Janis Joplin has a very small part in the soundtrack of my life. Piece of My Heart might get into my Desert Island Discs if they allowed a few hundred rather than eight. Still, she’s an important part of a key musical period, so I decided to give this a go.
The first thing to say is that it really isn’t a musical, not even an example of the much maligned juke box musical. The second thing to say is it’s musically very good. Both the singing of the alternate Janis, Hannah Jarrett-Scott, and the playing of the four piece band are exceptional. There are no characters other than Janis (apart from a brief intervention by the guitarist) who chips in biographical nuggets between songs. It’s really a concert tribute interspersed with some biographical monologues and on those terms it works.
It wasn’t the sort of show to see on a Saturday afternoon (but it was the only time I could fit it in) but The Stratford East audience lapped it up and gave them a worthy ovation.
Gareth's Culture and Travel Blog 
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