dame edna farewell tour

Dame Edna Farewell

Dame Edna’s ‘Eat Pray Laugh!’ Tour: A Riotous Farewell

There’s something infectious about laughter, and those who wield it with the surgical precision of a well-wielded scalpel are a joy to behold. When these words of truth are reiterated by the likes of ‘Metro UK’, which boldly proclaims, “My God, you’ll laugh,” it suggests an event that will be an unparalleled celebration of humor.

Stars, Spangles, and Sequins: The Ultimate Dame Edna Experience

One such uproarious event is ‘Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye, The Farewell Tour’. With her trademark wit firmly in place, Dame Edna dazzles on stage creating one highlight after another with her sharp-tongued and acerbically funny routine. No surprise then that ‘Los Angeles Times’ lauds ‘Edna’s wit as dazzling’. The entertaining phenomenon that is Dame Edna leaves her audience in uncontrollable fits of laughter, earning her recognition as ‘unmistakable’ by ‘Los Angeles Daily News’. In appreciation of her talent, ‘Broadway World’ validates Edna as an ‘International Treasure’.

Laughter Abounds: Celebrating the Comic Genius of Barry Humphries

The hysteria cultivated in the tour is the vital trail of Barry Humphries, the genius who breathes life into Dame Edna, leaving the audience in stitches wherever he tours. Following a spectacular opening at the London Palladium, Humphries garnered rave reviews from critics. The ‘Daily Telegraph’ called his show ‘unalloyed comic pleasure,’ while ‘The Times’ acclaimed, ‘Dame Edna sweeps all before her. Barry Humphries is bowing out at the top of his game.’

A Dazzling Round-up: The Eat Pray Laugh! Tour

Venturing into the heart of America, the tour includes dazzling stops at Seattle’s Moore Theatre, Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre, San Francisco’s Orpheum Theatre, Palm Desert’s McCallum Theatre, Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre, and Washington DC’s National Theatre. Each city welcomed Dame Edna with open arms, lending further credence to her celebrated international status.

The Final Curtain Call for Edna: Farewell to Comedy Royalty

With this farewell tour, we bid adieu to one of the funniest dames ever known in show business. ‘Los Angeles Downtown News’ aptly states, ‘Dame Edna Everage is back, and she’s as sharp-tongued and acerbically funny as ever.’ The laughs are uproarious, the experience unforgettable, and as pointed out by Edge.com, it is indeed a ‘truly hilarious, laugh-filled evening.’

‘Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye, The Farewell Tour’ produced by the Diana Group, ensures a rollicking good time. As the dame herself twinkles from the stage, you will just hold your sides and helplessly exclaim, “My God, you’ll definitely laugh!”

A Final Ovation

So to those who experienced the tour spectacle – congratulations on being part of a comedic history. For those who missed it, fret not, the echoes of laughter, delightful joy, and impressions of Dame Edna’s sparkling spectacle will continue to reverberate in the theatre world. After all, we’ll always have the chuckles, the memories, and the fabulous legacy of Dame Edna’s humor to hold dear in our hearts.

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‘dame edna’s glorious goodbye: the farewell tour’: theater review.

Notching up as many farewell tours as Cher, the vainglorious Melbourne hausfrau calls it quits after sixty years… again.

By Jordan Riefe

Jordan Riefe

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Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye The Farewell Tour - H 2015

The last time Barry Humphries was in town with his inimitable alter ego was a 2009 stop of  Dame Edna: My First Last Tour . If you missed it you’re in luck because the octogenarian drag raconteur with the lavender wig and acidic wit is currently on her second final tour, Dame Edna’s Glorious Good-bye: The Farewell Tour .

This one comes packed with the usual audience-ripping ad libs, goofy dancehall numbers and tales of her journey from average Australian housewife to international busybody and Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Add to that a Tony Award, an Australian Centenary Medal and an honorary doctorate and it’s easy to see that Humphries has achieved a lot in his 60-year career. Even so, with this sometimes hilarious but mainly amusing “final” iteration, it’s probably the right time for Edna to hang up her size nine heels and diamante glasses for good.

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After filmed testimonials from people like Hugh Jackman , who recalls Edna pulling him aside for “special time” when he was her student, and Geoffrey Rush , who notes she was “sexually insatiable,” Edna took the stage opening night in front of adoring fans like Pierce Brosnan , Anjelica Huston and George Takei , though those weren’t the faces that caught her eye. Instead it was Anji from Highland Park, Virginia from Beachwood Canyon and Norma the social worker. These three ladies had the unfortunate luck of sitting in the first few rows, directly in Edna’s line of fire, where she dissected their outfits, their homes and even their names. “We all have to struggle for individuality,” she said of the idiosyncratic spelling of Anji’s name.

