Nora Bayes News

Before Madonna, before Marlene, there was the legendary Sophie Tucker, the Queen of Vaudeville and the jazz age, whose career spanned a sensational 60 years in showbiz. THE LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS, the Sophie Tucker Revusical, an original musical about the life of the Russian-born chanteuse features many of the songs she made famous including 'My Yiddishe Momme' and her signature song 'Some of These Days.' Tucker, born Sonia Kalish, was known for her for her bawdy sense of humor and outspoken views on men and relationships. Her legacy has influenced comediennes and singers alike for generations. During her career, which spanned over seven decades, this gutsy vaudeville entertainer found popularity and fame with self-parody and suggestive songs like 'I'm the Last of the Red Hot Mamas.'

Cabaret performers are always on the lookout for songs that they can utilize to define themselves as entertainers. It's all about trying to find your own unique niche in an ever crowding field, and Chuck Lavazzi has set about carving out his own piece of the pie by mining the whimsical tunes of yesteryear. Longtime actor Lavazzi made his debut as a cabaret singer at the Kranzberg Arts Center this weekend (March 26 - 27, 2010) with his interesting and informative show 'Just A Song at Twilight - The Golden Age of Vaudeville'; a tribute to this bygone and largely forgotten era.

'We love you, Liza!,' a faint, but audible voice yelled from what seemed to be a far corner of the Palace Theatre's mezzanine. And though the 62-year-old entertainer was understandably still catching her breath after a spirited vaudevillian delivery of Styne, Comden & Green's tongue-twisting comic masterpiece, 'If,' she suddenly stopped what she was doing, lifted her face to the direction of the adulation and with a soft, angelic look of wonderment, answered in a clear, strong voice, 'I love you, too. You know I do.'

A new musical revue at Birdland salutes women songwriters from Katherine Lee Bates and Nora Bayes to Donna Summer and Stevie Nicks

Her Song, a revue celebrating the work of female composers and lyricists, will open at Birdland on September 24th