Strong Arms

Hollywood is a helluva rough place, especially for a pre-pubescent funny girl harboring dreams bigger than her parents’ dingy, one-room loft. So starts Carol Burnett’s semi-autobiographical opus, Hollywood Arms. The coming-of-age tale was adapted from Burnett’s memoirs, One More Time, by her and her daughter Carrie Hamilton. For Burnett, who got her first break in the 1959 (yup, way back then) Broadway production of Once Upon a Mattress, Arms became a chance to let her theatrical roots shine again. And as you might imagine, the play’s plucky story brims with gumption, something Burnett’s never been short on.

Unfortunately, Hamilton succumbed to cancer in 2002, never living to see her joint work with her mother go on to become a hit at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and then on Broadway. But Arms is her swan song. And as the production at the Lake Worth Playhouse (713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth) comes to a close on Sunday, Burnett has offered a bit of her history to mark the occasion: A Sundance Theatre Lab crew jacket from the time when Burnett and Hamilton worked together on the play, signed by Burnett herself. Tickets to the show start at $23, while each raffle ticket costs $10. Call 561-586-6410, or visit www.lakeworthplayhouse.org.
Sun., Dec. 9, 2007