Sophie Tucker’s theme song, “Some of These Days,” by Shelton Brooks, is one of the milestones the legendary performer credited to her best friend, Mollie Elkins, her African American maid. After being coerced into listening to the song, said Tucker, she knew it was a song that would be remembered through the years. Just as this song became identified with Sophie Tucker, so did a certain attitude.

Saluting Sophie Tucker does not demand a spot-on imitation of every nuance, but there are personal traits and the songs must reveal the flavor of the woman and there should be an appreciation of the contribution she made to American entertainment. She was broad, independent and fiercely ambitious. A Russian immigrant, her bawdy humor and acknowledgement of women’s sexuality influenced later entertainers like Mae West and Bette Midler.

Cheryl Ann Allen, in her show, Sophie Tucker in Person at Don’t Tell Mama, takes care to bring the spirit of the vaudeville era, on and off the stage, and reveal the tenaciousness of the iconic Sophie Tucker. Dressed and speaking in the first person as Tucker, she recalls Tucker’s inimitable, emphatic renditions of songs like the sentimental “My Yiddishe Mama” (Lou Pollack and Jack Yellen) and “After You’ve Gone” (Henry Creamer and J. Turner Layton). She opens and closes with “Some of These Days,” a shrewd choice, indicating that future audiences may also appreciate her talent. The show was carefully arranged by Ian Finkel, with Allen delivering just enough biographical patter to bring about the following song and why Tucker sang it.

Allen’s emphasis was revealing the impetus behind this performer who chose to make a life alone much of the time. Tucker’s marriages were unsuccessful. She gave her son to her sister to raise. Allen was convincing with her delivery of “I’m Living Alone and I Like It.” Where the show falters is the showmanship and gusto. She is not physically as sweeping, nor does she work the audience as forcefully as Tucker. However, while Allen occasionally falters in her impersonation, the songs ring through with truth.

Sophie Tucker in Person has some smoothing out to do, but shows promise with Cheryl Ann Allen’s understanding, commitment, and hopeful release of her inner “Red Hot Mama.”

She repeats the show on May 21.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
April 28, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org