#1
Dame Edna's new show for New York has taking a critical drumming only equal to the last abysmal production she gave London in 1998.
'All About Me' has mixed the Dames outrageous humor with the laid back cabaret style of Michael Fienstein.
Sadly the mix seems to have backfired with audiences and critics alike.
I've said over the years that I think Mr Humphries has been trying too hard in trying to be different. The first Broadway venture a few seasons back was very much in this style UK audiences had become used to on stage and TV but then he seemed to go off the rails with the 1998 show.
'Edna- The Spectacle' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket was a disaster and closed early as he ventured into different territory by putting in a story line to a show that all people wanted was to see was Edna in her audience eating glory. I had such a boring evening at that show even tho we sat in a stage box and got picked on all night.
Dame Edna has deserted theses shores to present 2 or 3 shows across the States with no sign what so ever of a London outing any time soon.
It would be a great shame if, for one last time, the West End doesn't get to see the old girl in all her glory before she gets a little too old.
********************************************************
'All About Me'
Two on a Seesaw
By Ben Brantley
Some egos, particularly in this business we call show, are way too big
and unruly to share a spotlight. I mean that in the nicest possible
way, to use a disclaimer often employed by the great Dame Edna
Everage. It is, as it happens, Dame Edna of whom I am speaking.
That professionally famous, mauve-haired Australian housewife has
returned to Broadway in a show called “All About Me” at Henry Miller’s
Theater. But it is not only about her. And, ah, there’s the rub, to
use another Edna-ism. Or is that from Shakespeare? Dame Edna has a way
of making you believe she invented anything worth quoting — that is,
if she’s given half a chance to wrap (and nearly smother) you in her
feather-boa-constrictor embrace.
In “All About Me,” which opened on Thursday night, this most
dominating of dames is given what feels like less than half a chance.
The production also stars Michael Feinstein, the celebrated piano-
playing crooner who possesses considerable gifts of his own. But they
are of an entirely different stripe from the brasher talents commanded
by Dame Edna. Seen side by side, in a production that brings to mind a
desperately assembled television variety show from the 1970s, these
two headliners clash like polka dots paired with plaid.
The appeal of a clash of titans — as in two divas going at it tooth
and nail à la “Valley of the Dolls” — is clearly what the producers of
“All About Me” were hoping to capitalize on. Early publicity on the
show had it that Dame Edna (the alter ego of the fearless comedian
Barry Humphries) and Mr. Feinstein were planning separate shows with
similar titles. After some public trading of carefully phrased
insults, it was announced that the Dame and the singer had agreed to
appear together, though strategically leaked reports of skirmishes
between them continued to surface.
But if you really want stars to collide, they had better be in the
same universe. Wherever Mr. Feinstein appears, he gives the impression
that he is in an intimate supper club from a time when Cole Porter and
the Gershwins were the hippest songwriters working. Dame Edna makes
you feel that you have been invited into her own less-than-humble
home, palatial enough to accommodate a self-esteem that turns current
trends into personal trophies.
Mr. Feinstein’s style is silky, glossy and whispery; Dame Edna’s is
coarse, loud and harsh. But the most important difference between them
is their egos, or rather how they make use of them. For all I know,
Mr. Feinstein’s vanity is just as large and carnivorous as Dame
Edna’s. But he presents himself as an eternally romantic boy who
labors gratefully in the service of the Great American Songbook.
Dame Edna, on the other hand, labors only in the cause of her own
greater glory. To put it bluntly, she belongs in a show called “All
About Me,” and Mr. Feinstein does not. Pretending otherwise does
neither performer any favors.
The show’s creative team, which includes the director Casey Nicholaw
and the writer Christopher Durang, have tried to turn these
dissimilarities into selling points, as if their stars were the new
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It’s a he-sings, she-squawks sort of
format, with Mr. Feinstein performing Champagne standards like “My
Romance” and Dame Edna doing her singular high-heeled stand-up.
