‘Love, Janis’ explores the singer’s life through her own words.
That wild hair. That raw voice. Those hippie clothes.
When it comes to cultural icons of the 1960s, singer-songwriter Janis Joplin is at the top of the list.
A stage musical coming to San Luis Obispo next week seeks to lend new insight into the rock star behind such hits as “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Mercedes Benz.”
“Love, Janis” uses Joplin’s own words — letters, interviews, songs—to tell the story of her meteoric rise to fame as lead singer of Big Brother and the Holding Company, her solo career, and her tragic death by a heroin overdose in the 1970s.
Reflected in those words are the many sides of Joplin: a young adult exploring a strange new world, a woman struggling with personal demons and an inspiration for a generation.
“Janis was our spokeswoman. She was our goddess coming out of Haight- Ashbury,” explained Randal Myler, creator, adapter and director of “Love, Janis.” “For me, this is a fan letter lost in the mail for 30 years.”
Born out of memories
The journey to bring “Love, Janis” to the stage began nearly 20 years ago, when Janis Joplin’s sister, Laura, was working on a book collecting letters and family memories of her famous older sibling.
“The idea of doing a play had always been in our minds,” she said.
Laura Joplin spent months searching for a playwright to tell her sister’s story. Then she came across “Hank Williams: Lost Highway,” Randal Myler’s musical about the country legend who died in 1953.
Joplin approached him with the first draft of “Love, Janis,” and, after some initial hesitation, he signed on to the project.
Myler, it turns out, was the perfect candidate to bring Janis Joplin’s words to life.
As a high school student growing up in Northern California, he was a dedicated fan of the singer, attending her concerts at The Fillmore in San Francisco or the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa.
Even then, the self-described “little hippie wannabe” knew there was something special about Joplin.
“Up till then, women were supposed to sway and look pretty and play tambourine in the background,” Myler recalled. “We’d never seen a woman like Janis.”
Joplin’s stage persona was tough and sexy, a Texas roadhouse queen festooned with feathers and beads belting out the blues.
“When you watched her perform, it was a funny combination of a biker chick and a little girl playing dress-up,” said Myler.
Yet concertgoers didn’t see
Joplin’s other side, the smart, gentle small-town girl awed by San Francisco’s big-city glamour and eager for a career. “I’m not at all sold on the idea of becoming the poor man’s Cher,” she wrote in one letter to her parents.
“There was definitely another side of Janis that hadn’t been out there,” said Myler. “It interested me to (show) a chunk of her life.”
A premier in Denver
In 1994, two years after the first edition of “Love, Janis” was published, the stage musical premiered in Denver.
Like the book, “Love, Janis” opens on a nervous Joplin in 1966, explaining how she’s hitchhiked from Texas to San Francisco to join Big Brother and the Holding Company. It ends with her death at age 27 in October 1970.
Excerpts from Joplin’s letters and conversations with an offstage interviewer are interspersed with 17 songs. Further authenticity comes from music director Sam Andrew, founding member of Big Brother and the Holding Company.
Myler calls the show a “family scrapbook” — complete with frank talk about messy relationships and drug and alcohol addiction. The production is recommended for ages 15 and older.
“The play doesn’t hold its punches,” said Laura Joplin. “The drugs are there, the sex and discussion are there.”
Not that “Love, Janis” is a downer, she added.
“People get this idea that (Janis) was dark, but to be around her was to be laughing and having a good time,” Laura Joplin said. “Randy allows her to be this funny character onstage.”
Because the role of Janis is a draining one, each psychedelic production of “Love, Janis” features three stars: one speaker and two singers who alternate performances. Currently with the show are Texas native Andra Mitrovich and Mary Bridget, a top blues singer from Cleveland.
“We don’t try to do an impression of Janis,” explained Myler, adding that past performers include a Puerto Rican singer and a 300-pound woman. “If they have the balls to get up there and sing hard, then any of them deserve to do it. I’m not interested in doing one of those Las Vegas wax-figure shows.”
Myler even met his wife, actress Catherine Curtain, through “Love, Janis.” She joined the production in the mid-1990s as the first “speaking Janis.”
Still wowing audiences
Fourteen years after “Love, Janis” first rocked audiences, Myler and Joplin say the show continues to draw standing ovations and enthusiastic crowds.
During one recent weekend in Los Angeles, “They were just on their feet stomping and yelling,” Myler said. “It was wild.”
Laura Joplin said “Love, Janis” draws all types, from families and 20-somethings to boomers nostalgic for the Summer of Love. They may have switched from lighters to lit cell phones, but the reaction remains the same.
“I really like watching people watch it,” she said. “(Janis) still connects with people, and I love see that energy and excitement.”
Reach Sarah Linn at 781-7907.
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