What started as a show about the late Lucille Ball, the late Fanny Brice and Carol Burnett has become a tribute focused on one funny woman.
Hilary Ann Feldman performs “Laughing Matters: The Life and Laughs of Carol Burnett” Feb. 13 at Freedom Hall in Park Forest.
“It’s a romp of a show. (The audience is) going to learn some things but they’re also going to have some nice strolls down memory lane. They’re probably going to fall more in love with Carol. I hope they do,” said Feldman (www.hilaryannfeldman.com).
“I remember watching ‘The Carol Burnett Show’ as a little girl. It went on the air the year I was born. The more I read about her, the more interested I was in her story,” Feldman said.
“For someone like Carol, who came from a childhood that by most standards was very rough, I marvel at how she knew who she was at such a young age and was able to have confidence despite some self-doubt and just go after things that mattered to her.”
When Feldman wanted to use an unpublished work by composer Ken Welch in “Laughing Matters,” sending a letter to him led to quite the surprise.
“He was an early coach for Carol in New York and became a special material writer. I found his address. He wrote me back. He said, ‘You should call me. We should talk.’ He was 88 at the time. We talked for a while. He said, ‘Would you like to talk to Carol?’ I said, ‘Yeah, of course. It would be amazing.'”
Welch passed along Feldman’s contact information to Burnett.
“Months later she called me on the phone,” Feldman said. “It was crazy. It was so great to talk to her. We talked for about 10 minutes. She was very gracious.”
Burnett asked Feldman to let Welch know how the May 2015 debut of “Laughing Matters” went.
When Feldman wrote a note to Burnett and mentioned that she would be first in line to get tickets to Burnett’s May 2016 show, Burnett sent a note saying she would put Feldman on the backstage list.
When the star arrived, “I gave her a video of ‘Laughing Matters.’ She called me the very next day and said, ‘I don’t have any way to watch it now, but I didn’t want you to think that I didn’t like it.’ It was really sweet,” Feldman recalled.
“I said, ‘I have no agenda here. It’s this show about you. It’s out there. I wanted you to have the option to see it. She called me one more time a few weeks after that, having watched it, and had very sweet, lovely things to say about it.
“It was nice to see that she really is that nice, giving person you hear about.”
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“Laughing Matters” includes Beckie Menzie, Feldman’s pianist for 10 years, performing some characters opposite Feldman’s portrayal of Nora Desmond, Eunice and Mrs. Wiggins from “The Carol Burnett Show.”
“It just tells Carol’s story from a little bit about her childhood and how she got her first big break and a little bit about her as a human being. It’s all told through music and stories and not all but quite a bit of music that is associated with her in one way or another,” said Feldman, who also is a cabaret, jazz and opera singer.
Jessi Virtusio is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
‘Laughing Matters: The Life and Laughs of Carol Burnett’
When: 11 a.m. Feb. 13
Where: Freedom Hall, 410 Lakewood Blvd., Park Forest
Tickets: $15
Information: 708-747-0580; www.freedomhall.org