After receiving backlash for how its production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” was cast, Spokane Civic Theatre canceled the production and hit pause while they regrouped and worked toward a more inclusive future.
Ten days after announcing the cancellation of “Hunchback,” Civic announced its next show would instead be “Jagged Little Pill,” a jukebox musical that features the music of Alanis Morissette.
This change of plans left director Bonni Dichone with the task of staging a full production of a musical in less than half the time she would typically have. “Legally Blonde,” which she choreographed at Civic last year, for example, had a 10- to 12-week rehearsal process.
“Jagged Little Pill” had four.
“Usually a show is announced way in advance, and people anticipate auditions,” she said. “Then there’s a few weeks of casting before we have our first rehearsal. This one was, we announced the show. A week later was auditions, and two days after auditions, we had our first rehearsal, so it’s really been a crunch. It’s really a testament to the cast and to the crew and production team that pulled together really quickly.”
Working toward more inclusivity in identity and experience levels of the cast and crew, the Civic team reached out to several community organizations about auditions, while Dichone sent personal messages to people she knew.
This effort resulted in a lot of new faces auditioning so, while stressful, Dichone sees the expedited process as a blessing in disguise because it brought more people to the theater who might not have originally considered it.
This is Dichone’s directorial debut.
“Jagged Little Pill” opens Friday and runs through June 12 at Spokane Civic Theatre. This production marks the regional premiere of the musical.
The show opens with Mary Jane “MJ” Healy (Chelsea DuVall, a newly appointed Spokane Civic board member), writing her annual Christmas letter. She shares that husband Steve (William Pipinich) has got a promotion at work, that daughter Frankie (Isabella Jimenez) is an artist and son Nick (Jameson Elton) has been accepted into Harvard University. She also shares that she was injured in a car crash but is healing with natural remedies.
That all sounds good on paper, but it’s far from the truth.
MJ herself is addicted to the painkillers, and Steve is addicted to pornography. As she writes her letter, Frankie, who is her adopted daughter, is making out with her friend Jo (Aspen Cullen).
After MJ tells Frankie and Nick they must work to uphold the family’s perfect image, Frankie and Jo vent that their mothers just don’t understand them. Jo is grateful to have Frankie by their side and seems hopeful that things will soon go their way, but, of course, it’s not that easy.
The cast also includes Cael Birch, Abigail Bohnas, Charlie Duggan, Reuben Erlinso, Lilah Gail, Drake Haren, TaeZhanae Hays-Cormier, John Ko, Trenten Kurle, Mary Ormsby, Terez Pattillo, Wren Rhodes, Jack Rodewald, Jasmine Speer, Sanaa Terrells, Dana Williams, Kate Wilson and Emma Woodward.
“Jagged Little Pill” features a book by Diablo Cody and music by Morissette and Glen Ballard. The production is directed by Dichone, music directed by Christian Skok and choreographed by Lexi Dysart.
Because of the abbreviated rehearsal period, the cast and crew had to hit the ground running, though Dichone said they made sure to be intentional about the tough issues the show touches on, which runs the gamut from race and mental health to sexuality and sexual assault.
“Jagged Little Pill” is not a musical about Morissette’s life and career but rather a dark story that’s accompanied by her songs.
“My generation, you’ll recognize all the songs, and they may think they’re coming to hear a concert,” Dichone said. “Instead, they’re going to be hit in the face with very serious content.”
To help the cast and crew handle that serious content in a healthy way, Dichone enlisted the help of intimacy coordinator Nike Imoru, who choreographed certain scenes, including one involving sexual assault, and provided resources for those who needed extra support.
Jimenez, who stars as Frankie, felt the support from Dichone and Imoru while auditioning and appreciated that the importance of consent and respecting boundaries was talked about early on, especially because of the younger members of the cast and crew or those newer to theater.
Though not new to theater herself, Jimenez is making her Civic mainstage debut in “Jagged Little Pill,” fresh off the closing of “Seussical the Musical Jr.” at her high school.
Jimenez wasn’t familiar with “Jagged Little Pill” until her mother played the album before her audition. She was initially embarrassed about not having the prior knowledge her older castmates had but called listening to the album a fun cultural learning moment.
“It definitely changed my perspective on some things with the time and how my mom and people who are around her age grew up,” she said. “It was very heavy hearing the music for the first time, and it was interesting, because I feel like so often, especially as a younger person, I forget that my mom was once my age, too, and I could feel myself relating to certain songs or certain points in certain songs and I felt like I was relating to my mother as well. It was very connecting.”
When Jimenez looked up the plot of “Jagged Little Pill,” she found this wasn’t a show she wanted her grandmother to see her in. At the same time, she understood the importance of shedding light on the heavy topics the show covers.
Jimenez sees a lot of her younger self in Frankie, even though the character is only a year younger than her. Things like being perceived as abrasive or rude, being too vocal about political beliefs and the way she expresses them, all in relation to her sexuality and race.
The character of Frankie is written as a Black teen. Jimenez, who is Black, Hispanic and white, said she feels understood in this cast, which includes so many people of color.
While making it clear that she is not trying to emulate or take from the experience of someone who is fully African American, Jimenez does find it humanizing that they’ve been able to tweak the script to include anti-ICE sentiments and references to “No Kings.”
“It is very validating in the experience of being a person of color who doesn’t fit specifically into one category,” she said.
“Jagged Little Pill,” the album, was released in 1995. “Jagged Little Pill,” the musical, premiered in 2018. The musical isn’t set in a specific time period, so Dichone has set it in the present, though there are nods to the ’90s through costumes.
She feels as if the musical is timeless, as many of the issues that were prevalent when it was written are still relevant today.
“It starts with identity and race and addiction and sexual assault and family dynamics and mental health and religion,” she said. “There isn’t anything left untouched.”
If You Go
‘Jagged Little Pill’
When: Friday through June 12. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 2 p.m. Sundays.
Where: Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard St.
Cost: $20/students; $41.50/seniors and military; $46.50/adults. Tickets available through spokanecivictheatre.com.
Note: This production is recommended for ages 14 and older. The show will be ASL interpreted on June 11.
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Article by Azaria Podplesky
Photos by Ryan Wasson