Although we lost the multi-talented Beatrice Arthur a few years ago, she is not forgotten. Arthur will be remembered again in Queen Bea—A Tribute To Beatrice Arthur performed one afternoon only April 17 in the season finale of the Lake Shore Salon Series.
Beatrice Arthur was the larger-than-life actress who delighted Broadway audiences as the original matchmaker in Fiddler on the Roof and the hard-drinking actress in Mame before she went on to star in the groundbreaking '70s TV series Maude and, in the '80s, the beloved sitcom The Golden Girls. While many know of Arthur’s television successes and Emmy awards, few know that early in her career, Arthur tasted success on Broadway and on the big screen, even winning a Tony Award for her role as Vera Charles, the feisty pal of Angela Lansbury’s title character in Mame. She would go on to play the same role in the musical’s big-screen adaptation; then opposite Lucille Ball. In her later years, Arthur performed her one woman cabaret show, Just Between Friends both on Broadway and in 2001 at the Park West Theater in Chicago.
Fellow silver-haired cabaret chanteuse, Chicago based Carla Gordon along with musical director, Beckie Menzie will be performing the salute . Cabaret Scenes magazine called Queen Bea “Hilarious….. touching”….and “show-stopping.” Gordon, cited as a “honey-voiced smartass,” in her most recent review, was a guest of Arthur’s director at Bea’s Memorial Celebration hosted by Angela Lansbury. “I learned so much that day about why everyone loved Bea,” Gordon shares, “Not only was she a remarkably talented woman, she was also a remarkable citizen, raising many thousands of dollars for homeless gay youth and for PETA and other animal rights organizations. And she was funny as anything. It is such an honor to be saluting this Queen Bea!”
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