Chicago Tribune - Recommended
"...But Blickenstaff, one of those Broadway actors who deserves to be a much bigger name, was on fire at Chicago's Nederlander Theatre on Thursday night. This was a blistering performance, sufficiently vocally rich to delight fans of Morissette's music but also dramatically complex enough to deepen a character that came off on Broadway mostly as a stereotype of an affluent Connecticut mom."
Chicago Sun Times - Highly Recommended
"...Directed by Diane Paulus, "Jagged Little Pill" is one of the most explicitly in-your-face protest musicals since "Hair." Like "Hair," it's also wildly entertaining, one hypnotic, anthemic banger after the next (music by Morrisette and Glen Ballard, additional music by Michael Farrell and Guy Sigsworth), bringing the power of an arena-concert to a comparatively intimate theater."
Daily Herald - Recommended
"..."Jagged Little Pill," the musical based on Alanis Morissette's hit 1995 album currently running at the James M. Nederlander Theatre, opens with a smiling upper middle-class Connecticut family, posing for the photo that will accompany their annual Christmas letter. It's a picture-perfect image."
Let's Play Theatrical Reviews - Highly Recommended
"...All of the songs in this musical are fantastic. Alanis Morissette's seminal rock lyrics and music like "Head Over Feet, Hand In My Pocket, Ironic, Uninvited" and previously mentioned "You Oughta Know" will blow you away. And the incredible intermingling of narrative, songs, music, and production is so exquisite it's like witnessing the formation of the Hands of God and Adam by Michelangelo. Of course, that might be overly dramatic, but this play is sensational from beginning to end, and it touches on so many relevant issues families deal with today; it's a Must See!"
Around The Town Chicago - Highly Recommended
"...Over my 20 plus years of reviewing plays, I have seen hundreds of productions, and have found myself falling in love with tither the material or the production. Content has never played as important a role in my caring about a musical production as it did tonight. Tonight, we attended the Chicago opening of "Jagged Little Pill" the music of Alanis Morissette & Glen Ballard. The lyrics are written by Morissette as well. "Jagged Little Pill" was an album produced back in 1995, so many of my contemporaries are unfamiliar with the powerful songs that in some ways may have changed our lives ( and perhaps with the musical will continue to do so)."
Chicago Theatre Review - Recommended
"...The show features classics from the Morissette songbook, such as "All I Really Want," "Hand in My Pocket," "Head Over Feet," "You Oughta Know" and the stirring finale sung by the entire company, "You Learn." If only this musical didn't try so hard to touch its audience with so many social issues. The result is that they all become a wash and cancel each other, failing to make any of them really lodge in our minds."
Buzznews.net - Highly Recommended
"...Like the album it relates an internal emotional journey, not of Morrisette, but of an upper middle class American family-rich turf for drama, from Ibsen to Chekov to Williams. "All happy families are alike, but every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way," as Tolstoy notes, and we watch the Healy's go their own way from ostensibly happy to quite a mess. But never fear, this is a Broadway musical and they make their way back to the road to redemption to deserving standing ovations at the end."
The Fourth Walsh - Highly Recommended
"...You are going to want to swallow this JAGGED LITTLE PILL!! Morissette's music, Cody's book, Paulus' direction, Cherkaoui's choreography, and the sensational ensemble induce a high like no other! And even though you'll still be humming Alanis' songs the next day, you won't be hungover! You oughta know that I fricking LOVED JAGGED LITTLE PILL!"
Chicagoland Musical Theatre - Recommended
"...Undeniably, Cody took the prize for Best Book of a Musical in that mulligan Tony ceremony for putting together the best assemblage of zingers and one-liners. (See also: Tootsie.) They are solid zingers and one-liners, but the musical otherwise lurches between dry comedy and excess pathos and Societal Importance™ without so much as a neckbrace. Whether this is Cody's error or Paulus's-she who can't quite seem to calibrate humor so that it lands at the back of a touring house without overdoing it-we probably won't know until non-replica productions happen somewhere."
Chicago On Stage - Highly Recommended
"...With a solid cast and mind-bogglingly brilliant choreography, this musical, based on Alanis Morisette's epochal 1995 album of the same name and a Tony-winning book by Diablo Cody, is scarily intense at times-I'll discuss that later-and utterly honest about both the struggles it depicts and the depth of the emotions its teen and adult characters reveal or hold in. It is a musical that is powerful, raw, and real. It has its humorous and sweet moments, too, and contemplative ones, but the overall energy of the show is angry and kinetic, as encapsulated by the often extreme, percussive, and frantic movements of the ensemble, choreographed by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui."
Chicago Culture Authority - Recommended
"...Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill: The Musical is a very savvy, self-aware piece of entertainment. Catering to the Gen X audience that connects most strongly with the queen of 90s alt rock, the producers give them a woman their age as the lead and then share a good deal of the spotlight with a girl the age they remember being when they first belted out Morissette's hits back in the day. That proved a potent combination for the raucous opening-night audience at Broadway in Chicago's Nederlander Theatre Wednesday."
Picture This Post - Recommended
"...Jagged Little Pill is a jukebox musical - featuring the hits of Alanis Morissette including All I Really Want, You Oughta Know, Head Over Feet, Wake Up, and Forgiven. The music alone is spectacular with standout vocalists - especially for those Alanis Morissette fans in the audience. The standing ovation at Opening Night confirmed for this writer that she was not alone in that opinion."
Splash Magazine - Recommended
"...The question here is whether Jagged Little Pill the musical (a collaboration between Alanis Morissette, Glen Ballard and Diablo Cody that earned a plethora of Tony award nominations in 2020) delivers anywhere near the same emotional punch as the source album. Yes. Or at least some of the time. But not always. There are moments, most of them coming in the second act, where the plot, the iconic song and the exceptional choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui blend to create pure emotional thriller. It is a ride earned however by an often laborious first act that lacks the immediate energy one would expect from a rock opera."
BroadwayWorld - Somewhat Recommended
"...Given that many of the songs are of an autobiographical nature, shoehorning them into a jukebox musical was a challenge. And despite playwright Cody's award-winning script, one still cannot escape the sense that the entire musical has been reverse-engineered to fit the narrative of many of the songs. Is that enough for fans to keep "both hands in their pockets" and not by a ticket? Not when this show is clearly what fans "really want.""
