Alanis on Broadway: Did ‘Jagged Little Pill’ Get Sugarcoated?

A more positive way to spin the situation is to say, Jagged Little Pill is an embarrassment of riches, just heaped in an ungainly pile. In many areas, it is. The cast is enormously appealing, with Stanley doing outstanding work as a mother who can be narcissistic, shallow, and horrid, but whose journey to the bottom is truly heartbreaking. How an actor so healthy and fresh can grow gaunt and haggard on command is a marvel. Gooding, as the brash, no-wave feminist in search of herself, is pure charisma with a pop belt to die for. Patten (whose DNA was clearly spliced from Laurie Metcalf and Bebe Neuwirth) is an instant star. Klena and Krill have less to do, but they do it quite well.