Jeannette Bayardelle, Phillip Attmore & More Set for LAST OF THE RED HOT MAMAS - THE SOPHIE TUCKER STORY Readings

Private readings by invitation only will be held in New York City for Last Of The Red Hot Mamas – The Sophie Tucker Story on Thursday, June 22. Two presentations are scheduled for 1PM and 6PM at Open Jar Studios (1601 Broadway).

Tony Award nominee Jeannette Bayardelle (Girl from the North Country) and newcomer Maeghin Mueller (My Fair Lady, national tour) lead a cast that includes Phillip Attmore (Shuffle Along), Alyse Alan Louis (Amelie), Nic Rouleau (The Book of Mormon), Mykal Kilgore (Motown the Musical), Josh Lamon (The Prom), Mark Price (Mary Poppins), Katie Thompson (Oklahoma!) and Julie Kavanagh (Hello Dolly, national tour). The reading’s cast also features Izaiah Harris (M.A.D.D. Rhythms), Graham Keen (Pretty Woman national Tour), Erin Moore (Shuffle Along) and Christine Sienicki (Radio City Rockettes).

Before Mae West, Marilyn Monroe and Lizzo there was Sophie Tucker – fabulously full-figured, funny and determined to make it to the top, whatever the cost. Last Of The Red Hot Mamas – The Sophie Tucker Story recounts the real-life beginnings of twenty-year-old Sophie Tucker and her best friend, Molly, a former Harlem headliner. Tucker goes on to become one of the first performing icons of the 20th century—a fixture in concert halls, Vaudeville, the Ziegfeld Follies and the storied Palace Theater. The musical will include many of the songs Tucker was famous for performing, including "I'm the Last of the Red Hot Mamas," "Nobody Loves a Fat Girl (But Oh How a Fat Girl Can Love)," and "Some of These Days."

Last Of The Red Hot Mamas – The Sophie Tucker Story is directed and choreographed by Shea Sullivan and features original Sophie Tucker songs with a book by Susan Ecker, Harrison David Rivers and Lloyd Ecker. Music Supervision and Arrangements by Sam Davis, and the reading is music directed by Greg Jarrett. Alfredo Macias is the stage manager, and Evan Bernardin Productions serves as general manager.

BIOGRAPHIES

Shea Sullivan

(Director/Choreographer). For over 20 years, Shea was the protégé of Tony Award-winning choreographer Dr. Henry LeTang. She was the assistant choreographer to Dr. LeTang for the Showtime movie Bojangles, starring Gregory Hines. Upcoming: YES The Musical. Her work has been represented Off-Broadway and in NYC theater in R.R.R.E.D, Neurosis (Chita Rivera Award Nomination), Polkadots – The Cool Kids Musical (Off Broadway Alliance Award), Pageant! (SDC’s Callaway Finalist, Drama Desk Nomination Best Revival), I’ll Say She Is, Once Upon A Mattress, and Pete (Her) Pan. Regionally – For Fords Theater: A Christmas Carol; for Westchester Broadway Theatre: Newsies; for Cape Playhouse: Little Shop of Horrors, The Drowsy Chaperone, Sweet Charity, Legally Blonde, Crazy For You, Kiss Me Kate; for Maltz Jupiter Theatre: The Producers, Will Roger Follies, Music Man (Carbonell Award), Crazy For You (Carbonell Award); for Barrington Stage: The Hills Are Alive, Ragtime (Berk Theater Critic Award Nomination), Southern Comfort; for Lyric Theater: Ragtime, Pageant!; for Arts Center of Coastal Carolina: Newsies, White Christmas; for Bay Street Theatre: Dames At Sea. DanceBreak '08. Proud member of SDC. Board member of the Ziegfeld Club. www.SheaSullivan.com

SUSAN AND LLOYD ECKER

(Co-book writers). In 1973, Ithaca College students Susan Denner (actress, English major) and Lloyd Ecker (comedian, business major) went on their first date to see an up-and-coming new singer named Bette Midler. Over the course of the evening, the couple fell in love with the Divine Miss M., her Sophie Tucker jokes, and each other. Over the last fifty years, the Eckers got married and had three children, three grandchildren and developed Babytobee.com. The sale of that business in 2006 allowed Sue and Lloyd to pursue their passion for bringing Sophie Tucker’s life to the page, stage, and the big and small screens. With a Grammy-nominated CD (The Origins of Sophie Tucker), an award-winning book (I Am Sophie Tucker), and a critically acclaimed documentary (The Outrageous Sophie Tucker) already under their belts, the Eckers are now taking Sophie's story to Broadway with a musical.

Harrison David Rivers

(Co-book writer) is an award-winning playwright, librettist and television writer based in St. Paul, Minnesota. His works include we are continuous (New Conservatory Theatre Center, Geva Theatre Center, Williamstown Theatre Festival), the bandaged place (Roundabout, NYSF), This Bitter Earth (Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre, White Bear Theatre, Seattle Public, TheatreWorks Hartford, InterAct, The Road, Richmond Triangle Players, Theater Alliance, About Face, Penumbra, NCTC), among others, and the musicals Five Points with Douglas Lyons and Ethan Pakchar, We Shall Someday with Ted Shen and I Put a Spell on You with Nubya Garcia. His television credits include “One of Us Is Lying” (Peacock), “The Nevers” (HBO) and “Wytches” (Amazon). Harrison is a recipient of McKnight, Jerome and Van Lier Fellowships, residencies with the Siena Art Institute, NYTW, Williamstown and Duke University, and commissions from Roundabout, Transport Group, Penumbra, Geva, La Jolla Playhouse and Minnesota Opera. He sits on the Board of Directors of The Movement Theatre Company and the Playwrights’ Center. MFA: Columbia University.

Sam Davis

(Music Supervisor, Arrangements) is a composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. Broadway credits as arranger include New York, New York (Tony nomination); An American in Paris, Big Fish, Holiday Inn, Gigi, Side Show, and the recent revival of Company. Film and TV work includes Beauty and the Beast (2017), Hail Caesar!, and A Christmas Story: Live. Other theater credits include Company and Joseph… in London’s West End, Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center and Seattle’s 5th Avenue, and The Beast in the Jungle at the Vineyard Theatre. As composer: Red Eye of Love (Off-Broadway), The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare in the Park). As orchestrator: NY Pops, San Francisco Symphony, Philadelphia Pops. Sam is a winner of the Jonathan Larson Award for Composition and a graduate of the University of Michigan.