Writer and Director: Randy Johnson
A cabaret show with the enthusiasm of a stadium concert, A Night with Janis Joplin: The Musical arrives at the Peacock Theatre as part of a UK tour and mixes a biographical structure with the key blues influences that shaped Joplin’s music. It may skirt over some of the less savoury aspects of Joplin’s life including her drug binges and rocky relationships outside of music but the performance wattage and commitment from lead Mary Bridget Davies make up for some of its storytelling shortcomings.
A tribute show has some important choices to make, including whether to accept the person performing is not the star they represent or to immerse the audience in the singer’s world and either assume they’re here for the big hits or want to fit the songs around a meaning of sorts. Randy Johnson’s show makes it clear that this is a Joplin concert from the 1960s or 1970s and maintains the illusion throughout, making the viewer part of an intimate one-night-only reunion with the music. It proves a wise choice, especially as A Night with Janis Joplin’s first act lays out Joplin’s motivation for singing, a formative interest encouraged by her mother’s Broadway musical albums and the Texan bar scene where she meets the man that will take her to California.
All of this is peppered with songs including crowd raisers Piece of My Heart and Summertime that fit the stage of Joplin’s life being described. Act One also introduces the key musical influences as additional characters giving separate performance moments to Etta James (Tell Mama), the Chanelles and later Aretha Franklin (Kozmic Blues). Here Joplin often completes the song in her own rock ‘n’ roll style, creating tonally interesting duets with earlier-era singers who are sometimes imagined and, in the pre-interval duet with Franklin, staged as live moments that get the audience on its feet. Structurally, the show moves awkwardly from Joplin to Franklin’s concert without clear purpose but as the overarching premise loses traction, the performance energy levels increase to compensate, papering over the cracks.
Act Two abandons biography (we never get much beyond that trip to California) for the ways in which Joplin ‘feels’ the blues and her philosophical reflections on life, loneliness and relationships, covering the big numbers Cry Baby and Stay With Me. Vocally, Davies is outstanding, expertly capturing the rough crackle of Joplin’s voice, the powerhouse intensity of the climatic moments but also the sweetness of her bluesy, introspective choices. Welcoming back Etta James (Georgia Bradshaw), Nina Simone (Choolwe Laina Muntanga), Aretha Franklin (Kalisha Amaris) and Bessie Smith (Danielle Steers) creates an opportunity for Davies’ costume change but loses the direct connection between these pioneers of blues music and Joplin’s decisive style.
These are really big, impressive performances of well-known songs but A Night with Janis Joplin: The Musical does have a split personality leaning into indulgence with multiple encores and a photo opportunity at the end. Johnson’s show isn’t quite sure if it wants to be a small cabaret that lets Joplin tell her personal story through her own music, a thematic examination of major influences that shaped the artist Joplin became or a more equal celebration of great women of the blues.
Runs until 28 September 2024
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