Review Roundup: DAME EDNA'S GLORIOUS GOODBYE - THE FAREWELL TOUR Opens in L.A.

"Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye -- The Farewell Tour" opened on Wednesday, January 28 at CTG's Ahmanson Theatre. The production continues through March 15, 2015 before heading out across the U.S.

The title role of Dame Edna Everage is played by Barry Humphries with an ensemble that includes Ralph Coppola, Brooke Pascoe, Eve Prideaux and Armando Yearwood, Jr. The production is directed by Simon Phillips with Jonathan Tessero serving as musical director and onstage accompanist and Andrew Ross serving as the musical supervisor.

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 the world. Surrounded by spectacular sets and gorgeous, talented dancers, Dame Edna keeps her audience enthralled and 'in stitches' with her sparkling wit, mischievous wisdom and razor-sharp banter. 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.

Let's see what the critics had to say...

Don Grigware, BroadwayWorld Los Angeles: Edna's charm comes from her scathing quick wit and ad libs...it's one big happy love fest with a myriad of sarcastic jokes about the upper and middle classes, gays, referred to lovingly as 'friends of Kenny', who, FYI, is a successful Hollywood fashion designer...There are jibes about Angelenos and their casual appearance and lifestyle and, of course, multiple assaults on seniors, who can't remember anything...The play's a deliciously mindless gabfest where Edna picks people from the audience with whom to converse - and lovingly assault...There are three musical numbers to which Edna gleefully lends her quaking alto...Regardless of what she says or does, audiences eat up every word of it, and if this turns out to be, in fact, Dame Edna's last tour, who could possibly replace this sparkling wit?

Jordan Riefe, The Hollywood Reporter: 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...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...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...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.

Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times: Barry Humphries may be 80, and this may or may not be his alter ego's swan song, but comedy is still a contact sport for the Australian entertainer. His stand-up style is a mix of Joan Rivers, Don Rickles, the queen mother and a boxing kangaroo. What distinguishes Humphries, beyond the outlandish drag, is the elegance of his phrasing...Almost the entire first half of the production, directed by Simon Phillips, is devoted to Edna's exchanges with the audience. The spontaneity of Edna's wit is dazzling -- she can find levity in the humiliated mumbles of a theatergoer sinking lower and lower in her seat. But there is a law of diminishing returns. By the time the sixth or seventh victim is brought to the dock of Edna's attention, the humor loses some of its electricity and our program grows more dangerously tempting to read. The production includes a few brief musical interludes with a small chorus of dancers. These comical numbers, gingerly performed by Humphries, are more or less perfunctory spritzes of pizazz...Naturally, the show concludes with a gladioli pageant, long de rigueur for Edna. This time around, however, there was a certain poignancy to the floral parade, as it's not clear whether Edna will pass our way again.

Dyanne Weiss, Guardian Liberty Voice: For 60 years, Dame Edna has entertained audiences via stage, screen, television and books. Humphrey's is now 80 years old now and is the outlandish drag queen shtick is a little dated. But the adoring audiences came to enjoy the grand old Dame one more time...Like Joan Rivers, who was instrumental in Dame Edna's eventual U.S. success...a significant part of the evening is comprised on Edna's exchanges with her devoted followers. The audience is the fuel that drives the evening. She has exchanges with attendees she has picked out to question and playfully humiliate...While the exchanges do go on too long, they demonstrate Humphries' quick wit -- the hallmark of any great stand-up comedian -- lacerating tongue and ability to use unscripted expressions, phrasing and banter to make the audience laugh over and over...Overall, the evening was fun in a light-hearted way and certainly had everyone smiling and waving those Dame Edna standard stalks of gladioli before they left.

Frances Baum Nicholson, Daily Bulletin: This is something to be celebrated -- Dame Edna has lost none of her bite or her panache. From her opening salvos (looking out at the audience, "You've aged!"), to honoring "the paupers" in the upper balconies and advising them to hold on tight so they don't fall out of their seats, to the ribbing of front-row patrons for the size of their houses, their fashion sense or their age, she is sharp, pointed, occasionally a bit scatological, and consistently bitingly funny...From her silly songs, accompanied by Jonathan Tessero on the piano, to her pointed skewering of the pompous, the self-righteous or the faddish, she has become such a rounded character that, as she flings out her signature gladiolas for everyone to wave and "tremble," the audience follows her in cheerful glee. The energy never stops for a moment...Though we say farewell, there is always the vague hope we will meet again.

Check back for updates!

Photo Credit: Matt Jelonek

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