Last Week Around the -ISTs
Schieffer's Out of Gov Race
May 28 - July 12
Zachary Scott Theatre Center (1510 Toomey Rd., Austin, TX 78704)
Kleberg Stage, Wed, Thur, Fri & Sat at 8:00pm, Sun at 2:30pm $38 - $52
[info] | [tickets]
If you weren’t there or if you don’t know Janis Joplin’s music and story, it’s hard not to be stunned by the fact that this 23-year-old girl, without the benefit of a star machine, a manager mommy, or winning a TV talent show was able to ascend to the place she did and continue to be a subject of interest almost 40 years later.
Love, Janis had a run in Austin originally over a decade ago, and has been successful in New York, Cleveland, and Chicago. A recent performance on a lovely Sunday afternoon was impressively three-quarters full, with an enthusiastic crowd of older people who had clearly been in their 20s at the same time that Texas native Joplin was.
The stage at Zach Scott is set up for a rock show, with small sets to the left and right for breakout vignettes. The dialogue, performed mostly by Sydney Andrews, comprises about half of the play and is taken from letters that Janis wrote home and interviews that she gave during her brief career. Interspersed are musical numbers, belted out with goose-bump-inducing grit by Andra Mitrovitch, who has had the long-held honor of being the voice of Janis and has performed worldwide with Big Brother and the Holding Company, Joplin’s original band.
If your only awareness of the great tragic 60s music martyrs is through old clips, these montages may feel strange. It’s like a bunch of Rock 'n Roll Re-enactors get out there with their period costumes and their vintage instruments and try to help us feel what the life and times were like. Andra Mitrovitch and Sydney Andrews are both very affecting in what is initially a sort of “New Darin, Old Darin” tag team portrayal that eventually works—the disconnect of “the star” vs. “the scarred” is well-communicated, and the faithful reproduction of the music is certainly accurate.
Ultimately, though it may piss off the hardcore fan, Gary Busey will forever be some peoples’ idea of WHO Buddy Holly was. For others, Gary Oldham was perfect as Sid Vicious, and one day too soon, many may cringe to realize that Vanessa Hudgens has been called upon to play Chrissie Hynde in whatever Behind the Music bullshit we’ll see around the next retrograde. This is the drill when you're witness to the animatronic Hall of Rock Stars.
What would Janis think? Hell, who knows? Generally, given the dynamic era she worked so hard to succeed in, it seems she’d be disgusted by the Tidy Life we have to offer girls who think they can sing these days. Wouldn’t you just love to see her cuff Katy Perry upside the head with a bottle of Southern Comfort, then go find Britney and get her pregnant again just by sharing the bottle?
Despite an off-color word or two that made a maven in the audience gasp aloud, Love, Janis forgoes the grit in favor of the gloss, because let's face it, we all know how this story ends—feather-bedecked Stage Janis opens up her melodic growl out front, in the spotlight, while Lonely Janis shoots up, in semi-darkness at stage right. The cautionary tale may have become cliche, but nevertheless, some may appreciate the safe view of the fame machine that took all the heart that a Port Arthur, Texas girl had to offer, and left her in pieces.
Love Janis runs through July 12.
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