Her first official recording came out in 1967. Her last was released posthumously in 1971.

Janis Joplin's death from a heroin overdose came on Oct. 4, 1970, just one month after the death of guitar legend Jimi Hendrix and less than a year before the passing of Doors frontman Jim Morrison. All three were 27 years old when they died, and all three became icons of a music and cultural era that still fascinates millions.

Playwrights and moviemakers have long been trying to capture Joplin's life, but it wasn't until 1999, when her sister Laura Joplin published the book "Love, Janis," that the source material was available to recount the real woman in her own words.

The book "Love, Janis," followed by a 2001 off-Broadway musical adaptation, is based on the Texas native's letters and interviews.

"Love, Janis" will begin a five-performance run tonight at the Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills. It stars Mary Bridget Davies and Andra Mitrovich alternating as the singing version of the blues-rocker. Marisa Ryan appears as the off-stage Joplin, expressing her hopes and feelings, mostly to her family, through letters.

The musical was adapted and directed by Randal Myler, and the music director is Sam Andrew, a founding member of Big Brother and Holding Company, which recruited Joplin as their lead singer in 1966.

The show features Joplin's biggest hits, including "Piece of My Heart," "Me and Bobby McGee," "Little Girl Blue," "Get It While You Can," "Ball and Chain" and "Mercedes Benz."

Before "Love, Janis" was even published, Laura Joplin had started looking for a writer to transform her manuscript into a musical.

"I was living in Denver at the time and reading play anthologies, looking for someone with the right voice and style," said Joplin, who was 21 when her sister died. "I read Lost Highway,' the story of Hank Williams, by Randy Myler. It caught me because it included the whole range of the man's personality. I thought he could do the same again."

Myler, it turned out, was also in Denver, and he had previously lived in San Francisco and was familiar with the music scene of that era.

"I showed him the manuscript and he fell in love with her letters and the way she was able to express herself. He took it and ran. At the dress rehearsal, I was totally blown away. I was transported between worlds where I was able to visit with my sister again."

The story begins in 1966, when Joplin left her home in Port Arthur, Texas, for a second attempt that decade at making it as a singer in San Francisco. This time, as the singer for Big Brother and the Holding Company, she found success.

The band parted ways after two years and two studio recordings. Joplin formed other bands and was working on a fourth studio album, "Pearl," when she died.

"I thought she would maybe fade away," Laura Joplin said. "But she became an icon. When this show first opened, it was a unique cross-generational event. People were coming who clearly had been hippies, bringing their parents to show them what this time was about."

Those who don't know much about Janis Joplin might be surprised to find that she was a funny person, Laura Joplin said.

"People can see that because Randy uses only her words in her cadence, so it sounds like her," Joplin said. "I have read numerous plays and movie scripts about her, and while the writers are well-intentioned, I don't feel her in them. With this show, it's like you really get to know her. I see people in the audience in tears, and later they are belly laughing. And when they leave the theater, they walk out feeling good."

— E-mail freelance columnist Jeff Favre at jjfavre@yahoo.com.