Arts & Entertainment
‘Live as you are’
Joplin bio-musical recreates rock legend concert experience
‘One Night With Janis Joplin’
Arena Stage
1101 6th Street, SW
Through Nov. 4
Tickets: $45-$94
Mary Bridget Davis as Janis Joplin in the Arena Stage production of ‘One Night with Janis Joplin.’ (photo by Janet Macoska; courtesy Arena)
Classic rock fans love pondering what might have become of the greats had they lived. If you really know the history and their personalities, informed prognosticating on what might have been likely makes for great barstool conversation.
For Janis Joplin, it’s hard to say. With a woman so known for her give-it-everything — detractors called it histrionic — delivery, what kind of singer and performer would she have become had she not ODed in 1970?
Mary Bridget Davies has a few thoughts and having researched Joplin’s life for two different stage productions and fronted a rock band herself, she’s in a pretty good position to imagine.
“It’s really a shame she died when she did, not just because it’s sad she died of course, but I really do think she was onto something musically just then,” the 34-year-old Cleveland resident says. “When you think about what came along in music just after that with the Allman Brothers and that whole southern rock thing, it’s a shame she missed that whole movement because I really think she could have been the mama of that. You hear some of that on ‘Pearl,’ like with ‘Bobby McGee.’ I definitely think she would have stayed in music as long as she could because it absolutely was her passion.”
Davies reprises her role as Joplin in “One Night With Janis Joplin” which had a successful summer run in Cleveland and is at Arena Stage in Washington through Nov. 4.
During a lengthy phone chat last week, Davies says several scenarios for what might have been Joplin’s fate in a parallel universe are feasible — the legendary singer might have blown out her voice irreparably in time, gone more heavily into the blues she loved, mellowed out some vocally to pace herself or become a southern rock headliner. Part of the mystique, of course, is that we’ll never know.
The “One Night” show — which its creators say is as much a concert as a play — doesn’t pretend to guess. Rather it recreates Joplin’s live concerts — in a way — while including her influences and thoughts.
Playwright Randy Johnson, who’s written successful shows on other late music icons such as Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty and Patsy Cline, says the show sidesteps the pratfall of possibly becoming a cheesy tribute band-type production because he had access to Joplin’s art, letters and diaries.
Playwright Randy Johnson. (photo by Eric La Cour; courtesy Arena)
“Most of those types of shows are created more from a fan perspective as opposed to a true biographical perspective,” the gay, Los Angeles-based playwright says. “I’ve never done a show that didn’t have the support of the family. I wouldn’t do it. Because if you read a biography without the family’s input, what you’re really reading is an opinion.”
The two-hour show, which finds Davies and a live band tearing through 22 Joplin classics, is pared down from its original length. Johnson opened the show in Portland and found he could streamline the piece after seeing how audiences absorbed it. Any overlap in what was being said versus sung was cut.
Davies was an understudy for the Cleveland production at first, but eventually took over when actress Cat Stephani, who got good reviews as Janis in the Portland production, bowed out just before the Cleveland opening.
Davies says she thinks her predecessor “seemed really run down.” She understands to a point — reproducing Joplin’s no-holds-barred vocal fire eight shows a week could ruin almost anyone’s voice. Even Joplin herself didn’t do that — shows in the classic rock era weren’t the two-hour-or-more marathons they became later with acts like Bruce Springsteen. Neither was Joplin playing eight shows a week.
Davies says while donning the Joplin stage garb can yield a feeling of invincibility — “You step out in those beads and velvet pants and that little waist band thing might as well have guns in it. It’s like you’re totally the sheriff in these parts.” — she does have to pace herself. Being a singer herself, she travels and records with her own blues/rock eponymous outfit, helps. She also played Joplin in the show “Love Janis” in 2005 and tours sometimes with Joplin’s old band Big Brother and the Holding Company.
“I take very good care of myself from a health standpoint,” she says. “Sure, there’s a part of me that would love to go out after the show and have 10 drinks and smoke a pack of cigarettes, but you just can’t do that when you have to do it six more times that week.”
Johnson says he knew Davies would be great in the part.
“You really can’t approach this from a musical theater background,” he says. “You can’t just kind of wink at the audience and fake your way through it. Mary Bridget has Janice in her DNA. … The ones who came in (to audition) with the boas and so on usually don’t make it past 16 notes. She came in in a nice shirt and jeans, opened her mouth and just blew the whole table away.”
Oddly, Davies remembers Liza Minnelli being at the table during her audition.
“I think a lot of the girls buckled under her presence,” she says. “She and Randy are friends. She was sitting there, leaning in at the stage table, all smiles like the best stage mom you could ever ask for.”
For Johnson, who was approached by Joplin’s two siblings (who manage her estate) in 2009 about the possibility of doing a show, Joplin still has something to say even all these decades later.
While he fully acknowledges she had “demons,” he says the “drugs and craziness were only about 10 percent” of her life. When studying her writings, he discovered a “very gentle spirit with a great sense of humor who was not bullshitting anybody.”
A 1950s conformist hangover made it a lot tougher to do so in that era, he says.
“It wasn’t easy but she simply spoke and sung her own truth and audiences were drawn to that.”
Though the show doesn’t address Joplin’s bisexuality, Johnson says her story has a message for gays today.
“If you listen very carefully to the show, she’s telling you to be yourself,” he says. “Don’t bullshit yourself, don’t bullshit anybody else and live it while you can. You can lie but eventually it comes out, so I think her message is to simply live as you are.”
