Laurel Meade in “Ms. Tucker Will See You Now”

A longtime 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 channels 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.   For those who were awed by, and for those unlucky enough to have missed, Ms. Meade’s March show, this booking offers the opportunity to catch this reprise.