Insult comedy done wrong can often feel mean-spirited, but no matter how cutting Edna’s comments she can’t help but come off as good-humored, even when she’s tormenting the cheap seats in the upper balcony, promising to glance their way “in exact proportion to what you have paid.” She also turns the lens on herself, recalling the passing of her husband after a struggle with prostate cancer, (lamenting, “how long I lived with my husband’s prostate hanging over my head”), and her son from West Hollywood who has become an entrepreneur. “It’s French for failure,” she explains.

Read more: ‘Serrano the Musical’: Theater Review

By the time Edna got to “Me Time,” her big number backed by a quartet of dancers, the goodwill accumulated over her long career still energized the audience even if many of the bits were recycled and not all that funny. A one-man show lasting a whopping two hours and twenty-five minutes implies a strong dose of confidence or a strong dose of daring on the part of Humphries. Either way, it’s a bit too much of a good thing.

When he first discovered Edna back in the mid-1950s, Humphries was a known prankster and Dadaist from Melbourne. The character quickly became a success, shaking up parochial Australian mores and catapulting Humphries to stardom. No doubt a large part of her initial appeal was the outrageous combination of cross-dressing and social commentary. But what once might have passed as outrageous satire has, over the decades, lost any whiff of the outré. Not that it matters much. If all Edna had to offer were gimmicks, she would not have thrived for as long as she has. To the uninitiated she is a pair of cat-eye glasses and a goofy wig, but her fans all know it’s her mischievous wit and nimble tongue that seals the deal.

The second half of the show is more structured than the first, with Edna recalling her recent trip to an Indian ashram. “A trailer park for the soul,” she explained. “The Dalai Lama checked in as Leonard Cohen , and Oprah checked in as the Dalai Lama. Bill Cosby checked in as O.J. Simpson , and he even offered to freshen up my drink.”

Read more: ‘Anna Christie’: Theater Review

In time, two unfortunates were drawn from the audience to be “solemnized” by Edna in a marriage-like ritual. After the ceremony, relatives were phoned with the good news as the audience listened in. It’s a rich comedic situation that can hardly fail to get laughs, and like a preening puppet master Edna orchestrates it to full effect.

In the end, Edna launched into her final number and, as is her custom, gladioli were distributed throughout the audience and we all became part of the act, swaying our stems in time to the music. It made for a poignant moment if this really is Humphries’ last hurrah, upstaged only by the moment that followed as he appeared in the spotlight out of drag in a double-breasted suit and waggishly tilted fedora. Addressing the audience on Edna’s origins, he beseeched them to come along on his next farewell tour as he wiped away a tear. And they probably will, too.

Cast: Barry Humphries, Ralph Coppola, Brooke Pascoe, Eve Prideaux, Armondo Yearwood, Jr.

Director: Simon Phillips

Playwright: Barry Humphries

Set designer: Brian Thomson

Costume designer: Stephen Adnitt

Lighting designer: Aaron Spivey

Musical director: Jonathan Tessero

Presented by Dainty Group International, Team Edna & the Barry Humphries Conglomerate and Center Theatre Group

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Dame Edna and Barry Humphries' The Final Farewell Tour at The National Theatre

Dame Edna and Barry Humphries' The Final Farewell Tour

Dame Edna is one of the greatest stars of the last 50 years - the "housewife superstar" has played the West End and Broadway on numerous occasions, performing to packed theaters, including the Royal Albert Hall at the "Last Night of the Poms." She has made countless appearances for the Royal Family; has many television credits including the legendary UK special A Night on Mt. Edna, as well as her own innovative chat show The Dame Edna Experience; and has played to sold-out audiences around the world. In this show, surrounded by spectacular sets and dancers, Dame Edna promises to "empower" audiences as she meditates on the big issues of loss, gender, climate change, gay marriage, and ethnicity.

Thru - Apr 26, 2015

Show Type: Performance Art

Box Office: 202-628-6161

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Dame Edna and Barry Humphries' The Final Farewell Tour Reviews

Md theatre guide - highly recommended.

