BWW Reviews: MEGASTAR DAME EDNA'S FAREWELL TOUR: Come See It, Possums!

"Hello, possums!" Welcome to Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye The Farewell Tour! This Dressed to kill, Astonishingly Magnificent, Elegant, Enchanting, Delightful, Nonsensically Amazing diva is now at SHN's Orpheum Theatre now through March 22. And if you can't come see the show - "Well then, possum, you must not be able to afford it!"

Starring the hilarious Barry Humphries and his ingenious creation Dame Edna Everage, Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye The Farewell Tour - what a mouthful - is the one woman drag queen show that'll knock your socks off! With certain thread lines that tie the show together, much of the show is a lot of improvisation or as Dame Edna likes to say she's "making this all up as I go along." So each show is like a personalized farewell from this purple haired megastar.

Hodges & Hodges were delighted to be in the presence of such a fantabulous megastar of an entertainer on the eve of her farewell tour!

Nick: I have always heard so much about Dame Edna and never seen her! It was an absolute delight to see her on stage at her farewell "Eat, Pray, Love," performance.

Linda: You haven't seen her? Have you been living under a rock?

Nick: A dank, dark hole under a rock. If I had only stepped into Dame Edna's glorious light sooner my life might have meant something! WOE IS ME!!

Linda: Darling, at least you got to see her in live performance. But thankfully, we weren't in the first three rows. The ribbing she gives to front row audience members is best viewed from a distance.

Nick: But not too much of a distance. The Mezzanine and upper balcony sections got their fair share of put-downs. Did she actually start the show by saying "Hello, Paupers?"

Linda: Yes. Then she addressed the Orchestra section by saying "Listen to their pathetic cries - like a wall of death!" But no one was offended to judge by the huge outpouring of laughter.

Nick: She does sort of a soft Don Rickles approach to "put down" humor.

Linda: Oh, him, you know. I've failed as a mother.

Nick: LOL! I liked all her running jokes. Each time she brought them back they were funnier and funnier. And it really is true that hardly anyone dresses for opening night anymore. She got a lot of mileage out of that!

Linda: I think it's always brave of a performer to rely so heavily on audience participation. You never know where that will take you. But Dame Edna's timing and Improv poise were impeccable and the San Francisco audience was fantastic.

Nick: During Act I the improv ran a bit long and there was a bit of a disconnect with the audience, but she brought it back quickly and the show went on.

Linda: It sure did. Brian Thomson's set design was glamorously simple. Half of a pair of giant, neon-lit, cat- rimmed glasses stood from stage to ceiling. The lens served as a screen for the hilarious pre-show video expose of Edna's life (she was born with purple hair). Neo-Edna-phytes like you could quickly grasp her comedic stylings from that short clip.

Nick: OMG, the digitally altered crotch-shot was hilarious! And her outfits by UK costume designer Stephen Adnitt were tremendously glam! She wore dazzling pink and turquoise dresses with shining accessories that disco balled light across the smiling faces of the patrons.

Linda: It was in Act II that we learned that during intermission she'd gone to an Ashram to learn how to love herself - and that she'd succeeded beyond her wildest dreams!

Nick: Yes, she said that she finally saw what we all see in her. The audience just loved that.

Linda: Favorite part of Act II?

Nick: I loved the two people she brought up on stage, Buck and Kiki. As you said earlier, you never know what you're going to get with audience participants but these two were hilarious, especially Kiki, who almost stole the scene until Edna put a stop to that.

Linda: Buck (whose actual name is David Buck) played the straight man (they abound in SF) and didn't bat an eye when Dame Edna informed them that she was going to marry them right there on stage.

Nick: After she married them, Edna had David call his mother, Diann Buck, in Kansas to tell her the good news. They were all good sports.

(FYI to BWW fans: We got a chance to talk to Buck and Kiki after the show and they were not plants. Buck thought his new wife was "adorable and quite the little actress," while Kiki said being up on stage was "one of the most exciting things she's ever done.")

Linda: It was a fun show, but my favorite part was when Barry Humphries made a surprise appearance at the end (after the gladioli wave). It was quite touching to hear him talk about how Edna got her start in December of 1955. Never did he dream that her two-week engagement would turn into a lifetime of laughter, glamour and mega-stardom. He thanked the audience and said that it was a bittersweet moment and then invited everyone to attend Edna's next Farewell tour! Tumultuous laughter ensued and with a deep bow, he stepped off stage.

Nick: Playfully witty and outrageously funny, Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye The Farewell Tour is a show you just can't miss.

DAME EDNA'S GLORIOUS GOODBYE THE FAREWELL TOUR
Written by Dr. Barry Humphries
Directed by Simon Phillips
Staring Dr. Barry Humphries as Dame Edna Everage
Now through March 22nd, 2015
Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco
www.shnsf.com

Photo courtesy of SHNSF

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