How Jagged Little Pill Helped Kathryn Gallagher Find Her Voice ? And Use It

When she's not watching Grey's in her dressing room, she's writing her own music — oftentimes between scenes.In this conversation with MTV News, Gallagher opens up about her "crazy, tumultuous year," her own connection to Alanis, finding her own catharsis in Bella's story, and why theater kids are not-so-secretly the cool kids.MTV News: How would you describe your own personal relationship to Alanis Morissette's music? It's truly dream come true for me.MTV News: What was the first song that resonated with you?Gallagher: The first song I ever loved was "Hand In My Pocket" because I would ask my mom to play "the cigarette song." I don't know if that's cute for a five-year-old or disturbing. But I find a different song I love every time.MTV News: Watching the show made me realize Under Rug Swept is my favorite Alanis era.Gallagher: The brain that it takes to create that one, Under Rug Swept. Sometimes it's just right place, right time, right gig.MTV News: How did Bella become the character that she is now, from that first lab in Boston to Broadway?Gallagher: No one really anticipated the role getting the response that it did. And so there was an urgency, like, "We need to do [the] show now." And I had a huge number of people writing to me or telling me at the stage door, even in Boston, that seeing this on a stage freed them of this shame that was not theirs to feel, from an experience like Bella has, in their own life. There are always going to be people that are ready to hear you and are ready to stand with you.MTV News: That seems like a really invaluable lessons to learn as a singer-songwriter too. It's been a time of great catharsis in my life, I would say.MTV News: You'll look back on this period of your writing and know exactly where you were in life.Gallagher: I was writing the other day, and I was like, "Forgive the show in the background. You just got to strike while the iron is hot, you know?MTV News: That's incredible.Gallagher: When it's been a shit year and you can look back and be, like, "Nah, I'm doing cool shit right now. You're just like, "But this is who I am and this is what I like and, yeah, I know all the words to every Sondheim show, and that's just where I'm at right now."MTV News: I think you and your friends, Beanie [Feldstein] and Ben [Platt], are proving that theater kids are cool, or will one day become cool. Like Beanie and Ben were both nominated [at the Golden Globes] — that's so cool.MTV News: Obviously, you pour a lot of yourself into Bella, you pour a lot of yourself into your music.