Artists and Writers as Performers: The Art of the One Man Show
By Jeanette Hendler
Dame Edna Photo credit Media Stars Photos
It appears that Australia has sent us another one of their prime theatrical exports to our stage. Following stars like Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman, we owe a big thanks to the land down under: "Dame Edna" is played by Barry Humphries. The act started in Australia in the 1970’s and after much success, went on to Great Britain, doing London stage shows such as "Housewife Superstar" and "A Night with Dame Edna". Spanning every conceivable entertainment medium, from theater to television to books, the many incarnations of Dame Edna have received numerous awards, and rightfully so.
During the performance, one gets the feeling that she might be that Jewish widow who makes for a great character: Though loving and comforting in her intentions, Dame Edna is really a crack up, through and through. She integrates references about her children into her monologue of neuroses: one child, possibly a homosexual, is a "bigshot," with a "monster" for a wife. She buts into other people’s business, engaging audience members into participatory counseling sessions inanattempt to reconcile a possibly sparring couple while they are brought on stage. She even an elderly person or two to play rappers and, again, the result is unstoppable laughter.
The act consists of mostly adlibbing, relying greatly on the complexity of the audience. The prewritten jokes are perfect and the delivery and timing couldn’t be better. Clever songs and the four synchronized dancers keep the show running smooth, and the canned music is surprisingly quite good.
Of course the show stopper is Dame Edna’s most elaborate gown, fur, ridiculous eyeglasses, lavender hair and gaudy glitter. Even a comparison to Liberace falls short of being accurate. Dame Edna obviously wants to be loved by the audience, and her signature gesture of throwing gladioluses to the audience, not to mention her affectionate calling of everyone she encounters a "possum", keeps the performance running on humor for all two hours and twenty minutes.
Similarly, Mario Cantone now of "Laugh Whore" fame puts on a show to crack you up at the seams. The show opened opened to rave reviews and rightfully so. Cantone could be called the man of extraordinary talents. He includes flawless impersonations, top-notch singing and dancing, hysterical comedy and excellent repartee. It all makes for a riotously funny performance.
The singing ranges from torch songs to really dead on renditions of acts, such as him as Shirley Bassey singing, "This is my Life." He also does turns on Cher, Tina Turner, Katherine Hepburn and Sammy Davis Jr. In doing Carol Channing, Cantone recalls the recent television awards show where Carol is paired with a famous rap star. Carol famously asks, "rap? like the Christmas department in Bloomingdales?" bringing the audience to their knees in laughter. Refering to the Broadway hit "Cats", Cantone expresses his disdain for the show and asks, "what is a Jellico cat anyway?" Funnier still, he requests that a "straight" man from the audience come on stage and join him. He then proceeds to serenade this volunteer in a campy scene of mock seduction, which is one of the funniest routines.
Hilarious tales about his very close family relationships are revealed: the audience is brought up to speed on his analysis of his various family conundrums, which we can all relate to, having family members who are similar and with whom we’ve all experienced like situations. Luckily, his take on them makes it all appear so much funnier.
This performance is very polished, despite seeming like a free association routine. The excellent musical numbers are written by Cantone, along with Jerry Dixon and Harold Lubin. The music is performed by a live band and the entire production is masterfully directed by Joe Mantello.