"...Wonderful news, possums! The megastar, psychic and spiritual guide, Dame Edna Everage, is at The National Theatre in Washington, DC for (another) final bow in Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour. It’s hard to believe that Tony Award-winner (The Royal Tour) Barry Humphries’s alter ego, Dame Edna, is 60 years old. This is a character he created at university in Melbourne – which makes the Australian actor 81. Directed by Simon Phillips who directed the original Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, it all goes by too fast. By the end of the show, your whole body will be aching from non-stop laughter."

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Dame Edna & Barry Humphries’ Final Farewell Tour

Ahmanson Theatre , Los Angeles

About This Show

In a side-splitting, historic finale, Barry Humphries, with his beloved creation – Dame Edna Everage, is capping a spectacular career spanning 50 years of bravura showmanship in this farewell to celebratory, sold-out performances across world. With her take-no-prisoners comedy and hijinks, Dame Edna is not going out with a whimper: No one is safe from the Dame’s wicked tongue.

Show Details

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Dame Edna says a sassy goodbye on farewell tour

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In her (alleged) final farewell American tour, the irresistible, irrepressible Dame Edna Everage gives her recipe for a dream retirement: Eat. Pray (she learned how to recently, at an Indian ashram). And laugh.

From her impeccable mauve hair to her flouncy, sparkling dress (a hand-me-down from Charo?) to her silvery pumps, this former Melbourne, Australia, housewife is all about making her devoted flock laugh themselves silly.

She is doing just that The Moore Theatre through Sunday. And at 80, with a little help from a teleprompter onstage, Dame Edna (created and performed by Barry Humphries) is still wallowing in her shameless gloriousness.

If you are among the uninitiated, try to visualize a unique gigastar (that’s a notch above megastar), wildly overdressed and sporting rhinestone-studded, wingtip glasses, while gleefully lording it over her besotted audience and — well, the entire planet.

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Though her show is plumped up with some hilarious “biographical” and testimonial video (Hugh Jackman says some naughty things about her), and a few Noël Coward-esque ditties performed with a pianist and a few chorus boys and gals, the heart of La Dame’s act is stand-up comedy laced with improvisation and smiling venom.

Be warned: She picks out audience members to coo over and mock. She matchmakes a superbly unlikely couple and marries them onstage. She rats on her disappointing adult children. (“The secret of a good life is, family comes last!”)

But while you may feel a twinge of guilt guffawing over her put-downs of “senior citizens” in the crowd, and those dressed “affordably” but not up to her high-kitsch standards, do remember this:

Everything about dear Edna, and everything that has vaulted her during the past 30 years from a variety skit to a favorite of the Royal Family and legions of fawning “possum” fans, is fabulously phony. She’s a sharply satirical, irony-drenched cartoon of a celebrity famous for being famous — and an imperious arbiter whose heavily lipsticked mouth grimaces with horror, or queasiness, when she’s displeased.

Humphries is simply a genius at lampooning the kind of done-up, imperious auntie who behind your back (or to your face), sweetly critiques your outfit, choice of mate, your decorum, aging process, income bracket and sexuality.

When she gazes up at the Moore balcony and refers to those in the “cheap seats” as “les miserables,” she’s both affectionate and dismissive, wildly un-P.C. and brutally frank.

In her defense, Dame Edna insists she has “mild Asperger’s syndrome” and “says the things other people wished they could say” but keep a lid on. And she does it with the kind of Aussie cheek and randiness (loads of double entendres) that thoroughly demolish any pretensions to good taste.

Like all great improvisers, Humphries does his local homework. So in Seattle (the first major stop on the “Glorious Goodbye” tour, and, she says, “a part of America little bit off the beaten track”) Edna is also taking mild swipes at Bellevue, Mayor Murray and Big Bertha, along with digs at Bill Cosby (“he offered to freshen up my drink”) and ashram-slumming.

Some of the new material had not quite jelled, and a telephone bit ran into difficulties. Some nipping and tucking, pardon the expression, will likely occur during the run.

But Edna emerged from her ashram retreat with even more blazing ego than before. “I adore myself!” she crowed, before her usual finale of flinging gladioli to the masses.

The feeling is mutual, dear lady. And Humphries, who takes a well-earned bow in male garb, is a big tease. He hints we may not have seen the last of you yet.

