There is nothing like Dame Edna
Farewell tours are almost de rigueur in certain show business circles. Cher has been on one for years. And so word that Dame Edna Everage — the self-described international housewife, therapist, fashion icon, guru, swami, and gigastar — would be bringing what she is calling “My First Last Tour” to Boston’s Colonial Theatre this week sent chills, prematurely as it turns out, through the lilac-haired entertainer’s legion of fans.
“I’m not trying to do a Cher with one of those endless tours. I’m just pretending to be on my last tour so people will hurry to the box office. The name is really just to sell more tickets. I’ll probably do at least three farewell tours, but then I may have to wind down. I’ve been giving too much. People ask me all the time, ‘Edna, you’re such a rich woman and yet you still give so much back. Why are you still traipsing around the world?’ I say it is because you need me,” explained Everage by telephone last week from a Naples, Fla., tour stop. “You need cheering up and you need to get things in proportion again.”
The Melbourne, Australia, native says she relates very personally to some recent U.S. government decisions.
“I am the Dame Edna stimulus package for my audiences. I am bringing my very own stimulus package to Boston. I’ll be dancing and singing and wearing these beautiful clothes, about five different wonderful outfits, all designed by my son, Kenny. We’ve pared down on things like dancers, fancy scenery and charitable donations, so there’s more to spend on myself. And I’ve doubled the expenditure on gladiolas. I fly them in by the plane load.”
Anyone who has had a prior audience with the Dame knows that she often shares those long-stemmed flowers with her fans as part of an overall approach to her show that she says she learned from another show business luminary.
“I’m a big fan of Johnny Mathis. He has a magnificent voice and he is a marvelous entertainer. Johnny is one of the people, like me, who gives when he is on stage. Little Liza Minnelli is quite the opposite. Liza is my god-daughter, of course, so I can say firsthand that she is very needy. When I see people leap to their feet and scream ‘We love you, Liza!’ I know it’s something that poor needy little Liza desperately needs to hear, but I can’t bear it. I think neediness is a very unappealing thing in the theater.
“Not very long ago, two hairdressers came up to me after my show and said, ‘We love you, Edna!’ to which I replied, ‘Well, I don’t love you.’ That is what I call honesty. I think people like the fact that I am not needy.”
This may be Dame Edna’s first last tour, but it is not her first visit to Boston.
“The audiences adore me in Boston. I come from Melbourne, Australia, which if it isn’t already a twinned city with Boston ought to be. We have great affinities like architecture and beautiful atmosphere.”
The Dame plans to soak up some of Boston’s beautiful atmosphere when she is not on stage at the Colonial.
“What I like about Boston is its good used book stores. I’ll be moving out and about a lot when I’m in town. You’ll see me in all kinds of other places. I won’t be wearing my gowns, of course, but I will be dressed in exquisite street clothes. I’ll also be wearing a headscarf given to me by Queen Elizabeth. It’s polyester with pictures of dogs on it, and it is just lovely.”
The widowed Dame may be shopping for old books in Boston, but probably not for a new husband, unless a certain legendary male vocalist happens to be in town.
“Since my husband passed away, I have enjoyed my independence. I’m still very much footloose and fancy-free, but if I ever remarried it would have to be to Johnny Mathis. We haven’t met yet, but I know that when we do he will forget about whatever it is that has kept him a bachelor all these years.”
“Dame Edna – My First Last Tour,” featuring Australian actor and writer Barry Humphries as his most famous creation, Dame Edna Everage, will be at the Colonial Theatre, 106 Boylston Street, Boston, April 16-19, for five performances only. For tickets and information, visit the box office, call 1-800-982-2787 or go online at BroadwayAcrossAmerica.com