— the album released in 1995, starting with the resounding question, “Do I stress you out?” One of the biggest in the history of American music, the album became a cult expression of unbridled female anger, angst, and sexuality. A few decades later, the musical inspired by the album is on a country-wide post-Broadway tour, making its Philly stop Jan. 3-15. Still as relevant and searing as ever.
What emerged was the story of the members of a white family in Connecticut — the Healys — living out their complicated lives through the intersections of race, addiction, abuse, and sexuality, all the while trying to hold onto a facade of a “normal, happy” family. A show, as Paulus said in a, has to grow on its own. Through many navigations and interrogations with depictions of gender and contemporary politics, the show has indeed grown and constantly strived to do better.
For McLeod, who like Morissette, is from Canada, “Alanis was one of the first women in music that was angry and unapologetic. I’m a huge punk rock metal fan, but Alanis made [that anger] mainstream. Can you imagine what it was like in 1997? Listening to her on your own and being like, ‘What? Who is this?’” Certainly not in 1997 but I definitely remember asking the same questions after listening to “You Oughta Know.
“As an artist, I don’t think I’ve ever learned more, done something or healed more as a human [than] by doing this show. You feel like you’re having a personal experience,” said Heidi Blickenstaff who plays Mary Jane Healy, the matriarch whose trials and ultimate healing form the crux of. “And then magically, there are other people in the audience who are having that exact same experience with you.