Misha Berson: [email protected]

Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye - The Farewell Tour 2015

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Scott Simon Books

After 60 Years Of Fabulousness, Dame Edna Embarks On Her Farewell Tour

MARCH 07, 2015, Scott Simon

Listen to the story

Dame Edna Everage says she’s approaching 60 — but from the wrong direction. The housewife and superstar — a creation of Australian comedian Barry Humphries — has been making audiences laugh, weep, have acid reflux, and ruminate deeply on the human experience for six decades.

Now, she’s embarked on Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour, which concludes in Washington, D.C., in April. Dame Edna tells NPR’s Scott Simon that she’s a “restless sprit” and it’s not entirely clear what “retirement” will look like for her.

On this farewell tour really being a farewell tour

Dame Edna participates with her fans in a Zumba fitness class at Martin Place in Sydney, Australia, in January 2013. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

I’m not like a number of stars that I could mention who announce farewell tours, collect the money, and then come back a year later and expect to do it all over again. I consider that dishonest. It doesn’t mean I’ll disappear. I might do television things. …

But, on this tour, I really find, not just strange hotels — even though I’m in the luxury penthouse so often — but airports , darling. I mean, going through that whole business. I think your listeners probably think that I just get swept straight through, but it’s not the case. And I’ve never had a private plane, I don’t believe in that kind of elitism. But I have to pretty well take all my clothes off. I have to subject myself to pretty ruthless searches — some of them an affront to my modesty, frankly.

“I looked at my face about 10 years ago … and I thought to myself, ‘What have I done? A pact with the devil? Why am I looking so young and so unconventionally lovely? Why?”- Dame Edna Everage

On how she’s kept her looks all these years

It’s so simple. Now, I looked at my face about 10 years ago … and I thought to myself, “What have I done? A pact with the devil? Why am I looking so young and so unconventionally lovely? Why?”

And, I thought what I need to do is to age myself in some way. I have to look normal. People won’t believe it! So I went to Brazil, and I saw the top man there, of course, a cosmetic surgeon. And I said, “Look, I need to look my age!”

He said, “Well Edna your hair is still a natural, very, very natural mauve.” I was born, by the way, Scott, with this color. I was. It’s very unusual. Very unusual. … But, I said to the doctor, “Well what can you do?”

And he said, “Well Edna, you must have some little crow’s feet! … We’ll give you some crow’s feet.”

And he said, “What you need – your neckline is perfect! You haven’t got that horrible turkey neck.” He said, “You need a little soft, double chin. A soft little pillow, a little cushion under your chin.” …

And do you know what he did? I saw him delving in a sort of white box, a freezer. And he pulled out a little shrink-wrapped package. It looked like a chicken breast. And he said, “We’ll stitch this on. And it will settle in. And it will give you a lovely double chin.”

And I said, “What is that?” He said, “What? More like what was it, Edna … That was Elizabeth Taylor’s left love handle.”

Elizabeth Taylor’s love handle is now my soft, little chin. And if you look at it very closely, you can see some indentations where Richard Burton’s fingers held. … Isn’t it beautiful? It’s history in my face. History.

Copyright © 2015 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.

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‘Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye – The Farewell Tour’ at The National Theatre by Gina Jun

Capping a spectacular career spanning nearly 60 years of bravura showmanship, legendary 81-year-old Australian comedian, actor, satirist, artist and author Barry Humphries performed as his charismatic, flamboyant alter ego Dame Edna Everage in the debut of  Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour  at National Theatre Tuesday night,   which is scheduled to run through April 26th.

Set on a simple stage, accentuated with a backdrop of her signature stylishly bedazzled, cat-eyed glasses, the show opened with a nostalgically humorous film tracing the lady’s career from her early days in Australia to becoming the “approaching 60 — but from the wrong direction” one-of-a-kind housewife and internationally celebrated megastar. Celebrities like Hugh Jackman, Kelly Osbourne and Geoffrey Rush make cameos in the introductory video – all shedding light on Edna’s monstrous megalomania and wondrous inappropriateness, prepping the audience for her grand entrance and outrageous antics to follow.

Primed by Musical Director and Onstage Accompanist Jonathan Tessero, Dame Edna sparkled in an extravagantly embellished, electric pink dress, sashaying alongside a sensational ensemble of talented singer-dancers (Ralph Coppola, Brooke Pascoe, Eve Prideaux, and Armando Yearwood, Jr.), lovingly launching into one-on-one assaults of unsuspecting audience members in the first few rows, intermittently seguing into jubilant musical numbers and uniquely vibrant monologues only she could deftly deliver.