There’s a running joke about each trying to have the other evicted
from the theater, before a brawny stage manger (Jodi Capeless) steps
in and insists they play nice. This involves their being allowed
alternating minutes of performance time, until they finally settle
into a couple of duets (written by Mr. Feinstein) about how different
yet strangely compatible they are.
But neither star has time to get a groove going that would define the
perimeters of a complete, self-contained fantasy world. No matter how
radiantly Mr. Feinstein is singing or how amusingly Dame Edna is
riffing, you’re aware of the presence of the other, just waiting to
break in. The show starts to feel like one long, repeated session of
coitus interruptus.
Wearing the expected series of resplendently tacky gowns (by Stephen
Adnitt), Dame Edna is allowed a few moments to patronize and embarrass
audience members as only she can. She gets off a few zingers that
linger. And I would never trade the memory of having seen Dame Edna
crash her way through Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on
It)” (with the backup dancers Gregory Butler and Jon-Paul Mateo).
More surprisingly, after declaring the theater a “Stephen Sondheim-
free zone,” Dame Edna delivers her own version of that composer’s
“Ladies Who Lunch,” and it’s terrific. She uses the fear and anger
that are part of any comedian’s makeup to turn an overperformed song
into a funny, aggressive and bizarrely affecting acknowledgment of
mortality.
I should also say that “All About Me” has the wittiest overture in
town, a crazy quilt of snippets from a host of Broadway musicals:
vamps from “Sweet Charity” and “Cabaret,” a swelling strain from “The
Phantom of the Opera,” a glowing passage from “Sunday in the Park With
George.” No segment lasts for more than a few seconds, so just when
you’re starting to settle into the shape of a familiar melody, it’s
pulled out from under you. This turns out be all too fitting a preface
for the fragmented show that follows.
'All About Me'
By Christopher Durang, Michael Feinstein and Barry Humphries.
Henry Miller’s Theater.
Through July 18.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Posted: 3/22/10 at 8:26am
Dame Edna's new show for New York has taking a critical drumming only equal to the last abysmal production she gave London in 1998.
'All About Me' has mixed the Dames outrageous humor with the laid back cabaret style of Michael Fienstein.
Sadly the mix seems to have backfired with audiences and critics alike.
I've said over the years that I think Mr Humphries has been trying too hard in trying to be different. The first Broadway venture a few seasons back was very much in this style UK audiences had become used to on stage and TV but then he seemed to go off the rails with the 1998 show.
'Edna- The Spectacle' at the Theatre Royal Haymarket was a disaster and closed early as he ventured into different territory by putting in a story line to a show that all people wanted was to see was Edna in her audience eating glory. I had such a boring evening at that show even tho we sat in a stage box and got picked on all night.
Dame Edna has deserted theses shores to present 2 or 3 shows across the States with no sign what so ever of a London outing any time soon.
It would be a great shame if, for one last time, the West End doesn't get to see the old girl in all her glory before she gets a little too old.
********************************************************
'All About Me'
Two on a Seesaw
By Ben Brantley
Some egos, particularly in this business we call show, are way too big
and unruly to share a spotlight. I mean that in the nicest possible
way, to use a disclaimer often employed by the great Dame Edna
Everage. It is, as it happens, Dame Edna of whom I am speaking.
That professionally famous, mauve-haired Australian housewife has
returned to Broadway in a show called “All About Me” at Henry Miller’s
Theater. But it is not only about her. And, ah, there’s the rub, to
use another Edna-ism. Or is that from Shakespeare? Dame Edna has a way
of making you believe she invented anything worth quoting — that is,
if she’s given half a chance to wrap (and nearly smother) you in her
feather-boa-constrictor embrace.
In “All About Me,” which opened on Thursday night, this most
dominating of dames is given what feels like less than half a chance.
