this conveys the great issues of the day and Alanis Morisette’s perceptions are as fresh and relevant today as when she penned her songs some twenty eight years ago. 

This commanding production is not only  a visual and aural feast  but it is also  thought provoking and intellectually satisfying.

JAGGED LITTLE PILL plays Theatre Royal until the 19th December and then goes to Melbourne  at the Comedy Theatre on the 2nd January, 2022.  A return season has already been booked in from 9th July next year.

Featured image : Grace Niell as Bella and cast. Pic Daniel Boud

Published by Ben Apfelbaum

My photography began when my father handed me the proverbial brownie box camera as a child. As cameras developed I went through Fujica and Olympus range finders graduating to my first single lens reflex camera, the Minolta SRT101, the latter being the greatest facilitator to my growth as a photographer. Digital photography has only added to this. I was a regular contributor to Camera Craft magazine (Australian Camera ) for over three years. During Australia’s Bicentennial year (1988) I made it a personal project to document the celebrations. This culminated in the creation of a book of my photos which was published in 1989. The book was called CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA and came with an accompanying calendar. My works have appeared in a number of publications including the coffee book entitled MY AUSTRALIA (1989), publisher Robertsbridge Severn. This book had a preface by the then Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke. I was a co-photographer on a book entitled SYDNEY- DISCOVER THE CITY with text written by Robert Treborland. Major Mitchell Press was the publisher. Also for two years I was the photographer for calendars celebrating Sydney’s multicultural communities. The two calendars were entitled MULTICULTURAL SYDNEY. My work appeared in a group exhibition held at Sydney’s Town Hall pertaining to the diversity of life in South America to raise money for orphanages there. I have over one hundred photos stored in the New South Wales State Library archive. I had a solo exhibition held in 2007 entitled Ben’s Lens at the Sydney Jewish Museum which celebrated the vibrancy of the Sydney Jewish community. Some of these photos are on the Museum’s permanent display. I have exhibited internationally firstly at the Spruill Gallery in Atlanta Georgia, united states, and in an exhibition entitled Kosher and Co at the Jewish Museum in Berlin. Currently I am a regular contributor to J-Wire and this esteemed publication.