Love, Janis
The Wilshire Theater
Beverly Hills, CA
June 1, 2008
By Victoria Joyce
(SugarBuzz Hollywood)
SugarBuzz Magazine
This is a wonderful idea. The life of the greatest lady of rock as told through her own words. The musical, “Love, Janis” is based on the letters Pearl sent home to Port Arthur, Texas from Haight Ashbury during the Summer of Love up to her death in 1970.
Taken from the 1992 book by JJ’s sister Laura, and turned into a stage musical by Randal Myler, whose previous credits include Hank Williams: Lost Highway. He knows his honky from his tonk. The show is doing a limited tour of cities heading for Austin next and winding up in California later this summer.
The production is simple. The backup band takes center stage and two easy chairs, stage left and stage right are for the Joplin to address the audience with her letters to her mother. Occasionally she is interviewed by the offstage voice of a journalist. All her words. They are stark, prophetic, funny and heartbreaking.
The band is great. They ought to be. Sam Andrew, Big Brother’s original guitar player and Janis’ band mate does the music. They nail it pretty good
The Los Angeles casting misses the mark. It’s weird. There is a Singing Janis and an Acting Janis. The Singing Janis does not come close either in voice or vision. She’s a big lady, much too big and the voice is too small. The Acting Janis is a thin wounded bird and not nearly the tough, smart, funny woman who swill Southern Comfort and sing blacker than anyone with the possible exception of Mick Jagger.
We love Little Steven’s definition of Rock and Roll: White kids singing black and failing beautifully. Janis Joplin was the manifestation of Rock and Roll. Outrageous and unbridled with a voice as big as all outdoors with heart and soul to match. The production does her justice, the cast drops the ball.
All Joplin’s hit songs are here. Even done by a weak impersonation they are a joyous celebration. The production is spare. “Ball and Chain” at the end of the first act comes the closest to the real deal. A slow moving “psychedelic” light show behind the band resembles a multi-colored screen saver and doesn’t have the necessary energy.
The scene toward the end of the second act (Spoiler Alert!) has Janis being interviewed by the offstage voice about the recent death of Jimi Hendrix with his image from the cover of the Rolling Stone on the big screen. Janis gives her existentialist two cents and the Jimi’s dissolves Janis’ with the telephone voice over giving the details of her death. The loss still packs a wallop.
There is a different actress playing Janis on the show’s website (so we saw the understudy?) Click the link and see what you think. We can only hope this production eventually gets to Broadway with a strong singer. Heard that nurse on American Idol really rocked the house with “Piece of Heart.” How about her?
At one time there were two films in pre-production with Melissa Ethridge’s and Renee Zellweger’s names thrown around.
Somebody needs to get this story right.
www.lovejanisthemusical.com/images/media/vids/PieceOfMyHeart.mov