Hilary Ann Feldman
Laughing Matters: The Life and Laughs of Carol Burnett
Davenport’s, Chicago, IL, May 9, 2015
Reviewed by Carla Gordon for Cabaret Scenes
With Laughing Matters: The Life and Laughs of Carol Burnett, Hilary Ann Feldman presents an entertaining, thoughtful tribute to funny woman Burnett. Following an opening where Feldman, dressed as Burnett’s iconic charwoman enters with dustcloth in hand (used to dust front-row audience members), Feldman shares how Burnett struggled to make her way into show business, overcoming her dysfunctional, impoverished childhood. “On the Other Side of the Tracks” (Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields) exemplifies that well, as does “You There in the Back Row” (Coleman/Barbara Fried).
Of course, a Carol Burnett tribute is going to be funny and Feldman does not disappoint. There’s the dress made from the green drapes and curtain rod (created by Feldman), a bewigged Eunice seething with umbrage at “Mama’s remarks,” and Mrs. Wiggins’s captured-to-a-tee mermaid walk. Through it all, Musical Director Beckie Menzie serves as an effective straight man helping Feldman build the laughs to a hilarious comedy crescendo. Feldman sings beautifully and, in this show, more conversationally than ever. When she closes with Burnett’s signature “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together” (Joe Hamilton) and the sweet ear tug, we feel quite the same.
