‘Tribute to Carol Burnett’ hits Jennings stage

JENNINGS – A Block off Broadway Community Theatre will present “A Tribute to The Carol Burnett Show.”

Performance are 7 p.m. Saturday, June 3 and June 10, and 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, June 4 and June 11 at the Strand Theater, 432 N. Main Street, Jennings.

“If you like good, clean family value entertainment and humor, this is for you,” director Joey Frazier-Cole said. “Carol Burnett was the queen of comedy and she always did it with clean fun and a lot of humor that is missing from today’s comedy.”

Producing the show has been a challenge for Frazier-Cole who has been a director since 1983.

“It’s the first variety style show I have directed, so it has been hard,” he said. “We are trying to incorporate so many things, but the biggest challenge has been trying not to copy Carol Burnett. We can’t mimic her, but we’ve tried to make it our own by using her humor.”

ABOB will bring several comedy sketches and songs from the Carol Burnett Show to the stage for the two-hour performance which opens with Burnett’s traditional question-and-answer segment with the audience and concludes with the cast singing the show’s closing number, “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together.”

“People can expect an evening of humor, belly laughs, great entertainment and sing-a-longs,” he said. “There will be something for everyone from children to grandparents who grew up watching the show.”

The popular variety series ran for 11 seasons, earning 25 Emmy awards.

ABOB’s production will include 5 songs and 10 best-known sketches featuring notable characters like Nora Desmond, a has-been movie star; Stella Toddler, an elderly woman who always ends up in mayhem and Tim Conway’s “oldest man,” an elderly, shuffling, senile man.

“We’re not doing the characters exactly as Carol Burnett, but we are using her words,” Frazier-Cole said.

Due to copyrights, the production will not be able to include comedy sketches from Mama’s Family, but a side set has been set up to resemble the Harper family’s home with a working television.

Old clips from the show and old commercials will also be played between scenes.

The cast features Helen Louviere, Shawn

McNielly, Cherise Rausch, Hayley Smith, Terry Lejeune and Jacob McCluer.

Hal Lamey will be the musical director for a live orchestra set to perform during the show.

Chorus and bit players are Sue Evans, Lin Fake, Vickie Fontenot, Velina Mire, Valerie Reed, Debbie Richard and Kennedy Vincent.

Tickets are $12 and $10 for those 60 and older. All seats are reserved.

Tickets are on sale 5-7 p.m. Monday-Friday.

For tickets or more information, call 337-821-5509.

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Carol Burnett

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Helen Louviere plays the part of Carol Burnett in the ABOB production

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The Carol Burnett Show

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