Directed by award-winning Simon Phillips who directed the original  Priscilla Queen of the Desert  and  First Wives Club  with design by Tony Award-winning Brian Thomson who designed the original Australian and London productions of  Jesus Christ Superstar  and  The Rocky Horror Show , the 135-minute production flashed fast, fueled with razor-sharp wit and astutely amusing ad libs. Whenever Edna meets and greets her unbeknownst prey, she does not ‘pick on them’ so much as ’empower’ them, stirring an entertaining gabfest with a myriad of sarcastic jokes and hilarious jibes.

Throughout most of the show, Edna picks people from the audience with whom to converse – and tenderly tease. Edna begins by sizing up willing victims/audience members and commenting on their homes, their hairdos or their wardrobes. “You dressed for a special occasion,” she croons at an unwary target, “like helping a family pet give birth.”  She mocks the audience in the balcony seats relentlessly, calling them “paupers”, “Les Miserables” or “misies,” suggesting that they are more than slightly familiar with shopping at Walmart and only promising to glance at them from time to time “in strict proportion to what they’ve paid.”

In the second act, she brings two very unlikely and credulous individuals up onstage ultimately performing an impromptu wedding with them, photographs and all. Edna even went as far as calling the newly anointed husband’s father to announce that his gay son had married a new older woman. Along with the spontaneous nuptials, there was also a marvelous monologue about visiting an ashram for six months with Edna claiming to be on a spiritual journey, divesting herself of material possessions. To demonstrate, she gives away one of her elaborate diamond bracelets to an audience member in the front row but later riotously coaxes the recipient to give it back.

True to form, Edna concluded her extraordinary performance with the Gladdie  song, fashioning a fun floral finale by tossing gladioli as far as she could into the audience. “Up, up, stand and tremble,” she roused and each selectee cheerily and demonstratively did as she directed. Upon the song’s end, Edna recedes from the stage to make way for film montage of Humphries’s characters, about a dozen in all, each of whom takes a cinematic bow. Then, in formal tux attire crowned with a fedora hat, Humphries appeared in his own persona and graciously bid the audience a heartfelt adieu — until the next time Edna’s farewell tour rolls around. Perhaps, this is simply the first of many farewell appearances.  One can only hope.

Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, with one 20-minute intermission.

Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour plays through April 26, 2015 at National Theatre – 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, in Washington, DC.  For tickets, visit the National Theatre Box Office, call (800) 514-3849, or purchase them  online .

https://youtu.be/p551NBFhEVQ

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Dame Edna creator Barry Humphries dies at age 89

The Associated Press

Barry Humphries performs as Dame Edna for a farewell tour in London on Nov. 13, 2013. Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, died on Saturday in Sydney. Joel Ryan/Joel Ryan/Invision/AP hide caption

Barry Humphries performs as Dame Edna for a farewell tour in London on Nov. 13, 2013. Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage, died on Saturday in Sydney.

CANBERRA, Australia — Tony Award-winning comedian Barry Humphries, internationally renowned for his garish stage persona Dame Edna Everage , a condescending and imperfectly-veiled snob whose evolving character has delighted audiences over seven decades, has died. He was 89.

His death was confirmed Saturday by the Sydney hospital where he spent several days with complications following hip surgery.

Humphries had lived in London for decades and returned to native Australia in December for Christmas.

Performing Arts

After 60 years of fabulousness, dame edna embarks on her farewell tour.

He told The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper last month that his physiotherapy had been "agony" following his fall and hip replacement.

"It was the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents are. I was reaching for a book, my foot got caught on a rug or something, and down I went," Humphries said of his fall.

Humphries has remained an active entertainer, touring Britain last year with his one-man show "The Man Behind the Mask."

The character of Dame Edna began as a dowdy Mrs. Norm Everage, who first took to the stage in Humphries' hometown of Melbourne in the mid-1950s. She reflected a postwar suburban inertia and cultural blandness that Humphries found stifling.

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!

Not my job: dame edna everage gets quizzed on farewell tours.

Edna is one of Humphries' several enduring characters. The next most famous is Sir Les Patterson, an ever-drunk, disheveled and lecherous Australian cultural attache.

Patterson reflected a perception of Australia as a Western cultural wasteland that drove Humphries along with many leading Australian intellectuals to London.

Humphries, a law school dropout, found major success as an actor, writer and entertainer in Britain in the 1970s, but the United States was an ambition that he found stubbornly elusive.

