All About Me closing this weekend
 by Paul Hansen - Photo Courtesy Marcus/AP
 Friday, April 2nd, 2010
 New York, NY
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All About Me, the new musical featuring Michael Feinstein and Dame Edna Everage, will close this weekend.  The musical opened on March        18  at the Henry Miller Theatre after 27 preview performances.  The last show  will be this Sunday April 4.   This reviewer saw a recent performance in which there were a significant number of empty seats in the audience.   With typical mordant wit,  Dame Edna assured the audience that they were not  empty seats but merely seats held by subscribers who had died.   

The title of the show may seem incongruous considering the fact that the production has two lead entertainers in it.  Although Feinstein is the first to perform,  Edna upon her entrance sets the tone by saying, "Thanks for warming up the audience for me, Michael." The tension of determining the real star of the show provides the basic outline of the evening.

A feud of sorts was manufactured several months ago between the performers.  Each released rival press statements about their intention to do a show on Broadway with a similar sounding title.  At one point Dame Edna was quoted as saying, "Someone purchased a CD of Mr. Feinstein's at a flea market in Australia and re-gifted it to me recently. I'm impressed at how often he sings on key."  Apparently, the two intended to appear in a show together all along and merged forces in All About Me.

I have seen Dame Edna (aka Barry Humphries) perform on a number of other occasions, most frequently at New Year's Eve galas.  Frankly, any night you see Edna feels like a New Year's party.  She has a relentless sense of sparkling fun about her like a newly uncorked bottle of champagne.   The unpredictable turns in her humor have the effect of unexpected firecrackers going off nearby. She has a relentless, spontaneous wit which is occasionally turned on members of the audience. (Ladies in the first couple of aisles should consider themselves forewarned).

Feinstein specializes in performing music from "The Great American Songbook" which consists mainly of standards from the 1930's to the 1970's.  Composers and lyricists of the Songbook include such greats as Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Irving Berlin, and George and Ira Gershwin, among others.  A substantial number of the songs were composed during the Depression - "Not this one, the Great Depression," Feinstein slyly states.  One of Feinstein's opening numbers is "My Romance" by Rodgers and Hart.  It is clear that his smooth, sophisticated singing and piano accompaniment have the ability to magically transform a room.

The scenery of the production looks like it could have come right off the set of Casablanca with its multi-level platform supporting a 30's style Big Band.   The orchestra musicians play with a precision, vibrancy and energy that makes the listener regret that pop band music from the '30' and '40's is infrequently heard today.  But despite the brilliancy of the band,  the most memorable musical moments of the evening occur when Feinstein sings and accompanies himself alone on the piano.  The slightest rustle of a program or noise can seem like an assault on the magic ambiance he creates.   One regrets that more time was not allocated for him to play and sing solo. (But what would Dame Edna say? No problem -just give her more time to fling her stinging wit!)

Making her Broadway debut, Jodi Capeless performs a stage manager of the show.  She arbitrates the "dispute" between the two stars.  During one of their costume changes, in a Susan Boyle-like turn, she impressively belts out "And the World Goes 'Round". Gregory Butler and Jon-Paul Mateo are Edna's bodyguards.   They also do a memorable turn as Edna's back-up dancers in Beyonce's "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)."  Dame Edna's taste in music is nothing if not eclectic.  She also does a singular version of the Sondheim standard, "The Ladies Who Lunch."


A number of reviews wrote about the incongruity of pairing  the svelte musicality of Feinstein with the take-no-prisoners humor of
Edna.  I find this criticism odd. Arguably the most successful entertainment duo of all time, Martin and Lewis, combined the smooth,
relaxing singing of Dean Martin with the outrageous antics of Jerry Lewis.  Other famous comic pairs, whether Laurel and Hardy, Abbot and Costello,  (and to a lesser extent the Smothers Brothers and Rowan and Martin) played off the distinctly different personas that made up the duos.


It is usually sad when a play closes prematurely.  Both Feinstein and Dame Edna will no doubt be back in different vehicles to showcase their talents.   Dame Edna's humor is wicked enough that I wouldn't be surprised if she announced a reunion tour soon.
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Last updated by Paul Hansen - Photo Courtesy Marcus/AP - Friday, April 2nd, 2010 -  New York, NY