'Girl, Interrupted' Off-Broadway review — or, 'Girl Interrupted at her Music(al)'

Read our review of Girl, Interrupted off Broadway, Martyna Majok and Aimee Mann's new musical adaptation of Susanna Kaysen's memoir and the 1999 film.

Summary

• Girl Interrupted is adapted from Susanna Kaysen's memoir about her time in a psychiatric institution as a teenager in the 1960s
• The show features a wry and straightforward script by Martyna Majok and soulful but repetitive music by Aimee Mann
• The show could go more deeply into the relationships between the characters
• The show is recommended for fans of the original memoir and 1999 film adaptation; fans of Aimee Mann's music; and those interested in media exploring mental health topics

Since it was first published in 1993, Susanna Kaysen’s memoir Girl, Interrupted, about her stay at a psychiatric hospital as a teenager, has captivated audiences. The bestselling book inspired sought-after movie rights, which materialized into the 1999 film starring Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie in her Oscar-winning performance. Twenty-seven years later, Girl, Interrupted again steps into a new medium as a musical.

With a script by Martyna Majok and direction by Jo Bonney, this theatrical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted has its work cut out for it. Contending with a bestselling book and an Oscar-winning movie can be daunting. But what principally sets this version apart are the original songs by Aimee Mann. The music is beautifully rendered with simple accompaniment from a pianist (Andrea Grody) and some strings, performed by musicians who double as actors (Manoel Feliciano and Lauren Jeanne Thomas). The songs are at their strongest when the actors are all in harmony.

But the music, distinctive as it is, can also get in its own way. The soulful style, so quintessentially Mann, doesn’t offer much variety in terms of tone. Each girl in the hospital gets a feature song to tell her story, but they largely sound the same as the next, despite the varying personalities and backgrounds of the girls themselves. It also seems that the script and music don’t trust each other to tell the story on their own. Often in the show’s 1-hour, 45-minute run, the songs end up paraphrasing conversations that have already happened, or vice versa, making the music feel unfortunately repetitive rather than adding to the story.

Juliana Canfield leads as Susanna, though the character spends more time detachedly narrating the story than participating in it. Still, her song “At the Frick Museum” offers a peek into the character’s fractured sense of self. Susanna and fellow patient Lisa (a sultry King Princess) share the emotional duet “I See You” toward the end of the show as the other girls in the ward face dark fates. But the show spends little time investing us in their personal connection, and this song feels like their first real interaction since Susanna was admitted to the hospital.

The script borrows heavily from Kaysen’s memoir of decades-later, matter-of-fact observations about the hospital — wry and informative, but not exactly narrative. Play adapter Martyna Majok punches up the relationship between Susanna and her roommate Grace (Mia Pak) during their first night together (illustrated by the sweetly optimistic song “Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath”). But overall, there isn’t much room left for the development of relationships between the characters. Girl, Interrupted pays homage to Kaysen’s memoir, but at the expense of narrative drive.

Girl, Interrupted summary

At age 18, Susanna Kaysen is sent to McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital (or as Kaysen calls it, a mental institution) outside Boston. The year is 1967. Reeling from a suicide attempt and a relationship with her high school English teacher, she finds herself surrounded by other young women with a variety of diagnoses. Together they fall into a rhythm of life dictated by the rigid hospital rules, but more often than not peppered with the chaos of their fellow patients. All the while, Susanna wrestles with her own identity as a patient herself.

Girl, Interrupted is based on author Susanna Kaysen’s 1993 memoir of the same name, also adapted into a 1999 film. Written decades after her time in the hospital, the book sees Kaysen reflect on what her diagnosis of borderline personality disorder meant at the time and the leaps in mental health science between the late '60s and the early '90s.

What to expect at Girl, Interrupted

This musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted has been in the works for years, with singer/songwriter Aimee Mann commissioned to write the original music as early as 2018. When development stalled in 2020, Mann released the music as an album titled Queens of the Summer Hotel in 2021. It’s available on streaming for anyone who wants a taste — or repeat listen — of the music from the stage show.

Martyna Majok’s script keeps returning to a painting by Johannes Vermeer at the Frick Museum here in New York City. The painting, titled Girl Interrupted at Her Music, inspired the title of Kaysen’s memoir, and she writes about first seeing it as a teenager on an illicit trip with her English teacher. Years later, she returned to see it again, this time interpreting it as the warning it could have been to her teenage self. Audience members intrigued by the way this painting figures into the musical can go see it for themselves at the Frick, a short subway ride uptown from The Public Theater.

What audiences are saying about Girl, Interrupted

Audience members have been sharing their thoughts on the new musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted on online forums like the theatre review app Mezzanine.

• “Beautiful Aimee Mann score. Juliana Canfield and ensemble strong.” - Mezzanine user Alison R
• “Didn’t feel like there was enough development in the characters for me to really care what happened to any of them.” - Mezzanine user DJ McReynolds
• “I didn’t find many of the songs memorable…I did appreciate how it elaborated on the sexism of mental health care, especially in the 60s.” - Mezzanine user Ianna A.
• The harmonies were incredible!! Loved some of the music in the show.” - Mezzanine user Silviana Abreu

Who should see Girl, Interrupted

• Fans of Aimee Mann’s music will hear her style ringing clear throughout the show, and they can even hear her performing many of the songs on her album Queens of the Summer Hotel.
• People interested in theatre that tackles aspects of mental health will be fascinated to learn about this based-on-a-true-story approach to the mental health of teenage girls in the 1960s.
• Fans of the original memoir will be interested to see Kaysen’s words depicted on stage.

Learn more about Girl, Interrupted off Broadway

The musical adaptation of Girl, Interrupted takes care to adapt Susanna Kaysen’s memoir with thoughtfulness and respect, coupled with original music by Aimee Mann. However, it falls short of developing the characters into people the audience can really feel for.

Learn more and get Girl, Interrupted tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Girl, Interrupted is at The Public Theater through July 12.

Photo credit: Girl, Interrupted off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)