LAURAL MEADE, in “Ms. Tucker Will See You Now.”

Fri., June 14.  LAURAL MEADE, in “Ms. Tucker Will See You Now.”
During nearly all of 2023, Laural Meade continued to perfect her rollicking Sophie Tucker show, tinkering with each iteration to ever more closely approach the asymptote of perfection.  Those in attendance in December who had previously seen the show only in its infancy were moved to remark how seemingly completely different, how delightful, and how terrific, the show now inarguably is.  One longtime Gardenia patron even remarked that this show has become what is “maybe the best show I have ever seen at The Gardenia.”

An established member of the theater faculty at Occidental College, playwright and musical performer Ms. Meade has sung in Southern California venues “both sacred and profane,” and directs a choir for The Secret City.  Her vocal musicianship has turned heads at The Gardenia Open Mike, where we were delighted to learn that she has penned this performance piece in which she exposits Sophie Tucker, “the Last of the Red Hot Mamas,” arguably the most popular entertainer of Tucker’s day, in a bawdy cabaret exploration of Tucker’s extraordinary personal life, career, and risqué song catalog.   Because its subject “worked Blue,” the show is constructed not for the faint of heart nor for the pearl-clutching pretenders of easy offence.  Using hilarity as pedagogue’s tool, Ms. Mead also mobilizes impressive musical forces to allow her audience to conclude the evening “educationally enriched.”  Repeat audience members are now bringing friends—quite the testimonial as word of mouth spreads……