When it was first announced in 2017 that Alanis Morissette’s beloved 1995 album “Jagged Little Pill” would be getting a Broadway adaptation, the anticipation was high.
Now, with the premiere just around the corner, the public’s curiosity is being somewhat satiated, thanks to a new video of the musical’s cast performing a revamped duet of “Head Over Feet.”
In the video, cast members Celia Rose Gooding and Antonio Cipriano are captured up close in soft and tender lighting, an environment that carefully recalls the style of Morissette’s original 1996 video.
The clip shows Gooding and Cipriano dancing as if they are on the brink of falling in love, tempting and resisting each other as they move.
“It’s about feeling this resistance to falling for someone. Some people enter relationships a little more apprehensive than others,” Morissette explained to Rolling Stone. “Watching them both interact like, ‘I really want this but I’m terrified!’ That’s what the song’s about.”
The musical, which opens Nov. 3, will centre on the story of the Healys, an upper-middle class family whose “picture-perfect” image turns out to be just that: an image. In spite of this veneer, they struggle against life’s challenges, namely contemporary social issues like opiate addiction, gender identity, sexual assault, and racism.
Watch: “Jagged Little Pill” will confront the themes from Morissette’s seminal album. Story continues below.
Morissette worked with screenwriter Diablo Cody — who is best-known for her Oscar-winning screenplay for 2007’s “Juno” — on an original musical book based on the album, using only the songs as a guide.
Also enlisted were Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Tom Kitt (“American Idiot,” “Next to Normal”), Tony Award-winning director Diane Paulus (“Waitress,” “Pippin”), and frequent Beyoncé collaborator and choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
“Jagged Little Pill” the musical is already slated to make a huge splash, and fans are eager to hear how Morissette’s other iconic songs — “Ironic,” “You Oughta Know,” “Hand In My Pocket” — have been reimagined for the big stage, at Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.
Oh, and of course the surprises don’t end with that new take on “Head Over Feet” ... there are a bunch of brand-new songs that have been written for the musical, too.