An Evening with Janis Joplin
A theatrical retrospective…
She was known as “Pearl” but inside became more like a withered rose. She turned the music world upside down but couldn’t set right her own broken heart and so she soared to the top and then crashed to the bottom. She died too young and, sadly, was done too soon.
She was; Janis Joplin.
On this evening, singer/songwriter Shelley Montreuil (known best as the lead singer for the jazz/rock/blues group TELL MAMA) will personalize this legendary late 60′s/early 70′s blues/rock singer in a production entitled; AN EVENING WITH JANIS JOPLIN.
AN EVENING WITH JANIS JOPLIN is a production that profiles three distinct periods of Joplin’s life and music. From her beginnings as a teenager (who would sneak out of her parent’s house at night to sing in coffee houses and blues bars) to the final years of big concert stages along with her band Full Tilt Boogie.
“This is meant to be more than a show.” Montreuil explains. “It’s meant to be an experience. I’m not trying to ‘channel’ Janis [she hates that expression] but rather we are trying to; investigate, project, profile and hopefully bring to life somewhat the essence of just who and what she was.”
To do this Montreuil will open the show by welcoming the audience to join Janis in a Juke Joint where she will perform the Leadbelly and Bessie Smith tunes that made her feel a connection … a purpose. The group will take you to San Francisco with their depiction of some Big Brother and The Holding Company arrangements and, ultimately, the evening will explode with the Joplinesque band revisiting the Full Tilt Boogie band and some of Joplin’s best known tunes like “Piece of My Heart”, “Tell Mama” and “Cry Baby”.
The show is built to share Janis’ story in a way that weaves the facts into the performance, hopefully giving the audience not just a great show but an opportunity to better understand Janis’ journey.
“Ottawa Valley Troubadour” Lyle Dillabough helped Montreuil to compose the script and appears in the show as well. He hopes to eventually take the show on the road and produce it in other venues throughout the province.
