New York City Broadway Theater Guide

Dame Edna The Royal Tour

Broadway Solo Comedy

Previews September 15 1999
Opened October 17 1999
Closed July 2 2000

Run 39 previews | 297 performances

Trying to find the Dame's current show?
Dame Edna Back With A Vengeance

Running Time 2 hrs 30 mins | 1 intermission

Tickets $45 to $65

Prices do not include any taxes, service charges or other charges

Creative Barry Humphries author

Cast Barry Humphries | Andrew Ross | Roxane Barlow | Tamlyn Brooke Shusterman

Review  Dame Edna Everage is back. With a vengeance. Old jokes, new jokes, stale jokes, good jokes, bad jokes. All make their way into this Catskills-by-way-of-Brighton-by-the-Sea schtick that only the Dame's likeability can make into a gloriously campy evening. Pink, mauve and aqua are the colors of the day and worn well by the well-worn matron. Mr Humphries has created and tended over the years an outrageous character who's barbs are smoothed by that very outrageousness

The Dame has a special affinity for interacting with the audience, through whom she confirms her superior refinement and taste. Imagine, if you will, a Peter Max version of Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced 'bouquet!') -- an acidic tongue tempered by the sugar-coated cartoonishness of the presentation. Telephone calls to relatives and friends are interspersed with 'musical' numbers in which the Dame is backed by the Gorgeous Ednaettes. You probably won't want a recording of the show, but you will certainly appreciate Edna's grand illusion -- a diva among divas

With nods to all that came before -- minstrelsy, vaudeville, standup, improvisation -- Dame Edna cuts a merry, colorful swath along Broadway, tongue firmly in cheek, sparing no innocent, giving no room for quarter. Audiences adore her. They're expected to, darling