Glorious Edna! (LAArtsOnline.com)

Dame Edna plays the Ahmanson Theatre

Glorious Edna!

By Ken Werther
Graphics Courtesy of CTG

Batten down the hatches, possums — here comes the comic genius of Dame Edna one last time! Having previously visited the Ahmanson Theatre in 2006 and 2009, the one and only Dame Edna Everage is on her way back to Los Angeles to cap a spectacular 50-year career of celebrated sold-out performances around the world. Arguably Australia’s greatest entertainment export, she will not go out with a whimper…no one is safe from the Dame’s wicked tongue!

In 1955, actor Barry Humphries created the remarkable Mrs. Edna Everage, a purple-rinsed Melbourne housewife now known around the world as the gigastar Dame Edna. She has appeared on stage in theatrical tours of Europe, the United States (including Broadway), and the Middle East, and she has also appeared regularly on television in Australia, Europe, the UK, and the U.S. According to her official bio, Dame Edna is the Founder and Governor of Friends of the Prostate and the creator of The World Prostate Olympics. (You might want to read that last part again.)

Spending a couple of hours with Dame Edna’s take-no-prisoners comedy is a theatre experience like no other. I had the incredible honor of working with her at the Ahmanson in 2006, and I cannot remember ever laughing as much or as hard. Ever! So head downtown for a dose of the most original and relentless comedy to be found anywhere on this planet (and possibly other planets as well)!

Dame Edna’s Glorious Goodbye plays at the Ahmanson Theatre, located at 135 N. Grand Ave, through March 15.