Jagged Little Pill
CLIENT
Situation Interactive
TECHNOLOGIES
WordPress, PHP, JavaScript
YEAR
2018
EXTERNAL URL
Some of the most ambitious frontend layout work I did at Situation — layered compositions and unconventional grids that pushed well beyond standard Broadway site conventions. Built on WordPress from the A.R.T. world premiere through Broadway and a national tour, with a content architecture designed to scale across a six-year production lifecycle.
I led this build at Situation Interactive — part of a growing portfolio of jukebox and biographical musical builds alongside TINA and MJ the Musical.
Background
Not a bio-musical, not a jukebox revue — something harder to categorize, and harder to market.
Jagged Little Pill stands apart from shows like TINA or MJ the Musical because it is not telling the artist’s life story. The musical — with music by Alanis Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, book by Oscar winner Diablo Cody, and direction by Tony winner Diane Paulus — weaves songs from the 33-million-copy-selling 1995 album into an original narrative about the Healy family, exploring pain, healing, and systemic failure. It premiered at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in May 2018, with choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Beyoncé’s Formation world tour), orchestrations by Pulitzer and Tony winner Tom Kitt, and a cast led by Elizabeth Stanley, Celia Rose Gooding, Derek Klena, Sean Allan Krill, Lauren Patten, and Kathryn Gallagher. That distinction — familiar music, unfamiliar story — shaped every decision about the digital platform. The site had to sell tickets on the strength of Morissette’s catalog while making clear this was something audiences hadn’t seen before.
Everyone involved expected a Broadway transfer from the start — the site architecture had to be ready for that scale before the A.R.T. premiere curtain went up.
Implementation
A custom WordPress build with a ticketing calendar and frontend layouts that matched the show’s visual ambition.
I led development on a custom WordPress theme where the frontend was the main event. The designs pushed into territory I hadn’t encountered on prior Broadway builds — layered compositions, unconventional grid structures, and bold typographic treatments that required precise CSS positioning to hold together across breakpoints. What looked effortless on a desktop comp became a series of responsive puzzles, each demanding its own solution. The ticketing calendar handled performance availability at the A.R.T. and later the Broadhurst Theatre on Broadway, with date browsing, sold-out states, and direct purchase links. Beyond ticketing, the site carried cast and creative profiles with structured bios, a press section aggregating reviews from major outlets, video integration, a streaming section for the Grammy-winning cast album, and an official merchandise shop. The content architecture anticipated the show’s full lifecycle — structured objects for cast members, tour dates, and venue information that could be updated independently as the production moved from Cambridge to Broadway previews and eventually a national tour.
Where the TINA build taught me to handle content density, Jagged Little Pill taught me to handle visual ambition — designs that demanded CSS precision without a single compromise at any breakpoint.
Results
A record-breaking premiere, 15 Tony nominations, and a platform that carried the show for six years.
The site launched ahead of the A.R.T. world premiere in May 2018, where the production sold out all 79 performances and became the highest-grossing and longest-running musical in A.R.T. history — more than 45,000 audience members across a 10-week run. The Broadway transfer followed at the Broadhurst Theatre: 36 previews beginning November 3, 2019, an official opening on December 5, and a run spanning 171 performances at 93% average capacity, grossing over $24.3 million. Jagged Little Pill earned 15 Tony nominations — the most of any production that season — winning Best Book (Diablo Cody) and Best Featured Actress (Lauren Patten). The cast recording won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album. The platform then scaled to support a North American national tour from September 2022 through April 2024 — 474 performances across Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, and beyond. Six years from premiere to final tour performance, all running on the same WordPress build.
