A Night with Janis Joplin

Peacock Theatre, London
August 27, 2024

It may be on at one of London’s main dance venues, but don’t be fooled into thinking this is a dance production or even really a musical. A Night with Janis Joplin is unashamedly a concert. It’s also a wonderful evening of blues and rock nostalgia, reliving the singer’s tragically short 27 years of sex, drugs, and rock and roll stardom.

Now an icon, Joplin exploded onto the music scene in 1967, becoming a household name after starring as the lead singer on Big Brother & the Holding Company, the debut album by the by the similarly named American rock band; and especially after her first solo album two years later, I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

Written and directed by Randy Johnson, supported by Janis’s brother and sister, Laura and Michael Joplin, the staging is a club, evocatively lit by Rob Casey.

Mary Bridget Davis is outstanding as Janis, with the rest of the cast and musicians following very close behind. The singers move, as singers do, and the backing singers do their ’dooby dos’ in the authentic ‘60s style, with what choreography there is, by Patricia Wilcox.

A recording artist in her own right, as well as being an award nominee and winner on many occasions, Davis leads a very strong and hugely talented cast, who sing and play their hearts out. As songs like ‘Me and Bobby McGee,’ ‘Piece of My Heart,’ and ‘Cry Baby’ come thick and fast, Davis’s performance is a tour de force, and well deserving of the standing ovation, which she, and all the cast, received even before the end.

For Joplin fans, A Night with Janis Joplin is obligatory. For everyone else, just go!

A Night with Janis Joplin is at the Peacock Theatre, London to September 28, 2024.