It’s safe to assume that Sophie Tucker is not a performer known by the typical Hollywood Fringe audience member. Though one wouldn’t know it from the enthusiastic and nearly sold-out house for the opening performance of MS TUCKER WILL SEE YOU NOW, a show devised and performed by Laural Meade.
For those who know nothing about Sophie Tucker, Meade has a well-honed script, interspersed with songs, that offers a comprehensive biography of The Last of the Red Hot Mamas. From her birth in Ukraine, her childhood on the Lower East Side, where she first glimpsed and fell in love with Show Business, her unlucky marriages, her early successes and recordings, and her eventual rise to becoming a household name.
Even more important than the biographical details is how Meade demonstrates the brash and bawdy style of this extraordinary personality. Meade is not doing an impression. Her voice is too sweet to even attempt it, but she does channel the essence of this hard-working woman who was a headliner till she died. And she gets the laughs.
Meade also brings some of her own life and struggles into the show. They go far in explaining why Tucker’s persona resonates so powerfully with her. Meade did a long residency at the Gardenia with the Sophie Tucker character, which gives the show an ease and polish that is unusual in a Fringe musical production.
Meade is well-supported musically and comically by her delightful accompanist, Fred Cassidy. The able direction is shared by Cynthia Ettinger and Michael Schlitt.
All performances of the show are Pay-What-You-Can, which is all the more reason to check this show out.
Davidson/Valentini Theatre June 6 – 23, 2025 hollywoodfringe.org
