(Katherine Reis, Mia Pak, Juliana Canfield, Gabi Gampo, King Princess, and Sally Shaw in the world premiere stage adaptation of GIRL, INTERRUPTED at The Public Theater, with a book by Martyna Majok, based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Joan Marcus.)

by Tim Leininger

NEW YORK — Being based on a book that is a memoir, it is easy to become dependent on narration to carry the plot of a story, and unfortunately for the musical adaptation of Susanna Kaysen’s Girl, Interrupted the narration creates a tell don’t show quality that pulls down an otherwise engaging musical about the abuses of women in the mental healthcare community in the 1960s.

            Adapted by Martyna Majok it features music by Aimee Mann, which fans would recognize from her album Queens of the Summer Hotel, which was released in 2021 when the musical got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Four years later, the musical has finally premiered, directed by Jo Bonney, choreographed by Sonya Tayeh, and running at The Public Theater at 425 Lafayette St.

(Juliana Canfield in the world premiere stage adaptation of GIRL, INTERRUPTED at The Public Theater, with a book by Martyna Majok, based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Joan Marcus.)

            The story follows Susanna (Juliana Canfield), a young woman who has attempted suicide by overdosing on pills and has been committed to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts. While there she becomes witness to the horrible conditions that she and her fellow patients. The women who come in are either unable to leave because women in the 1960s didn’t have full autonomy to do so, or their mental health was deteriorating to a worse condition than when they arrived.

            Anchored by a stalwart performance by Canfield, who grounds the musical by giving Susanna wide-eyed wonder at the motley assortment of patients, she recognizes the offenses enacted on her newfound friends as they are trying to avoid families they don’t want to return to or have worse situations to address. The disparate degree of problems these women face is never what seem to be what is being treated, though. Daisy’s (Katherine Reis) coming every year like clockwork at Thanksgiving and eating 14 whole chickens has significant connection with her father’s implied sexual abuse. Polly (Sally Shaw) is disfigured after setting herself on fire. There is also Lisa (King Princess) who claims to be a psychopath, though her diagnosis is sociopathy. Whether any of her diagnoses are real is to be seen.

(Katherine Reis, King Princess, Sally Shaw, Mia Pak, Gabi Campo, and Juliana Canfield in the world premiere stage adaptation of GIRL, INTERRUPTED at The Public Theater, with a book by Martyna Majok, based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Joan Marcus.)

            Though the women do their best to build a camaraderie with each other, the unfortunate nature of their situation leave them at the discretion of the powers around them, maybe most tragically answering to the one female doctor, Dr. Wick (Emily Skinner), who tends to gaslight her patients into believing what is best to control them.

            The problem is that much of the story is told through recounting by Susanna. We get scenes where some of the significant elements happen, but others are entirely missed and have to be recounted after the fact. In a first-person narrative novel, this can make sense, but with theater being what it is, we can jump from Susanna’s perspective from time to time and see things happen instead of her finding out afterward, but we don’t do that.

(Juliana Canfield and Emily Skinner in the world premiere stage adaptation of GIRL, INTERRUPTED at The Public Theater, with a book by Martyna Majok, based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Joan Marcus.)

            I don’t know if mental health facilities were as dark and dank seeming as this production makes McLean Hospital out to be, but Heather Gilbert’s lighting design makes the place feel as bleak as possible with the mostly minimal scenic design by dots. A two-piece cylinder descends from above center stage several times to emphasize the dour setting and portray different spaces there. A cylindrical cage surrounds the descending and ascending cylinder, which doesn’t seem to serve any purpose as it remains stationary and hides some lighting.

            Aimee Mann’s music is good. It has her signature bluesy-folk pop styling, but like most musicals written by pop stars, it doesn’t have the robust layered vocal arrangements that I would expect from a musical with distinct personalities all singing together.

(Mia Pak, King Princess, and Sally Shaw in the world premiere stage adaptation of GIRL, INTERRUPTED at The Public Theater, with a book by Martyna Majok, based on the book by Susanna Kaysen, original music by Aimee Mann, choreography by Sonya Tayeh, and directed by Jo Bonney. Photo by Joan Marcus.)

            Most of Girl, Interrupted’s success is found in the exceptional cast, particularly the collective performances of the young ladies interred at the hospital. Along with Juliana Canfield’s great performance, the rest of the cast, under Jo Bonney’s direction builds on the emotional strain and exhaustion that each woman gets piled on them. King Princess’s performance as Lisa tends to be too reminiscent of Angelina Jolie’s performance of the role in the film adaptation, lacking interpretation but still an electric performance, and being a long-time Emily Skinner fan, I feel she was heavily underutilized.

            Girl, Interrupted is a decent show. Bolstered by an excellent cast under the confident leadership of Jo Bonney, the musical successfully emphasizes the severity of these ladies’ lives. The overuse of narration, though, takes away from engaging with some of the drama and I would have liked a bit more complexity to Aimee Mann’s score.

TICKETS:

PRODUCTION

Book by Martyna Majok; Based on the book by Susanna Kaysen; Original Music by Aimee Mann; Choreography by Sonya Tayen; Directed by Jo Bonney; Scenic Design: Dots; Costume Design: Sarah Laux; Lighting Design: Heather Gilbert; Sound Design: Dan Moses Schreier; Hair, Wig, and Makeup Design: J. Jared Janas; Prop Manager: Claire M. Kavanah; Music Supervision and Orchestrations: Todo Almond; Music Direction: Andrea Grody; Voice and Text Coach: Andrew Wade, Julie Congress; Singing Coach: Deborah Lapidus; Dialect Coach: Patrick Mulryan; Intimacy Coordinator: Ann James; Production Dramaturg: Sarah Lunnie; Casting: Heidi Griffiths, Kate Murray; Production Stage Manager: Molly Meg Legal; Producer: Emma McSharry; Company Manager: Grace Chariya; Production Manager: Aliyah Sall

CAST (in alphabetical order)

Ta’rea Campbell as Valerie

Gabi Campo as Tori

Juliana Canfield as Susanna

Manoel Felciano as The Male Presence

King Princess as Lisa

Mia Pak as Grace

Katherine Reis as Daisy

Sally Shaw as Polly

Emily Skinner as Dr. Wick

Lauren Jeanne Thomas as Judy