Love, Janis - written by : Diana Rexhepi 

What took place on November 8/08 Saturday evening in the Zagreb municipal theater "Comedy" can be described as a most impressive cultural and musical event in the recent Croatian history.

It was the opening night of the biographical music story "Love, Janis" that in a packed house of the "Comedy" theatre by its quality stood out and outperformed all similar or less similar cultural and musical shows produced in Croatia in the last 20 years. The story told from the other side of a too short a life of the last-century's greatest female rock-star, Janis Joplin, and the live performance of her greatest hits provoked in the audience a deep emotional charge, raptures, screaming, tears out of enthusiasm and even crying aloud of some audience members.

The most responsible for eliciting such emotions in the audience is Zdenka Kovačiček whose performance of Janis's hits, accompanied by the playing of the very best Zagreb rock-musicians, swept away all we have seen so far in musical shows since Croatia has become the independent state. But it was by no means a perfectly reconstructed Janis's look in costumes worn by Zdenka Kovačiček that knocked the audience off its feet.

By her voice as well as by the typical stage movements of the 1960s Zdenka Kovačiček as Janis Joplin gave so authentic and thoroughbred performance that now and then it seemed like Janis herself had resurrected and sung in the Zagreb "Comedy" theatre.

That's what makes this show, which will be a lot written and heard of even outside Croatia, so special. There's also an interesting commentary made by an experienced female musician who after the show said that it's questionable whether Janis herself, if alive, would be able to sing in a row all her hits like Summertime, Me and Bobby McGee, Cry Baby, Mercedes Benz, Try...

Even after 50 years of her career, the phenomenon known as Zdenka Kovačiček, herself a music institution, is able to surprise, provoke, elate and enrapture. In a magnificent and sophisticated way this phenomenon has been dictating music taste to the Croatian audience and shaping its sensibility.

Indeed, Zdnka Keovačiček is one of the highest-quality female artists emerged in Croatia in the last hundred years.

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Encouraged by the great success of “Love, Janis” Zdenka’s restless and creative spirit soon found the new challenge in the musical “Ella and Marilyn”, which had its Croatian premiere on March 24, 2014 at Zagreb’s ‘Komedija’ theatre. Just like in her previous musical, Zdenka Kovačiček got accolades from both the critics and the audiences. For the part of Ella Fitzgerald in 2014 she received the Croatian Actors’ Guild Award nomination in the category of the best actress in a musical. This interesting story paints the portrait of two great artists – Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe when they met during one special week in the 1955 United States of America. Already popular and a world-renowned celebrity, Marilyn Monroe found out that her favourite African-American singer Ella Fitzgerald cannot perform at the elite LA jazz club Mocambo. At the time of racial segregation in America, this sort of bans was very strong, so Marilyn decided to make a bold and risky move. She phoned the Mocambo club owner and promised to sit in the front row if he invites Ella to perform. The plan of the beautiful actress worked. She kept her promise and for the whole week sat in the front row and watched her favourite singer perform. Backstage, in the dressing room of the smoky club, the two megastars became friends and they changed each other’s lives forever.

This moving story about friendship, courage, fears and hopes that exist even in the greatest and most loved artists will give you a chance to take a sneak-peak in the souls of two special women and enjoy their beautiful music. Hence, you will hear Ella’s greatest hits, such as “Lady Be Good” and “Blue Moon”, while Marilyn will naturally sing (among other things) her famous signature song “Diamonds Are The Girl’s Best Friends”.

Zdenka Kovačiček as Ella, Vanda Winter as Marilyn, together with the live performance of the top jazz band and the ‘Komedija’ theatre’s ballet ensemble will make the audience of the famous Mocambo club seem like a distant and poetic time, back when the big stars were only human.