Maggie McKenna joins Natalie Bassingthwaighte in Jagged Little Pill’s Australian cast

Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Maggie McKenna take us behind the scenes at their Broadway workshop sessions ahead of Jagged Little Pill music opening in Australia.

On a whim during a visit to New York, actor Maggie McKenna bought a ticket to see the Jagged Little Pill The Musical on Broadway.

“I didn’t realise it was the first preview. It was the first time they’d ever performed the show on Broadway. I had just randomly booked a ticket, didn’t know anything about the story, what it was going to be about,” McKenna says.

“And I sat there, the hair blown off my face and I wanted to be in that show so badly. And I wanted to play Jo.”

Two years later, McKenna has been confirmed to play Jo in the Australia production which will launch at the rejuvenated Theatre Royal in Sydney on December 2 and then open at Melbourne’s Comedy Theatre on January 2.

The Muriel’s Wedding star joins Natalie Bassingthwaighte in the lead role of Mary Jane (MJ) Healy, Tim Draxl as MJ’s husband Steve and Emily Nkomo making her theatrical debut as Frankie, their rebellious daughter.

Other leading cast cats members include young pop aspirant and The Voice contestant Aydan, Queensland Conservatorium of Music graduate Liam Head and emerging theatre performer Grace Miell.

Natalie Bassingthwaighte and Maggie McKenna on Broadway. Picture: Leah Howard/Supplied

McKenna and Bassingthwaighte joined the New York production for workshops earlier this month as they rehearsed for the award-winning show’s return to Broadway next week.

They spent hours every day with director Diane Paulus and the cast as they rehearsed the jukebox musical based on the songs of Alanis Morissette’s record-breaking 1995 album Jagged Little Pill.

For Bassingthwaighte, it was a full circle moment back to her 20-year-old self who, like the other 33 million people who bought the record back then, had devoured every note and lyric.

Nat Bass says the workshops coincided with rehearsals for the production’s Broadway return next week. Picture: Mati Ficara/Supplied

“I’m the same age as Alanis, so when it came out, I was that 20-year-old girl going through the throes of ‘Who am I and where do I fit in?’” she says.

“The thing that sets it apart for me is those songs remain relevant and resonate 25 years later.

“You weren’t allowed to speak your truth back then and she did and now we’re in the middle of that movement where we’re ready to hear those lyrics again at a time when it’s OK to speak out and to be vulnerable.”

Maggie McKenna gets to sing the You Oughta Know showstopper. Picture: Mati Ficara/Supplied

The Jagged Little Pill plot is a lot.

Its characters wrestle with myriad contemporary issues including opioid and porn addiction, gender identity, sexual assault and the compounding harm caused when bystanders don’t call out the perpetrators.

As a queer actor, McKenna said Jo’s gender non-conforming character – who is Frankie’s best friend – was a revelation, the storyline resonating with their own experiences at high school.

The added bonus of playing Jo is they get to sing the musical – and album – centrepiece, You Oughta Know.

The Australian actors had the invaluable experience of running through the show with the New York team. Picture: Mati Ficara/Supplied

“That song speaks very deeply to me. To see the queer role get to be the rock star and to be so bad ass, to be seen as powerful and having ownership and not being a victim in that You Oughta Know moment, is so special to me,” McKenna said.

“I can’t think of many commercial musicals we’ve seen in Australia besides Kinky Boots where queer characters get to do that.

“To have a new musical with this music and a badass queer character is exciting and I hope a lot of young queer people come and get to resonate with the character of Jo and feel seen.”

Nat Bass gets some tips on her character MJ Healy. Picture: Mati Ficara/Supplied

Besides breaking down their songs, dance routines and dialogue, the two Australian actors got some invaluable tips from their American peers during their workshops.

“They gave me little tips on what to expect when I do the song and also when to have snacks during the show,” McKenna says, laughing.

“I think I’ll be sneaking a little banana protein bar after Hand In My Pocket.”

For Bassingthwaighte, the gritty role of MJ arrived when she had decided to take time out from the stage to focus on raising daughter Harper and son Hendrix after the family relocated to Byron Bay last year.

The Jagged Little Pill was Nat Bass’s soundtrack when she was 20. Picture: EVAN ZIMM/Supplied.

But she couldn’t say no to the opportunity of playing the complex maternal character who desperately tries to preserve the facade of her perfect family as she battles an addiction to painkillers prescribed after a car accident.

“Touring, eight shows a week, it can be taxing with a family. It’s a lot, so when I finished Chicago, I thought that would be it for a while,” she says.

“But then I got the script and here was this complex, flawed character and I’m 46 and we don’t get too many of these kind of characters.

“There’s this tendency to think addiction happens to people on the street but Mary Jane is together, lives in Connecticut, and like so many other people who get addicted to opioids because they had a sore back or an accident and doctors told them it was fine, just take them.

“This musical unpacks a lot of those things families hide from each other.”

Someone in the room next door in a Sydney quarantine hotel is getting a free show right now. Picture: Mati Ficara/Supplied

She returned home from New York last week and is now entertaining anyone sharing her floor in the Sydney hotel where she is in quarantine with her rehearsals of her songs including Head Over Feet, Uninvited and Smiling, a new track written for the jukebox musical.

The work will help to distract her from the pangs of separation anxiety as she counts down to her reunion with husband Cameron McGlinchey and their children.

“Yeah, they’ll probably change it to a week’s home quarantine the day I get out!” she says rather presciently.

“I’m prepared for my two weeks, I’ve got all this work to do to get the show down so I’m ready to fire on all cylinders when I get out.

“I’ve already been running lines and singing up a storm so whoever is next door is getting a free show.”

Tickets on sale now at jaggedmusical.com

Originally published as Maggie McKenna joins Natalie Bassingthwaighte in Jagged Little Pill’s Australian cast