Celebrity News
My evening with Madonna
Gay icon headlined the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Editor’s note: International News Editor Michael K. Lavers and Photo Editor Michael Key will be on assignment in the Netherlands through Aug. 10. They will be covering World Pride in Amsterdam.
AMSTERDAM — Madonna and 6,000 of her closest friends celebrated World Pride at Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall early Sunday morning. I was fortunate enough to be one of them.
Madonna last Wednesday nearly broke the internet when she said on social media in Dutch that “I got somethin’ I wanna talk about,” referring to an opening line in “Danceteria,” one of the tracks on her “Confessions II” album that has received rave reviews since its July 2 release. The track has been on near constant replay on my playlist since I first heard it.
— Madonna (@Madonna) July 28, 2026
MISTR — a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term care that has organized Madonna’s Club Confessions shows in the U.S. and the U.K. — later confirmed the rampant speculation. I woke up on July 30 to an email in my inbox from MISTR and the World Pride Music Festival PR team that said I was on the press list.
Madonna was indeed going to headline the World Pride Music Festival that Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced, and I was going to be there. OMFG!!!!
The gay icon had one more surprise in store.
The Dutch internet on Saturday once again broke over speculation that Kylie Minogue was going to appear alongside Madonna. I was getting ready to leave our hotel in Amsterdam on Saturday night when I saw a video of the two of them together.
“Madonna is now teasing Kylie Minogue on her social media … she may be one of her ‘special guests’ tonight,” I wrote in a text to Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff at 8:46 p.m.
“Have fun! This is turning into the gayest concert ever,” he responded.
I arrived at AFAS Live shortly before 11 p.m. My press contact walked me and two other Dutch journalists into the venue’s cavernous main room known as the Black Box. We made small talk for a few minutes before I started to walk around and listen to Josh Harrison who was on the decks.
Madonna was scheduled to take the stage at 1:30 a.m., but she is known for being late — she is Madonna and she does what she wants. Hayla, a British singer, and Bebe Rexha are among those who performed ahead of Madonna. Thousands of sweaty men — including a group of Australians next to me who were eagerly awaiting Kylie’s anticipated appearance — packed the Black Box and were dancing, anticipating what was to come.
MISTR CEO Tristan Schukraft at one point came on stage and declared Madonna was indeed in the building. The moment for which we were all eagerly waiting finally came shortly before 2:30 a.m.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage.
Stuart Price, who produced her “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album in 2005, manned the decks during Madonna’s set.
She opened it with “I Feel So Free” from “Confessions II.” Madonna then sang “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria” to which this reporter — and everyone else — sang along.
Madonna then teased a surprise before she began to perform “Love Sensation.” Kylie soon appeared on stage. It was nearly too much for my fellow partygoers from Australia. It was indeed the gayest concert ever!
Madonna and Kylie performed “Love Sensation” together. They then sang “Hung Up” and “Sorry” from “Confessions on a Dance Floor” to round out the set that ended shortly after 3 a.m.
Madonna and I share the same birthday — Aug. 16 — and I would like to think she and Kylie gave me an early birthday present. In all seriousness though, it was an amazing night for me and for everyone else who was fortunate enough to be there.
“On the dance floor I feel so free,” says Madonna in the opening of “I Feel So Free.”
For those few precious hours at AFAS Live I did not think about the Trump-Vance administration and the myriad ways it is destroying the U.S. I did not think about the National Guard troops deployed to D.C. I did not think about the pointless wars that continue to ravage Ukraine and other countries around the world. I simply lost myself on the dance floor and celebrated an icon who has always stood with my community.
Thank you, Madonna.
The Petal Release Party and Drag Show was held at Spark Social on Friday, July 31. Performers included Tiara-Missou, Labianna and Darcy de la Cuadra.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Celebrity News
Madonna headlines World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam
Kylie Minogue made surprise appearance alongside gay icon
AMSTERDAM — Madonna on Sunday headlined the final night of the World Pride Music Festival in Amsterdam.
The gay icon took the stage shortly before 2:30 a.m. local time (8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday) during Club Confessions, a set that MISTR, a telehealth platform that offers free access to PrEP, Doxy PEP, STI testing, and long-term HIV care, organized.
“Mother is here and this is gay heaven,” said Madonna when she took the stage inside Amsterdam’s AFAS Live concert hall that can hold up to 6,000 people.
Stuart Price, who produced Madonna’s 2005 “Confessions on a Dance Floor” album and “Confessions II,” which debuted on July 2, DJed the set.
Kylie Minogue made a surprise appearance. She and Madonna performed a new remix of “Love Sensation” from “Confessions II.”
(Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)
“Throughout my career, I’ve always supported efforts to fight HIV and AIDS, and that fight begins with education and access,” said Madonna in a MISTR press release. “With MISTR, (CEO) Tristan (Schukraft) is expanding access to HIV prevention and sexual healthcare for everyone. Through this work, he’s helping preserve and strengthen LGBTQ+ spaces while investing in the communities and culture that have long sustained us.”
Minogue in an Instagram post thanked Madonna, Price, Schukraft, and MISTR.
Madonna appeared at The Abbey in West Hollywood, Calif., in April. Madonna in June celebrated Pride month with a pop-up performance in New York’s Times Square.
Jake Resnicow and Insomniac produced the World Pride Music Festival that also featured Bebe Rexha and Paris Hilton, among others.
“Pride has always been about bringing our community together,” said Resnicow. “At a moment when too many people are being told to hide or make themselves smaller, gathering openly, joyfully, and without apology matters more than ever. I couldn’t be prouder of what this festival brought to life in Amsterdam — one dance floor, completely free.”
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