So Sang Janis:
When in San Francisco, the staff of Kevin Smokler.com highly recommends a trip to see Love, Janis at the Marines Memorial Theatre. Love Janis is a condensed autobiography of the life of Janis Joplin told in a bifurcation of letters she wrote home from San Francisco to her family in Port Arthur Texas and her songs. One actress does the singing, the other the acting. The show uses this duality to probe the difficulty Joplin had with reconciling her private self, (a lonely, proud, self-concious woman from a tiny Texas town) with the superstar she became while still in her early 20s, a conflict, the show whispered, that ultimately killed her.
While this commentator felt lonely and self-concious about his own age while sitting in a room of folk who experienced the 60s instead of hearing about in on classic rock radio, his intrepid companion reminded him that, to most of the audience, Joplin was a lasting memory of their youth. Just as he wouldn’t want the audience peeing all over The Brat Pack and The Safety Dance, so should he not begrudge them their nostalgia. As she often does, the intrepid companion spoke wise.
The musicial itself is powerful, sweet and a rockin’ good time. Recommended as a fine evening out whether Joplin is memory or history.
Love Janis is playing now at the Marines Memorial Theatre in Union Square in San Francisco.
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I never really listened to a lot of Janis music, but I did watch Monterey Pop and there’s a scene where she just nails a song. Mama Cass Elliott is in the audience just mouthing “Wow” and when she finishes singing, Janis does a little skip as she leaves the stage. It’s a little moment of joy that made my eyes well up. I could watch her sing that song and do that dance over and over.
I never really listened to a lot of Janis music, but I did watch Monterey Pop and there’s a scene where she just nails a song. Mama Cass Elliott is in the audience just mouthing “Wow” and when she finishes singing, Janis does a little skip as she leaves the stage. It’s a little moment of joy that made my eyes well up. I could watch her sing that song and do that dance over and over.