Laural Meade
Ms. Tucker Will See You Now
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 17, 2026
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Courtesy of the performer
There was a time when Sophie Tucker was the biggest star in the entertainment world— vaudeville, burlesque, Hollywood, Broadway, recordings, and even early television. She had a best-selling memoir and her own theme song, “Some of These Days” (Shelton Brooks). She was a pioneer in stand-up comedy, the first female star to work “blue” (for those naïve, “blue” means naughty, dirty, risqué). She was the godmother of Belle Baker, Joan Rivers, Totie Fields, Moms Mabley, and of her greatest champion, Bette Midler. And then she faded from memory. The Divine Miss M did what she could. There was also a notorious flop musical that ended several careers, but only show-biz devotees are familiar with her.
Laural Meade came to Don’t Tell Mama to recall and revive the memory of the remarkable entertainer. Ms. Tucker Will See You Now was a novel approach, as it was a biography of Tucker and Meade herself. The two women couldn’t be more different: Tucker was the child of Jewish immigrants, and Meade was raised in an Evangelical household in California. Tucker was an active sexual participant who, throughout her life, had three failed marriages, but Meade has had far less experience (she perhaps overshared a bit too much during the program) and has never married. Tucker spent her life in show business while Meade is a college professor. And yet, as a woman of a certain age (or a “post-menopausal hag” as she put it), she really connected with Tucker.
Interweaving details of Tucker’s highly dramatic life with her songs, which cleverly reflected it, Meade treated the audience to such forgotten gems as “I’d Leave My Happy Home for You” (Harry Von Tilzer/Will A. Heelan & Robert De Cormier/) and the very wicked “My Husband’s in the City (S.R. Henry). There was also the clever pairing of “Nobody Loves a Fat Girl” (Ted Shapiro, F. Langhenry Carver, and Sophie Tucker—her only credit as lyricist) and “I Don’t Want to Get Thin” (Jack Yellin/Milton Ager). By the way, Shapiro was Tucker’s accompanist and bantering partner, a role recreated in Meade’s show by the charming and mischievous Fred Cassidy.
The major flaw in the show was that while these numbers were individually delightful, they became a bit repetitive, mostly because they had little emotional content. It took until halfway through the evening before that started to be corrected, first with a medley of three songs about cheating husbands—“Cheatin’ On Me” (Yellen/Lew Pollack), “I Know That My Baby Is Cheatin’ On Me” (Chick Endor/Steinberg & Lambert), and “My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes” (Ted Koehler & Eddie Pola/Jack Golden)‚ which climaxed with the aforementioned “Some of These Days.” But it was Meade’s bravura rendition of “The Man I Love” (George & Ira Gershwin) that displayed the full range of her talents as a dramatic actress. The evening could have used a bit more (or a lot more) of this. Perhaps co-directors Cynthia Ellinger and Mike Schlitt could have helped with this misstep. But this, and an equally terrific and soulful “Yiddishe Momme” (Yellin/Pollack) were the real gems of the evening.
Despite these issues, this tribute to Sophie Tucker was a very satisfying show. A mostly unknown treasure trove of musical selections, a personable and talented performer, and a well thought out script added up to a great evening of cabaret theater. Hopefully, more cabaret performers will explore the now-forgotten aspects of the world of American entertainment.
