If
you ever want to replicate the singing voice of Janis Joplin, at home in your
spare time, it’s easy. Just have a friend tie your ankles to the bumper of a
car and have him pull you slowly through a long, shallow pit filled with broken
bottles, fish hooks and angry wasps. Just remember, while you’re screaming, to
stay on tune and on beat.
Then
again, you might just prefer to listen to someone else do it, and do it
splendidly, in One Night with Janis Joplin, now at the Cleveland Play House.
This is CPH’s second bite of the Joplin apple, having produced Love, Janis back
in 1998. The new production is the world premiere of an entirely different touring show created,
written and directed by Randy Johnson.
While
the previous show may have had more heart, as it was built around
the real letters Janis wrote to her family and friends, the current effort has
plenty to recommend it.
First, of course, is the person playing
Janis: Mary Bridget Davies. Initially slated as the understudy in the
production, Davies stepped in a day before opening and is ripping the hide off
the ball, as they say.
This
isn’t a surprise, since Davies performed as Janis in the earlier show (along
with a couple other performers) and tours with Joplin’s signature band, Big
Brother & the Holding Company. Davies channels many of Joplin’s stage
mannerisms and brings a quarry-load of gravel to her vocal riffs.
Many
of JJ's key songs are here, including “Piece of My Heart,” “Cry Baby,” “Try
(Just a Little Bit Harder),” “Ball and Chain,” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” (Sadly,
there’s no “Get It While You Can,” the climactic song in Love, Janis.) And
Davies throws herself onto the pyre of each of these sizzling tunes,
screeching out the soulful loneliness and driving passion that made Joplin an
icon of the 1960s.
Much
of the show is structured around Joplin’s musical influences such as Bessie
Smith, Nina Simone and Aretha Franklin. These blues singers are played and sung
by the sublime Sabrina Elayne Carten, who swings assuredly from an operatic turn on
“Summertime” to full-tilt rock mode in Franklin’s “Spirit in the Dark.” The
two lead singers and two backups are supported by an eight-person rock band,
with horns, that captures the sound and spirit of these memorable songs.
The production is also visually captivating as it's performed within a welter of pinpoint lights, homey little lamps, crazily pivoting searchlights, furled lavender chiffon and gleaming structural steel. That set and lighting, which serves as a pretty accurate metaphor for Janis herself, is designed by Justin Townsend. There is also a video screen in the background where photos of Janis' paintings are projected (to mixed effect), along with groovy patterns and images from the era.
While
the show’s music is loud, brash and intoxicating—it is virtually impossible not
to stand up and join in as Davies and company rock out—the script only pays lip
service to the superstar’s inner demons and desires. As a result, the eventual reference
to her death, at the young age of 27 from a drug overdose, seems more of a cold biographical detail here than a tragedy.
But
if you love Janis, or if you want to introduce someone to her particular brand
of psychedelic magic, you could do much worse than this production.
One
Night with Janis Joplin
Through
August 19, produced by the Cleveland Play House, Arena Stage and One Night
Productions, at the new Allen Theatre, 1407 Euclid Avenue, 216-241-6000
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