Hollywood Arms (play)
Hollywood Arms is a play by Carrie Hamilton and Carol Burnett. It ran at the Goodman Theatre and on Broadway in 2002. The play is adapted from Carol Burnett's memoir One More Time.
Hollywood Arms
April 9, 2002
English
Dramedy
A dilapidated apartment building in Hollywood, 1941 and 1951
Background and productions[edit]
The dramedy is set in Hollywood, California in 1941 and 1951, and centers on the heartbreak and laughter shared by three generations of women living on welfare in a dingy apartment house. The cast of characters, based on Carol Burnett and her real-life relatives, includes no-nonsense grandmother Nanny; Louise, a beautiful, alcoholic mother determined to be a writer for movie magazines; Jody, an absent father who is struggling with his own demons; and Helen, a young girl whose only escape is the rooftop of their rundown building, where she creates her own magical world and dreams of a successful show business career.
The first workshop, still titled One More Time, was supported by the Sundance Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort in Utah during a two-week span in the summer of 1998.[1] Carrie Hamilton never saw her work reach the stage. On January 20, 2002, she died of brain and lung cancer. Burnett, determined that the play serve as a tribute to her late daughter's memory, brought it to the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, where it opened on April 9, 2002. Directed by Hal Prince, the cast included Linda Lavin as Nanny, Michele Pawk as Louise, Frank Wood as Jody, and Sara Niemietz and Donna Lynne Champlin as the younger and older Helen, with Barbara E. Robertson, Nicolas King, Patrick Clear, and Emily Graham-Handley in supporting roles.
The Broadway production, also directed by Prince, opened on October 31, 2002 at the Cort Theatre, where it ran for 76 performances and 28 previews. Most of the Chicago cast remained with the play, with Leslie Hendrix replacing Barbara E. Robertson.[2] Michele Pawk won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. Composer Robert Lindsey-Nassif provided the original score. Judith Dolan designed costumes for the production.[3]
Burnett, Pawk, Tyne Daly, Emily Skeggs, Sydney Lucas, Anthony Edwards, Cotter Smith, Jenny Jules, Caleb McLaughlin, Hubert Point-Du Jour, Will Pullen, Izzy Hanson-Johnston, Erik Liberman and Ben Wexler, directed by Mark Brokaw, participated in a one-time reading of the play on September 21, 2015 at Merkin Concert Hall in New York City.[4][5]