All About Me: Dame Edna

All About Me, written by Christopher Durang and Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna), starring Michael Feinstein and the irrepressible Dame Edna, is a great entertainment as these two stars, wildly opposite in tone, give us, in essence, two shows. Feinstein is a handsome, sweet, charming man who can open up his chops and fill the theater with his rich melodic voice as he sings Gershwin and other classics. Edna is a full-camp, outrageous, great comedienne whose crisp quips skewer everything in sight. Her interaction with audience members is fast, funny, and non-threatening. So what if they are two different experiences? Each is great, and we get two shows for the price of one and a plausible duet at the end.

There are two good-looking, athletic male dancers as a chorus, and a big (and I mean BIG) surprise is Jodi Capeless playing the stage manager- classic work clothes and roll of tape - who opens up her voice and delights us with a singing number that fills the house. With the splendid full orchestra upstage center conducted by the impeccable Rob Bowman, outrageous gowns for Dame Edna by Anna Louizos (who also designed the appropriate set), super lighting by Howell Binkley and zippy direction by Casey Nicholaw, this is a show filled with laughs and good music. A good time was had by all -- but it just closed. What's the one thing we know for sure about show business? You never know. Or, as Mersh Greenberg, who ran Silvercup Studios said: "Nobody knows anything."