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Regional Reviews: San Francisco Dame Edna is back in San Francisco Also see Richard's reviews of Stories by Alice Munro and Breaking the Code
Let's face it, there are some who are impervious to Dame Edna's humor, but most audiences love her "events," as she calls them. Dame Edna is still outrageous in her put downs of audience members, and if you sitting in the first four orchestra rows of the theatre, expect to be called upon to be a pawn of this megastar. She is called the female Don Rickles, so beware. The two hour and twenty five minute program starts with film testimonials from such people as Hugh Jackman who recalls Edna pulling him aside for "special time" when he was student. This is followed by four dancers doing a take-off on Bob Fosse choreography assisted by Jonathan Tessero on piano introducing the unrivaled housewife from Australia. She comes out wearing a garish gown covered in rhinestones with a bunch of gladiolas which she throws into the audience. At the performance I attended, Dame Edna picked on three women sitting in the front rows about where they live, what they do for a living, and the kind of house they live it. She found one unfortunate person reading his program while she was on stage. She glared at him and said, "You probably said to yourself, today I feel like a good old read. I know. I'll go to the Orpheum and sit in the middle of third row of Dame Edna's show." She even found a senior citizen right in front of me and had a field day with him, asking if he knew where he was. Dame Edna not only insults those folks in the front four rows but she looks up at the folks in the balcony and chides them for their poverty; instead of calling them paupers she calls them "les misérables." Many of the stories are similar to what I saw in 2008, such as one about her late husband's prostate problems. The second act is more structured. Dame Edna comes out wearing a gaudy Indian outfit, once again with a lot of rhinestones. She talks about a trip to an Indian Ashram which she calls "a trailer park for the soul." She ate, prayed, and eventually found love with a Balinese boy toy. She even has a few words to say about the current administration in Washington D.C, when she says, "the current government has not tried to bring democracy to India since it does not have oil." There are the old stories about "her son Kenny," who seemed to have a lot of friends in the audience, and her "daughter" Madge and her twelve boxer dogs she just visited in Visitation Valley. She talks about the Bible and says the "gospels were the "Fifty Shades of Grey" in their day. Once again persons were drawn from the audience to be "solemnized" by Edna in a marriage-like ritual. On Tuesday night, it was a younger fellow named Buck and an older person who had performed in many productions here in the Bay Area named Kiki. She got the better of Dame Edna and Edna asked Kiki if she was monogamous or promiscuous. Kiki replied "Yes." The show concludes with a gladioli pageant with Dame Edna and the dancers throwing out tons of the flowers to the audience. Then, those who have the flowers wave the stalks in homage to the great dame. Dame Edna then disappears and after a brief moment Barry Humphries appears for a final bow in manly attire that makes him look like a modern day Oscar Wilde. He graciously bids the audience a goodbye. What distinguishes Humphries' alter-ego beyond the outlandish drag is the elegance of her phrasing and her quick wit, such as looking up at the balcony cheap seats and telling them they might fall while trying to get a better view, setting off a "Niagara of nonentities." She is still a deft comedian and does get off some very funny lines. But if you go to the show and are in the first four rows of the orchestra, you should dress nicely or you'll hear about it. Dame Edna's Glorious Goodbye: The Farewell Tour runs through March 22nd, 2015, at the Orpheum Theatre, 1192 Market Street, San Francisco. For tickets call 888-746-1799 or visit www.shnsf.org. For more information on the tour, visit www.dameednafarewell.com. Coming up next at the Orpheum is The Book of Mormon running from April 15 through June 27th.
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