A Night With Janis Joplin
2 hours and 15 minutes, with one intermission
A Night With Janis Joplin - 2013 Broadway History , Info & More
Lyceum Theatre (Broadway)
149 W. 45th St. New York, NY 10036
"This is a night that will rock your world!" - Los Angeles Times
Like a comet that burns far too brightly to last, Janis Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967 and, almost overnight, became the queen of rock & roll. The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with southern comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock.
Now, you're invited to share an evening with the woman and her influences in the new Broadway musical, A Night with Janis Joplin.
Fueled by such unforgettable songs as "Me and Bobby McGee," "Piece of My Heart," "Mercedes Benz","Cry Baby," and "Summertime" a remarkable cast, and breakout performance by Mary Bridget Davies, A Night with Janis Joplin, written and directed by Randy Johnson, is a once in a lifetime musical experience that brings the music - and the woman - to life like never before.
A Night With Janis Joplin - 2013 - Broadway Cast
FEATURED REVIEWS FOR A Night With Janis Joplin
STAGE REVIEW A Night With Janis Joplin
6 / 10
It's a shame, then, that this musical doesn't give Davies much to work with other than her phenomenal voice. Written and directed by Randy Johnson, Night focuses on Joplin's musical icons - Bessie Smith (Taprena Michelle Augustine), Nina Simone (de'Adre Aziza), Etta James (Nikki Kimbrough), and Aretha Franklin (Allison Blackwell) - without revealing much about their influence beyond the fact that sheplayed that record until she wore it out, man. There's no trace of Joplin's juicy life - no gossip about what happened backstage at Woodstock or the Monterey Pop Festival, nothing about the night she allegedly broke a beer bottle over Jim Morrison's head, or her romance with Leonard Cohen, who later memorialized their relationship in the ballad 'Chelsea Hotel.' Instead, Johnson strings together broad clichés from her childhood memories, with Joplin's character insisting that women feel the blues more acutely than men, and that fans love blues singers more after they're dead. During one night of previews, an audience member audibly gasped 'Aww!' after the latter line, apparently unaware that Joplin died of a heroin overdose in 1970.
A long, loud 'Night With Janis Joplin'
6 / 10
What the blues are, exactly, is a preoccupying concern in this musical tribute, which opened Thursday at Broadway's Lyceum Theatre. They can be, Joplin tells us at different points, 'a good woman feelin' bad,' or 'the want of something,' or occasionally 'the devil himself.' Speaking these lines, Mary Bridget Davies, who plays the late '60s rock goddess, is utterly credible as a hippie icon, from her alternately blissed-out and earnest vibe to her groovy period costumes (the latter provided by designer Amy Clark). Yet under the direction of Randy Johnson, who also wrote the book, Night offers a distinctly post-American Idol version of the blues. Davies is accompanied on stage by a band and four other spectacularly gifted female vocalists, who alternate as the backing 'Joplinaires' and various artists whose work inspired Joplin's; and the fireworks they provide can border perilously on crowd-pleasing caricature.
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A Night With Janis Joplin History
Other Productions of A Night With Janis Joplin
| 2013 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
| 2016 | US Tour |
North American Tour US Tour |
| 2017 | US Tour |
2017 US Tour US Tour |
| West End |
West End |
A Night With Janis Joplin - 2013 Broadway Awards and Nominations
| Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Mary Bridget Davies |
| 2014 | Theatre World Awards | Outstanding Broadway or Off-Broadway Debut Performance | Mary Bridget Davies |
| 2014 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical | Mary Bridget Davies |
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