Sophie Tucker

The Mandell JCC is searching for Hartford’s next Sophie Tucker to perform at the JCC in March 2015, when a new film about Hartford’s own Red Hot Mama makes its Connecticut premiere at the 19th Annual Mandell JCC Hartford Jewish Film Festival. “The Outrageous Sophie Tucker” captures the life and career of one of Hartford’s most famous daughters, the legendary star of vaudeville, stage and film. The Festival will be held March 12 – 22.

Open auditions for ‘Hartford’s Next Sophie Tucker’ will be held Wednesday, Sept. 10, 5 p.m. in the JCC’s Herbert Gilman Theater, in partnership with the University of Hartford’s Hartt School. Candidates ages 15 and up should prepare 16 bars of an iconic song from Ms. Tucker’s repertoire, as well as a brief comic monologue or audience interaction routine expressing her larger-than-life stage persona. Participants are required to bring sheet music or score in proper key, a photo and resume.

Paul Feyer, vocal coach and accompanist at the University of Hartford’s Hartt School will accompany those auditioning. The competition is open to students, the general public and all faiths and backgrounds are welcome. An honorarium of $1,000 will be granted to the winner, who will perform in front of a live audience at the Festival’s opening night, Thursday, March 12, 2015, prior to the film’s premiere at the Infinity Music Hall & Bistro on Front Street in Hartford.

For more information call (860) 231-6350, email hdobin@mandelljcc.org, or visit www.hjff.org. The Mandell JCC is located at 335 Bloomfield Ave. in West Hartford.