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06/14/2018 12:01 AMThe Ivoryton Playhouse starts the summer jumping with a high-energy, blues worshiping, rock ‘n rolling tribute to ‘60s icon Janis Joplin.
The 2014 Tony-Award nominated musical, A Night with Janis Joplin, written and directed by Randy Johnson, had a short run on Broadway, closing after only four months and 140 performances, but is back on the road again at regional theaters.
The Ivoryton Playhouse production, co-directed by Tyler Rhodes with musical direction by Michael Morris, gives the audience a window into the world of the one-of-a-kind, musical powerhouse of her generation, whose life was cut far too short (at 27) by hard living and a heroin overdose.
But this is a carefully edited window that cleans up a lot of the gritty, dark side of Joplin’s history, perhaps to make a more palatable nostalgic tribute to the artist than would likely be re-imagined by those who actually saw her perform almost 50 years ago.
It is a challenging role for sure to capture Joplin’s unique, raw, and throaty vocals and her stunningly original interpretations of classic blues numbers in addition to her original songs. The vocals are so demanding, in fact, that the Ivoryton has cast two actors—Francesca Ferrari and Paige McNamara—in the role of Joplin on alternating nights to give their voices a rest in-between performances.
McNamara played Joplin the night we saw the show. Her voice was a little too smooth in some numbers, but she has an edgy, convincing delivery punctuated by a lot of “F” words—language wasn’t sanitized for this production. She comes close to capturing Joplin’s vocal style and intensity in “Cry Baby” and especially in “Ball and Chain,” both in Act II.
The musical is presented as a live concert with Joplin backed by an eight-piece band. It takes place shortly before her death in 1970.
The cluttered, era-appropriate set by Brian Prather remains static while a supporting cast of famous African-American blues singers that were huge influences on Joplin, including Bessie Smith, Odetta, Etta James, Nina Simone, and Aretha Franklin (performed by Aurianna Angelique, Jennifer Leigh Warren, Tawny Dolley, and Amma Osei) appear and disappear on different levels of the stage, channeled by Joplin as she reminisces about their music.
The women’s voices are exquisite and bring a richer, deeper dimension to the show. Of particular note is Amma Osei as “Blues Woman,” knocking it out of the park with a gorgeous “Summertime” at the beginning of Act 1. This is immediately followed by McNamara in a terrific Joplin- esque rendition of the Porgy and Bess classic. Together the women sing “I Shall Be Released,” bringing the audience to their feet.
There is no dialogue between characters. Joplin, for the most part, briefly narrates in between musical numbers. The little we learn about her upbringing in the small Texas town of Port Arthur, where her mother played the blues records that got her daughter hooked on the music for all of her short life, about her inability to connect with a man the way she connected with the blues, leaves most of the story behind the brilliant and troubled musician shrouded in mystery.
Although she regularly swigs from a bottle of Southern Comfort on the floor behind her on stage, Joplin’s drug addiction is only mentioned once early in the show, which ends not addressing her tragic spiral downward, but on a chorus of the upbeat “I’m Gonna Rock My Way to Heaven” and “Mercedes Benz.”
My husband, who did see Joplin live at The Fillmore East with Big Brother & The Holding Company in 1968, thought the band in the Ivoryton production faded too much into the background when, in fact, the screaming electric guitars of Big Brother were an integral element of Joplin’s shows.
Also, the shout-outs to Ivoryton…”How are we feeling tonight? Put your hands together!” is a contrivance to engage today’s audiences at pop/rock shows that never would have happened at a ‘60s concert, but it did receive a very enthusiastic response the night we attended.
If you’re interested in the life and times of The Queen of Rock & Roll, pick up The Biography of Janis Joplin by Myra Friedman. But, despite the light storyline, there is plenty of power and beauty in the vocal performances to make the Ivoryton production of A Night with Janis Joplin a show you don’t want to miss.
Amy J. Barry has been writing about Connecticut professional theater for more than 25 years. She is a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle. (ctcritics.org).
Performances of A Night with Janis Joplin continue through Sunday, June 24 at The Ivoryton Playhouse, 103 Main Street in Ivoryton. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at 860-767-7318 or online at www.ivorytonplayhouse.org