Summertime and the Livin' Seemed Easy

"Love, Janis" Tugs at Joplin Fans' Hearts at San Francisco's Marines Memorial Theatre

by Bruce Bellingham
(originally published August, 2006 in San Francisco Northside)

You can't help but have affection for Janis Joplin by the end of the musical tribute to her life, "Love, Janis," at the Marines Memorial Theatre in downtown San Francisco, the city where her fame and notoriety were born 30 years ago.
She was only 27 when she died from a heroin overdose in 1970. Randal Myler's musical adaptation of Laura Joplin's book reminds how young and vulnerable Janis was, and Cathy Richardson's singing reminds us what a powerhouse the Joplin voice was. Because of the demands of the singing, Richardson alternates performances with Katrina Chester. Richardson, to my relief, held back from taking her voice to the edge of what a human voice could do. Janis Joplin pushed hers to beyond the limit, literally singing like there was no tomorrow. When Janis invited us to take another piece of her heart, you really believed she meant it.
Laura Joplin bases her story on Janis' letter to home after she had hitchhiked to California from her home in Port Arthur, Texas, with the inimitable Chet Helms, who, thankfully gets credit in the show -- and his photo is part of the backdrop. The art direction, by Norman Schwab, is terrific. The old art posters of the Avalon, the Fillmore, and the Family Dog, are projected beautifully. The hippie-era costumes, by Lorraine Venberg, are right on the money. We see Janis go quickly from T-shirts to boas. Yes, it all went too quickly. She only had a few years in the spotlight.
The sex and the drugs part of the story is toned down -- as only a sister might do. The material is rather tame. The letter-reading is shared by Richardson and Chester but mostly performed by Morgan Hallett, who, in a non-singing part, plays the more-innocent Janis, the one who breaks our hearts when her loneliness becomes palpable. She practically cries out for approval from her parents and hopes she hasn't really disappointed them this time with this crazy adventure to the Haight-Ashbury in far-off, far-out San Francisco.
The letters reveal a very bright Janis Joplin, one who thanks her father for all the books that he's passed along to her. Indeed, she surprises us when she reveals that she has named her new dog Thurber. She gets a laugh of recognition when Janis recommends The Hobbit for her sister, Laura, to read.
But the band (both Big Brother and the Holding Company and Janis' later ensembles, the Kozmic Blues Band and the Full-Tilt Boogie Band) with both Richardson and Chester is the big hit. Under the direction of Sam Andrew, who was a founding member of Big Brother, and with lead guitarist Joel Hoekstra in charge from the stage, the group sounds a whole lot better than the original players. All of the big hits are included, "Get It While You Can" ... "Me and Bobbie McGee" ..." Summertime" ... "Ball and Chain" ... and "Piece of My Heart."
I thought much of the script was flaccid and superficial but, after all, she was so young -- just a kid. Janis reluctantly tells her family about her posing for a photo, wearing nothing except for a string of pearls. That famous poster was nowhere to be seen on stage during "Love, Janis" but a glance at the photo, still widely sold, reveals a scared, already-scarred Janis, looking terribly vulnerable.