Transforming It

Morissette When the [“Jagged Little Pill” musical] producers came to me, years ago, I was piqued and flattered and charmed. I didn’t want a bio-musical, but I also didn’t want a story that seemed disconnected from the music. So it took us about seven years. And I was fully prepared to have it not exist.

Diablo Cody, book writer I was a teenage girl in the ’90s. Alanis loomed large in my life. I blasted those songs in my Ford Escort, sang them with all my friends. My No. 1 objective going into this was for her to love it and give her blessing. I wanted that so badly.

Diane Paulus, director “You Oughta Know” is such a seminal song. We all agreed, you can’t give that away too soon, because everybody’s waiting for that song. It’s got to come in a way that you don’t expect.

Cody I didn’t initially know who was going to sing it, because there are several characters that wind up feeling betrayed. But I had really latched on to Jo, who defuses everything with humor. For that character, who’s been shrugging things off, to suddenly explode, it’s powerful.

Lauren Patten, performer It was a pretty last-minute audition. I came in with “So What” by Pink and sang that, and then they were like, “Do you know ‘You Oughta Know’?” And I was like, “Yes?”

Paulus There was something about the way she wrapped herself around that song, singing it like she was jumping off a cliff and making it her own.

Patten I remember Bryan Perri, our musical director asking me, “Does that hurt your voice?” Because I sing with a pretty heavy rock grit. And I was like, “No, this is just how I sing.”