Lady Like

  The Shubert Theatre Barry Humphries
stars as Dame Edna in the play he created, "Dame Edna: The Royal
Tour," winner of National Broadway Awards for Best Actor and Best
Play.

By Laura Morgan
Daily Bruin Contributor

For the next two weeks, live theater is taking on a new face in
Los Angeles.

Playing for a limited engagement of 16 performances at the
Shubert heatre, “Dame Edna: The Royal Tour” provides a
night of wickedly funny entertainment that will leave audience
members rolling over their seats in laughter.

“Dame Edna,” which won National Broadway Awards for
Best Actor and Best Play, was created by Barry Humphries, who also
stars as the eccentric lead.

Dame Edna is an Australian housewife turned megastar who dazzles
the audience with her sheer wit and conversation as she includes
audience members in every part of the two-hour performance.

Appearing on stage with a pink sequined frock and purple hair,
Dame Edna starts the show with a song that tells audience members
to look at her when she’s talking to them, clap when
appropriate and laugh, setting a lighthearted mood that pervades
the evening.

Upon finishing her song, she converses with the audience by
first mocking those in the mezzanine, whom she believes can’t
afford the orchestra seats. Dame Edna develops names for each
section that reflects the amount of participation in each area.
But, audience members should beware, the mocking names will stick
for the rest of the show.

The fun begins when Dame Edna asks which families have left
their children with a baby sitter for the night. Audience members
should realize that once they are selected to participate in the
show, they will become the butt of all jokes for the night, whether
it’s for being too old or for dressing inappropriately for a
visit with a “megastar.”

  "Dame Edna: The Royal Tour" will run through May 27 at
the Shubert Theatre. Continuing to work the theater and make
friends, Dame Edna begins to interrogate audience members about
random things, such as the style of their homes, using their
answers as fodder. The mockery keeps audience members on their toes
and leads to uncontrollable laughter, highlighting Humphries’
abilities as an actor, displaying sarcasm and on-the-spot comebacks
as Dame Edna.

The secret of Dame Edna is that she turns seemingly harmless
questions and friendly inquiries into embarrassing displays of
ridicule.

Even though it is only showing for a limited time in Los
Angeles, “Dame Edna” does an excellent job of including
Los Angeles culture into its songs and comedic routine ““
mocking farmers’ markets, for example, which Dame Edna calls
home to regular people attempting to play farmers.

In her words, farmers’ markets are places where merchants
wake up extra early to go to Ralph’s, pick out fresh fruits
and vegetables, then rub dirt on them to make them look like they
were just picked. If customers think they are getting something
organically grown, they should think again, she says.

The best part of the show, however, comes in the second half.
Filled with spontaneity and absolute comedy, Dame Edna goes back to
the families who left their children at home. She decides to bring
out a phone and call the baby sitters, just to make sure they are
doing their jobs.

This part of the show stands out because the audience does not
know what is going to happen, but neither does Dame Edna. Of
course, there are failed attempts when sitters hang up on Dame
Edna, thinking they are receiving a prank call. But, that’s
OK, because Dame Edna moves on to audience members’ mothers
and begins to call them instead.

Audience members should keep in mind, however, that most of the
people she is calling are not only in another time zone, they are
also asleep. This fact doesn’t stop Dame Edna, and the
constant hang-ups don’t stop the audience from asking for
more.

Filled with a superb amount of humor, Dame Edna speaks her mind
and pulls off a show that is full of cleverness and amusement,
leaving the audience waiting to see who will be the next object of
ridicule and what they will be ridiculed for, whether it be their
clothes or just their lack of common knowledge.

THEATER: “Dame Edna: The Royal
Tour” shows through May 27 at the Shubert Theatre, 2020
Avenue of the Stars. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays at
8 p.m., Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. and Sunday
matinees at 3 p.m. Tickets are $30-$60 and can be purchased by
calling (800) 447-7400 or at http://www.telecharge.com.