|
Sophie
Tucker Wows ‘Em We don't know about Elvis, but Sophie Tucker is alive and well, and has just entered the building! The duMaurier Centre in Hamilton, that is. Here Theatre Aquarius is presenting the world première of Valerie Boyle's musical biography of the legendary last of the red hot mammas, Sophie Tucker: last of the Red Hot Mamas, and although not many of us are old enough to remember the vaudeville stage career of the ribald lady who was proud to be fat ("I'm built for comfort, not speed"), most of us will recall the adoration and admiration with which Ed Sullivan would bring her into our homes in the 1960s. By then she was 80, and the big, brassy lady would barely fit onto the tiny screen. Although her brilliant plumage and ever-present handkerchief (to make her hands look smaller) were muted to a flickering black and white, and her colourful language was further censored by the proprieties of the new electronic age, she still carried herself with a flamboyant style that wouldn't be approached again for a full generation, when Bette Midler arrived on the scene. Boyle has brought Sophie Tucker back to life, in a swirling musical and comic series of vignettes both on stage and off, as we flip forward and back through time, reminiscing and foretelling as fast as Sophie's mind can take us. Throughout it all Boyle is accompanied by musical director Randy Vancourt playing Sophie's accompanist of 45 years, Teddy Shapiro. All the old favourite songs are there, and Boyle can, like Tucker could, belt them out when required, but what you'll remember most is the racy stories that we never would have dreamed our grandparents could have enjoyed as much as we are - stories still not fit for family media today, and yet not a single word that by itself could not be printed then or now. The show opens with Sophie on stage in London in May 1934, telling her famous stories about former husbands and current lovers, and in her dressing room immediately thereafter, as she scolds Teddy for imaginary miscues ("That's why I can never trust you enough to give you a contract"), and contemplates the command performance before their Majesties later that evening. But before we get to that crowning performance we will accompany her back to her 1906 stage debut in New York, relive her short-term career with the Ziegfield Follies, then whip back to her entertaining days in a "house of ill repute." Boyle's act brings audience members into the repartee and on-stage antics, and the ad-libs are as hilarious as the rehearsed patter. The result is a roller-coaster ride of hysterical proportions, as real and natural as if you were actually watching the original acts over Tucker's long career. Boyle's rendition of Tucker can be compared with the Jolson production, where Brian Conley actually "became" Al Jolson for his spellbound audience, an audience that did not necessarily have to enjoy the music of the era to be completely entertained by the star. Valerie Boyle deserves a similar world tour with her production.
A Big Woman, A Big Voice Val Boyle delivers convincing portrayal of Sophie Tucker
Sophie Tucker was a hard enough act to follow -- let alone impersonate.
But that's exactly what Val Boyle has done in Sophie Tucker: The Last
of the Red Hot Mamas. Written by Boyle after thorough research -- every incident portrayed is true to the letter and every word spoken on stage is taken from public performances or from the late Tucker's personal diary -- this show really comes alive in portraying the warmth and heart of Boyle. There is never a moment when it seems scripted, so thoroughly has Boyle immersed herself in the Tucker persona. Every mannerism, move, gesture, expression, quip -- everything about the performance is so natural to Boyle that Tucker's spirit seems to inhabit her for the duration of the performance. Set largely in a dressing room with occasional "live" stage performances interspersed, the production carries Tucker through a retrospective of her life, sometimes in dialogue with her trusted accompanist Teddy Shapiro (played by Randy Vancourt) but much of the time just musing aloud by herself. Boyle, like Tucker, is a great raconteur and the stories roll out as fresh as if they had happened yesterday, full of spice, innuendo and the pithy humour that was Tucker's trademark. She made no apology for being fat. In fact, she traded on it, making self-deprecating remarks, and that honesty travelled across the footlights. Audiences loved her for it. Tucker had a big voice when she wanted it, though she spoke many of her songs for suggestive impact. Boyle has this nailed down tight, for her own voice is certainly big enough when she lets it loose for the songs that demand it. From her birth to Russian parents "in the middle of Poland, in the middle of a snowstorm and in the middle of the road" to her death in 1966, nothing was ordinary in the life of Tucker. She lived every day larger than life and Boyle captivates the audience with every step of Tucker's journey. Married and divorced three times, Tucker announced that there wasn't to be a fourth Mr. Ex in her song I'm Living Alone and I Like It. Boyle's interpretation of these autobiographical tunes is pure magic. Where Boyle differs from others who have portrayed Tucker is in the way she becomes Tucker on the stage -- musically, dramatically and in appearance. No one else has managed to achieve this. Vancourt is actually playing the piano for Boyle as well as acting the role of Shapiro. He does a splendid job of accompanying in a honky-tonk style -- perfectly synchronized with Boyle at every turn of phrase and tenuto. The title of the show calls Tucker the last of the red-hot mamas, but perhaps that accolade belongs squarely on the ample shoulders of Valerie Boyle.
|