Weekend Edition Saturday

A bit of a chat with dame edna.

A high point in the United States was a Tony Award in 2000 for his Broadway show "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour."

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to the celebrated comedian.

"For 89 years, Barry Humphries entertained us through a galaxy of personas, from Dame Edna to Sandy Stone," Albanese tweeted, referring to the elderly Stone, one of Humphries most enduring characters. "But the brightest star in that galaxy was always Barry. A great wit, satirist, writer and an absolute one-of-kind, he was both gifted and a gift."

Michael Feinstein, Dame Edna Share 'All About Me'

British comedian Ricky Gervais tweeted: "Farewell, Barry Humphries, you comedy genius."

Piers Morgan, British television personality, also paid tribute. "One of the funniest people I've ever met," Morgan tweeted.

"A wondrously intelligent, entertaining, daring, provocative, mischievous comedy Genius," Morgan added.

Married four times, he is survived by his wife Lizzie Spender and four children.

Mooney on Theatre

Review: dame edna’s glorious goodbye: the farewell tour (mirvish), “run, jump, loot and pillage” to see dame edna in toronto — while you can.

It’s 8:15 and Dame Edna is mowing down the crowd more effortlessly than even the burliest lumberjack chops down a tree.

Lovingly crowned ‘ The Grande Dame of Drag’ by her many fans, this Mauve-haired maven lives up to her noble moniker – claiming her rightful place amongst the world’s comedic royalty with her signature sharp tongue and unapologetic repartee.

Dame Edna Everage , the most notable of Barry Humphries ‘ onstage personas, performed to a packed house of eager spectators Thursday, on the opening night of her 10-day run at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre – the only Canadian stop on her farewell tour.

Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour is the triumphant culmination of her career, spanning more than six decades.

Patrons in the front row, be warned. There’s a very high chance you will have the honour of personally becoming comedic fodder for the act. And nothing is off limits.

“What do you do?” the comedian asked of one guest.

“I’m a stay-at-home mom.”

“Yes, but you must do something – actually contribute something to society.”

But no matter where you’re seated, you’re still fair game.

“Let’s all take a look at the people sitting way up in the rafters. Hello, my dearest paupers. Paupers, I haven’t forgotten about you. I will occasionally glance up in your direction, but only in direct proportion to the amount which you have paid. Well, I suppose that’s goodbye, then.”

For those unfamiliar with Dame Edna’s brand of comedy, these quips mocking the audience’s attire, professions, seating location or age can easily come across as childish or elitist, but it’s really all in good fun and usually done rather tastefully.

While there were moments where the ripping seemed like overkill, those moments were fleeting, few and far between. If there’s one thing you can say about this iconic octogenarian, it’s that her rapier wit is still as sharp as ever. So, even if you don’t hold much fondness for insult comedy, there’s still bound to be some material that will have you laughing uncontrollably.

The show itself consisted of a loose mix of scripted monologue and audience engagement, peppered with a few musical numbers here and there. What tied it all together seamlessly was Dame Enda’s ability to instantly ad lib when elements didn’t quite go to plan.

One such example included an ‘incident’ when an audience member was called onto the stage to take part in the act. While still on stage, she beckoned to her companion in the front row to take a picture. Seeing this, the take-no-prisoners performer graciously paused the show to take an impromptu selfie with her guest. Talk about class. Then again, one would expect no less from such a seasoned professional.

Another aspect of this performance that should be noted is its superb production values. From a larger-than-life light display of Edna’s signature stylish glasses, to each performer’s intricately crafted attire, every onstage element was crisp and polished.

Indeed, the entire night was a consistent spectacle of the highest quality from beginning to end.

As the show drew to a close – after the grand musical finale, after the boisterous standing ovation – the man behind the phenomenon reappeared centre stage sans costume, thanking the crowd before imposing one last request.

“Possums, I want you all to promise me one thing. Promise me you’ll come to my next farewell tour!”

Just name the time and the place.

Until then, run, jump, loot and pillage (anything you need to do, really) to grab tickets for this show.

• Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour is currently playing at the Princess of Wales Theatre (300 King Street West) until April 19 th , 2015
• Shows run daily, except for Monday, April 13 th , with double showings on Saturdays
• Running time is approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes (includes intermission)
• Tickets range from $29 to $99, and are available online at Mirvish.com , by phone at 416-872-1212 or 1-800-461-3333, as well as in person at the Royal Alexandra Theatre box office
• Pro-tip: Want to be part of the show? There’s a very good chance of being singled out if you sit in the first few rows, so aim for those seats if you can

Photo Credit : Dame Edna Everage, courtesy of Dainty Group International

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Farewell, Dame Edna

Dame Edna Everage, the self-proclaimed housewife/megastar, one of the most formidable comedy turns of the twentieth century, is hanging up her diamonté harlequin glasses, her mauve wig, and her size-eleven high heels. The news was announced yesterday in London by the seventy-eight-year-old Barry Humphries, Dame Edna’s creator and impresario, who has been purveying her gleeful brand of vindictive triumph since he invented her in the early fifties, on the back of a touring theatre company’s bus in Australia. (I wrote a Profile of Humphries for the magazine in 1991.) After a final goodbye tour, “Eat Pray Laugh!,” Dame Edna is going fairly quietly into her twilight years. But, from time to time, Humphries reserves the right to bring her and her closet full of outrageous frocks out for a television appearance. In the annals of joy—a very small book indeed—Dame Edna has a large chapter.

Dame Edna lived the fame that she satirized. Her very presence, when staged against the grandees of the day—the Queen Mother, Princess Diana, Sir Robert Menzies, the Australian Prime Minister—turned history into fiasco. She was so real to the English public that her autobiography, “My Gorgeous Life,” was published on the non-fiction best-seller list. Mistress of the low blow—“What an interesting person you probably are,” she traditionally cooed—Edna’s “caring, nurturing way” personified envy’s appetite for revenge. Dame Edna was a monster of invidious comparison and insisted on the distance between herself and her audience, whom she frequently called onstage to abuse and who included the “pawpies” or “paups” in the cheap balcony seats to whom she waved and threw gladiolus as she sang:

You can keep Roman Polanski and Bianca It’s for the company of Nobodies like you I hanker…

In her sensational Dadaist passage through time, Edna has called the audience up for a barbecue, only to leave them alone onstage while she exited to change costumes, been elevated on a cherry picker to sing her finale to the balcony, and infantalized adult viewers, asking them to raise and tremble the thrown gladiolas. “There’s nothing more holy,” she’d say looking out at an auditorium full of phallic symbols. “Than massed gladioli.”

Dame Edna is that rarest sighting in our time of the absolute comic, an inspired personification of caprice whose comedy answered the primal call to take the audience for a tumble. “The art of the comedian is perishable,” Humphries said long ago. “Not only is it gone by the time you get home and pay the babysitter, but you’re thinking ‘What was it we were laughing at? What did Edna say? Did you get a gladdy?…’ That’s all we’ve got to remember.”

Dame Edna, along with her Rabelaisian opening act, “Sir Les Patterson,” the Australian cultural attaché with “an enormous encumbancy,” are mythic characters, as well as legends of comedy, who will live on in British culture. Nonetheless, Edna’s antic stage presence—far more daring and sophisticated than TV would ever allow—will be part of how many of us remember our time on earth. We were there when she called Mary of Surbiton up onstage to do “nude cartwheels”; or when she got two thousand audience members to pose for a Polaroid snap; or when she handed out blankets to catch anyone who might fall from their box seat trying to catch a gladiolus. “Thank God this doesn’t happen every night,” Dame Edna exclaimed.

Dame Edna may leave the stage, but she will never leave my heart. I love her. I honor her. I cherish the high times she has made for me and millions of others. I wish her tempestuous spirit peace in her retirement and thank her for the great gift of her mischief. She gave us courage, and in her very real way, she was courageous. I’d like to sing her into her dotage with a little of her emblematic rudery. All together now—in falsetto if you please:

The English have a quality I’d like to sing about It’s not the sort of quality Bestowed on wog or Kraut When things are on the sticky side You never throw a tizz A special something see you through— I’ll tell you what it is— Spunk, spunk, spunk You’re so full of British spunk You’re never in a panic You’re never in a funk So in a time of crisis There’s nothing quite so nice as Singing spunkspunpspunkspunkspunkspunkspunk…

Photograph by Robbie Jack/Corbis.

Dame Edna's Farewell Tour Comes to McCallum Theatre

Desert audiences have always been among her favorites.

by Michelle Roe | Mar 29, 2015 | Arts + Culture

According to the character’s creator and alter ego, Australian John Barry Humphries, “I think Dame Edna belongs in Palm Springs. She fits in rather well.”

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