Today brought the news that two Broadway productions that received their pre-Broadway debuts in the Boston area lead the 2020 Tony Award nominations.
"Jagged Little Pill" received 15 Tony Award nominations, the most of any show from the 2019/20 Broadway season shortened by COVID-19. Based on the Grammy-winning album by Alanis Morissette, the musical follows a family grappling with addiction, sexual assault, and gender identity — issues that affect communities around the country today.
The production was developed and premiered at the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in Cambridge. It ran for 79 sold-out performances over ten weeks in 2018, becoming the longest-running and highest-grossing production in the theater's history.
"It would seem Alanis Morissette's anthems are now for the ages," said GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen of the production. "Visually interpreted here with an absorbing intimacy and ingenuity, they reach down to our deepest, rawest selves. Regardless of who we are."
In this episode of Open Studio with Jared Bowen, Jared speaks with Alanis Morissette about the production:
"Moulin Rouge," a musical that Jared said, "gleefully sends us down its rapids of spectacle and wonderment," received 14 Tony Award nominations this year. The production is based on the Oscar-winning 2001 film and follows Christian, a lovesick writer drawn to a chanteuse at the Moulin Rouge. It's pre-Broadway run opened at the Emerson Colonial Theatre, which had been closed for nearly three years before the premiere.
In this episode of Open Studio with Jared Bowen, Jared speaks with "Moulin Rouge" actors Aaron Tveit and Karen Olivo, both of whom received Tony Award nominations for their performances in the production:
The full list of 2020 Tony Award nominations can be found here . More episodes of Open Studio with Jared Bowen can be found here.