The production also stars Michael Feinstein, the celebrated piano-
playing crooner who possesses considerable gifts of his own. But they
are of an entirely different stripe from the brasher talents commanded
by Dame Edna. Seen side by side, in a production that brings to mind a
desperately assembled television variety show from the 1970s, these
two headliners clash like polka dots paired with plaid.
The appeal of a clash of titans — as in two divas going at it tooth
and nail à la “Valley of the Dolls” — is clearly what the producers of
“All About Me” were hoping to capitalize on. Early publicity on the
show had it that Dame Edna (the alter ego of the fearless comedian
Barry Humphries) and Mr. Feinstein were planning separate shows with
similar titles. After some public trading of carefully phrased
insults, it was announced that the Dame and the singer had agreed to
appear together, though strategically leaked reports of skirmishes
between them continued to surface.
But if you really want stars to collide, they had better be in the
same universe. Wherever Mr. Feinstein appears, he gives the impression
that he is in an intimate supper club from a time when Cole Porter and
the Gershwins were the hippest songwriters working. Dame Edna makes
you feel that you have been invited into her own less-than-humble
home, palatial enough to accommodate a self-esteem that turns current
trends into personal trophies.
Mr. Feinstein’s style is silky, glossy and whispery; Dame Edna’s is
coarse, loud and harsh. But the most important difference between them
is their egos, or rather how they make use of them. For all I know,
Mr. Feinstein’s vanity is just as large and carnivorous as Dame
Edna’s. But he presents himself as an eternally romantic boy who
labors gratefully in the service of the Great American Songbook.
Dame Edna, on the other hand, labors only in the cause of her own
greater glory. To put it bluntly, she belongs in a show called “All
About Me,” and Mr. Feinstein does not. Pretending otherwise does
neither performer any favors.
The show’s creative team, which includes the director Casey Nicholaw
and the writer Christopher Durang, have tried to turn these
dissimilarities into selling points, as if their stars were the new
Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. It’s a he-sings, she-squawks sort of
format, with Mr. Feinstein performing Champagne standards like “My
Romance” and Dame Edna doing her singular high-heeled stand-up.
There’s a running joke about each trying to have the other evicted
from the theater, before a brawny stage manger (Jodi Capeless) steps
in and insists they play nice. This involves their being allowed
alternating minutes of performance time, until they finally settle
into a couple of duets (written by Mr. Feinstein) about how different
yet strangely compatible they are.
But neither star has time to get a groove going that would define the
perimeters of a complete, self-contained fantasy world. No matter how
radiantly Mr. Feinstein is singing or how amusingly Dame Edna is
riffing, you’re aware of the presence of the other, just waiting to
break in. The show starts to feel like one long, repeated session of
coitus interruptus.
Wearing the expected series of resplendently tacky gowns (by Stephen
Adnitt), Dame Edna is allowed a few moments to patronize and embarrass
audience members as only she can. She gets off a few zingers that
linger. And I would never trade the memory of having seen Dame Edna
crash her way through Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on
It)” (with the backup dancers Gregory Butler and Jon-Paul Mateo).
More surprisingly, after declaring the theater a “Stephen Sondheim-
free zone,” Dame Edna delivers her own version of that composer’s
“Ladies Who Lunch,” and it’s terrific. She uses the fear and anger
that are part of any comedian’s makeup to turn an overperformed song
into a funny, aggressive and bizarrely affecting acknowledgment of
mortality.
I should also say that “All About Me” has the wittiest overture in
town, a crazy quilt of snippets from a host of Broadway musicals:
vamps from “Sweet Charity” and “Cabaret,” a swelling strain from “The
Phantom of the Opera,” a glowing passage from “Sunday in the Park With
George.” No segment lasts for more than a few seconds, so just when
you’re starting to settle into the shape of a familiar melody, it’s
pulled out from under you. This turns out be all too fitting a preface
for the fragmented show that follows.
'All About Me'
By Christopher Durang, Michael Feinstein and Barry Humphries.
Henry Miller’s Theater.
Through July 18.
Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes.
Updated On: 3/29/10 at 08:26 AM
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