NEW YORK: Shortly after Broadway closed last year, Elizabeth Stanley went on a small rescue operation.
She was given the opportunity to return to the dressing room in her musical Jagged Little Pill’s home at the Broadhurst Theater and grab everything she needed.
I went and got a bunch of plants, she says with a laugh. I knew they wouldn’t live in a room without a window and water.
That strong nurturing side of Stanley was also clearly evident from the stage before the pandemic closed theaters. She received her first Tony Award nomination, playing the mother of a Connecticut family that spirals out of control in a musical set, for the music of Alanis Morissette’s 1995 album of the same name.
Stanley seems to be comfortable singing anything, from intricate Stephen Sondheim Show melodies to Morissette’s rock songs, Leonard Bernstein’s classics and Jason Robert Brown’s modern gems.
In some ways, people didn’t always know what to do with me and I think that honestly worked to my advantage most of the time, she says. I didn’t get stuck playing just one type of part.
Eva Price, the three-time Tony Award-winning producer behind Jagged Little Pill, says Stanley has put all her heart and soul into her latest character since the workshop began.
She really created a multi-dimensional, 360-degree, fully layered, contemporary female protagonist in a way that none of us knew we had on the page or even in our minds, Price said.
Stanley made his Broadway debut in 2006 in the revival of the company and played roles in Cry-Baby, Million Dollar Quartet and On the Town. A Tony nomination is really welcome this time around.
It was my dream to be performing full time and pursue a career in the performing arts.”
The musical is about a family facing drug addiction, sexual assault, struggles with gender identity and interracial adoption. Morissette has told artists that she hopes the music can be a ray of hope.
She wants us to be a story about healing and connectedness, transparency and authenticity.
Stanley as mom, Mary Jane is the backbone of music, trying to connect with her working husband and estranged teenage kids. She is also hiding an addiction to oxycodone that she developed after being prescribed opioids after a car accident. Throughout the musical, her character also reveals her history with sexual assault.
There are so many layers to this that I think it took me a long time to really find her, says Stanley. In fact, I don’t even think I’m done. This is one of the reasons why I am looking forward to be back in the show, I don’t feel like doing this part yet.
The Jagged Little Pill musical is so rooted in contemporary issues facing America that he believes the discussion and march on racial justice will find a voice whenever Broadway resumes.
I think it will affect our interpretation as an artist, but it will also affect the audience and how they will see it, she says. “To see a piece of theater allows us to get a message and feel it in a much more pleasant way than to see a three-hour news cycle about something.
During the past year, Stanley has been a part of the jagged Little Pill online concerts and productions. She also went through a series of crafting stages of baking, sewing and tie-dyeing. She made new throw pillows for her sofa.
COVID-19 ruined what was one of her happiest days: her wedding. Engaged to actor and teacher Charlie Murphy in January 2020, the couple was supposed to tie the knot last September. He even kept and lost a security deposit at an event venue.
Now they are rethinking what they really want when COVID-19 releases its grip on the city. The original idea was just to have an intimate relationship with family and a few close friends. Now it could be a baby shower as Stanley gave birth to the couple’s first child this fall.
Now I really want to party with a lot of people, she says with a laugh. Now I needed everyone out there that I couldn’t see, and I was surrounded by all my friends and just going crazy.
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