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Zagreb’s
KOMEDIJA
THEATRE presents Randal Myler’s LOVE, JANIS the songs, letters and soul of Janis Joplin in the title role ZDENKA KOVACICEK ______________________________ devised and adapted by RANDAL MYLER inspired by the book Love, Janis written by LAURA JOPLIN original performance conducted by SAM ANDREW Croatian translation by JOSIP JOE PANDUR stage and video design by DRAGUTIN BROZ costume design by MIRJANA ZAGOREC directed by LAWRENCE KIIRU Croatian and European premiere 25th October 2008. |
| Randal Myler’s greeting to Zagreb’s Komedija Theatre: ‘Best of luck! Janis would be proud…... She was a beautiful person and I know she would really love the fact that you are all honouring her songs and her spirit. Music transcends all boundaries of time and space... I was in San Francisco during the Summer Of Love... All the music and color and love in the air... We all really did think we could change the world... It was a wonderful time!’ |
| LAURA JOPLIN AND HER BOOK |
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The famous Kris
Kristofferson, whose song ‘Me And Bobby McGee’ was
immortalised by Janis, wrote about her sister’s Laura book
‘Love, Janis’ to be ‘a moving and wonderful tribute to a
moving and wonderful person’.
Laura Joplin
was supposedly impressed by the piles of books and
biographies written about her sister. But she was mostly
actuated by the events from 1988 when their home town Port
Arthur raised a statue of Janis Joplin, which was
commemorated with a big exhibition and other events in which
Laura in many ways took part.
At that time
she started to write a book ‘Love, Janis’, which comprised
of 4 years of researching and writing. The result was a
hefty biography with about 400 pages that included
photographs, personal letters and other documents, plus
cited sources and bibliography. The book was published in
1992.
Many people
feel that Janis Joplin’s successful career is the biggest
personal problem of her 6 years younger sister and that the
two of them are directly opposite characters: Janis was
funky, misunderstood and had artistic talent, while Laura
was a typical swot, envious of her older sister’s the
success and fame. Some parts of the book show traces of such
Laura’s attitude, since she didn’t approve or did criticize
some of Janis’ actions. On the other hand, it appears she
really tried to authentically explain many details and
reasons behind Janis’ actions and she also spoke with great
respect about her sister’s talent, especially her creativity
by placing her at the very top of blues music.
One must bear
in mind that Laura Joplin had a typical American middle
class education: she got a Ph. D. in psychology and
didactics. She is teaching and lecturing on the subjects
such as ‘The influence of the 1960-is to the current time’,
‘The strength and illusion of fame in our lives’ or ‘How to
make peace with the emotional aspects of our lives’. She
lives and works in Denver and together with her brother
Michael is a keeper of their sister’s heritage.
Besides ‘Love,
Janis’ Laura also published a sheet music and a song book
‘The Best of Janis Joplin’, with her greatest hits and other
songs. Recently Laura collaborated with Sony record company
on several Janis’ compilations, including ‘Pearl: Janis’ box
set’ and ‘Live at Winderland ‘68’.
One should not
forget that even today, almost 40 years after her death,
Janis Joplin’s records are sold in more than 300 000 copies.
The public fascination with songs, work and life of Janis
Joplin can also be felt in the intimate biography written by
her sister Laura, which served as a basis for Randal Myler’s
off-Broadway musical play of the same title.
It had its first European premiere in Zagreb, Croatia, in Komedija Theatre. |
| THE BAND |
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‘Love
Janis’, a musical play performed at Zagreb’s
Komedija Theatre, features a distinguished rock band
comprised of legendary and esteemed musicians from
Zagreb. Starting with the Zdenka Kovacicek, one of
the best Croatian rock and jazz singers who from the
start of her career had Janis Joplin’s songs on her
repertoire, the band members are the renown
guitarist Branko Bogunovic Pif, one of the best
Croatian bas guitarists Tomas Krkac, the esteemed
Neven Mijac playing the mouth organ and guitar, plus
the reliable drummer Kreso Rendic and the respected
keyboardist Danko Krznaric.
They are also providing back vocals to the unsurpassed Zdenka and their joint name is simply ‘The Band’. It has been put together especially for this musical play even though they performed together before as members of various Croatian rock bands. 
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THE CREATIVE TEAM of Zagreb’s Komedija Theatre production |
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LAWRENCE
KIIRU
director Born in Gitie, Murnaga, Kenya. After his primary and secondary education there, he studied stage and film direction in Academy of Dramatic Art at the University of Zagreb, Croatia. In the Kenyan National Theatre in Nairobi he directed Wole Soyinka’s ‘The Road’ and Jean Genet’s ‘The Maids’. He has been successfully directing numerous theatrical shows in Croatia: Athol Fugard’s ‘Sizwe Bansi is dead’; Dubravko Jelacic-Buzimski’s ‘Ponocna igra’ (‘Midnight game’); Dario Fo’s ‘Elizabeth’, Ronald Harwood’s ‘Quartet’ and ‘Taking sides’, Pam Gems’ ‘Piaf’, Eugene Ionesco’s ‘Exit the King’, Marijan Matkovic’s ‘Klitemnestra’ (Clytemnestra’); Marijana Nola’s ‘Sampionski nokturno’ (‘The champion nocturne’), Tanja Radovic’s ‘Nocna gusterica’ (‘Night lizard’); Zeljka Horvat Vukelja’s ‘Reumaticni kisobran’ (‘The umbrella with rheumatism’). He also directed puppet plays in various Croatian cities: ‘Ugly duckling’; ‘The wall made of flour’; ‘The African tale’; ‘The adventures of a little lion’; ‘Birds’ parliament’; ‘The bronze kettle’; ‘Christmas horn, hoof and bell’. He is also the director of radio plays for the Drama programme of the Croatian Radio. ‘Love, Janis’ marks his third collaboration with ‘Komedija Theatre’. He lives in Zagreb and works as a director on the Croatian National Television where he successfully directed numerous TV shows, documentaries and dramas. MIRJANA ZAGOREC costume designer Born in 1965 in Zagreb where she graduated costume designing at Faculty of Textile Technology. She has been working as a costume designer since 1987. Her notable costume designs include those made for the musicals: Brecht and Weill’s ‘The Threepenny Opera’; Elton John and Tim Rice’s ‘Aida’; David Yazbek’s ‘The Full Monty’; Jim Jacob and Warren Casey’s ‘Grease’ and John Kander and Fred Ebb’s ‘Chicago’, all of them in Komedija Theatre’s production. As of 2009, she is responsible for about 250 costume designs. DRAGUTIN BROZ stage and video design Born in 1952, graduated at Zagreb’s Academy of Fine Arts. Besides stage designing, he also works as a cartoon animator. He was responsible for stage design of Komedija Theatre’s 2004 production of the musical ‘Hair’. He has also been collaborating with several Croatian theatrical directors in plays such as C. Dickens’ ‘The Great Expectations’ and V. Sigarev’s ‘The Snake Pit’; R. Lepage’s ‘Polygraph’ and J. Fosse’s ‘Night sings its songs’. He is also a frequent collaborator with some of Croatian and Slovenian TV networks in their different programmes (news, drama, children, popular…). 
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© www.lovejanis.net © 2009. © By : David Dezsö