[NEohioPAL] Review of Cleveland Play House's "One Night with Janis Joplin"

Bob Abelman r.abelman at adelphia.net
Sun Aug 5 08:56:43 PDT 2012


'One Night with Janis Joplin' rocks its way to heaven

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 8/10/12

 

 

When in the presence of great art or a great artist, there is a tendency-an irrepressible urge, really-to get as close as possible, to see what genius sees, to fill the space that genius occupies, and to share the same rarified air.

 

This is what happens in Cleveland Play House's Allen Theater during a performance of "One Night with Janis Joplin."  

 

More concert than concerted effort to capture Janis Joplin's life and times in theatrical form, the production offers insights into Joplin's art, influences and philosophy through her music and her musings between songs.  And while there never has been and never will be another Janis Joplin, Mary Bridget Davies is awfully damn close, which explains the audience's gravitational attraction to the stage and to her during the performance.     

 

Stop reading and listen to Janis Joplin's "Cry Baby," either on LP, CD or reverie.  Go ahead; we'll wait.

 

The song was recorded on Joplin's fourth and final album, which was released posthumously in 1971.  What do you hear? 

 

Some have suggested that Joplin's sound is the blues incarnate; a husky, guttural explosion of raspy reverberation born from being an outsider in her own hometown and from the suffering bestowed upon an independent woman in a time before feminism.  Each song, and "Cry Baby" in particular, is a tortured testimonial that maps out Joplin's path to self-destruction.  This is what the incredible Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin creates on the Allen Theater stage.

 

Watch some archival footage of a Janis Joplin performance or the interviews she gave on the "Dick Cavett Show" shortly before her death at the age of 27.  What do you see?  

 

Here is a woman with magnetism, on a mission to be real, raw and fearless in all that she does.  Out of the spotlight she is self-depreciating, philosophical and in possession of a wicked sense of irony.  When performing her unique rendition of blues, soul, gospel, country and rock, she and the music are indistinguishable.  This is what the incredible Mary Bridget Davies as Janis Joplin delivers on the Allen Theater stage.

 

"One Night with Janis Joplin" is written and directed by Randy Johnson and received its world premiere at Portland Center Stage last year.  While little real insight into Joplin's thinking is provided in the dialogue, it serves as sufficient segue into the show's 24 song playlist that starts with "Tell Mama," offers Joplin's greatest hits such as "Maybe" and "Me and Bobby McGee," and ends appropriately through without explanation or sufficient pathos with "I'm Gonna Rock My Way To Heaven." 

 

The Portland production starred East Coast actress Cat Sephani, who was to spearhead this Cleveland production until an 11th-hour casting change placed Davis-who was the show's backup singer and Joplin understudy-in the lead.  

 

Davies is a local performer who played Joplin in the national tour of "Love, Janis" in 2005, and performs with Joplin's original band, Big Brother and the Holding Company.  Clearly, her Joplin chops and endurance have been well honed and fine tuned over the years.

 

She shares the stage with Sabrina Elayne Carten, who phases in and out of this production as an amalgam of Janis' musical muses - including Bessie Smith, Odetta Holmes and Aretha Franklin.  Carten is reprising the part she played in Portland and is phenomenal, mastering the blues, soul and gospel when the occasion calls for it and owning the stage at all times. 

 

The production has all the trappings of a live concert of the period-the dramatic lighting, the homespun artifacts that surround the stage, and the smoky ambiance-along with energetic back-up singers Laura Carbonell and Shinnerrie Jackson, and the tight on-stage band from the premiere production that captures the Big Brother and the Holding Company sound.  They include Stephen Flakus and Ross Seligman on guitar, Tyler Evans on keyboard, Patrick Harry on bass, Mitch Wilson on drums, Anton Van Oosbree and Gavriel de Tarr on trumpet, and David Milne on saxophone.

 

While the air surrounding the stage is not scented with patchouli or other herbs typically associated with the 60's, it is hard not to want to get as close to Davis as possible and breathe deep.  

 

"One Night with Janis Joplin" continues through August 19 in Cleveland Play House's Allen Theater at PlayhouseSquare.  For tickets, which range from $35 to $65, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.clevelandplayhouse.com.   
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20120805/5fe5eae1/attachment-0004.htm>


More information about the NEohioPAL mailing list