Off-Broadway Run Of 'A Night With Janis Joplin' Canceled Until Further Notice
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Fans of the show "A Night with Janis Joplin" might have to come on and cry, cry baby -- or if they saw the show on Broadway, they may need to trade at least some of their tomorrows for one single yesterday.
Producers said Wednesday they had to call off the off-Broadway opening for the show. "A Night with Janis Joplin" made a splash in October at the Lyceum Theatre on Broadway, and was to open Thursday at the smaller Gramercy Theatre, 127 E. 23rd St.
"A Night With Janis Joplin at Gramercy Theater will postpone its opening indefinitely due to production issues. Refunds will be available for all ticket holders at point of purchase," a statement from the show's producers said. "Further information will be released when available."
Mary Bridget Davies had played Joplin on Broadway, and had been set to reprise the role at the Gramercy Theatre.
Written and directed by Randy Johnson, the show is described as "a musical journey celebrating Janis and her biggest musical influences – icons like Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Odetta, Nina Simone, and Bessie Smith, who inspired one of rock and roll's greatest legends."
Davies performs alongside a quartet of accomplished singers – singing "Down on Me," "Piece of My Heart," Mercedes Benz," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Cry Baby" and "Summertime" and other Joplin hits.
The show opened at the Portland Center Stage in 2011 and toured the country the following year, before playing two hit engagements at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. and arriving on Broadway in 2013.
A native of Port Arthur, Texas, the actual Janis Joplin became rose to fame as the front-woman for the San Francisco-based psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company in the mid- to late 1960s.
She went on to split from the band and begin a solo career, making a legendary appearance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969.
"The unmistakable voice, filled with raw emotion and tinged with Southern Comfort, made her a must-see headliner from Monterey to Woodstock," the website for the show said.
Joplin died of a heroin overdose on Oct. 4, 1970 at the age of 27. She would have turned 71 this past January.
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