DAME EDNA EVERAGE AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION

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DAME EDNA EVERAGE AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION

Name: DAME EDNA EVERAGE AND THE RISE OF WESTERN CIVILISATION
Author: John Lahr
ISBN: 0-374-13456-1

BACKSTAGE WITH BARRY HUMPHRIES

by John Lahr ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 1, 1992

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Lahr (Automatic Vaudeville, 1984, etc.), in British tonalities never learned from his father, offers an overwrought backstage bio of a comedian largely unappreciated this side of the Pond. Self-proclaimed mega-star Dame Edna Everage (My Gorgeous Life, 1991) is a confidante of royals and a hobnobber with international glitterati. Surely, there's nothing like this Dame, with her contempt for her fans and the ``paupers'' in the balcony. (She skewers her ``possums'' lovingly, she says). The ineffable dominatrix from Melbourne is, of course, a pantomime lady—that favorite of the otherwise explicable British, a comic in drag. The Çminence grise inhabiting Edna's pantyhose is one Barry Humphries, a randy comic from Down Under. Humphries, a complex, self-centered, and often hostile man (it's said lovingly, possums), is a music- hall artiste of multiple personalities, including Edna's opening act, Sir Les Patterson, also from Australia and a souse with a stupendous appendage. (In ``the area of phallic fun, Sir Les holds his own,'' Lahr notes with his British humor, but he's ``not everybody's cup of pee.'' Be warned.) Undeniably, Humphries has a quick and unique wit that can steer the Everage faux gentility through jokes about leprosy and her late husband's prostate. But Lahr's sappy adulation veers toward parody itself. The ``excesses of Humphries' temperament,'' he gushes, ``are forgotten in the face of the abundance of his talent,'' even as his subject repeatedly gives him the brushoff. Humphries ``strides past me,'' Lahr notes. ``After another few minutes it's clear that I will not be summoned.'' The feckless author is happy, though. He just wants ``to stop time and to chronicle a moment in the prime of a great clown's life.'' ``Barry Humphries is among us, and he is the goods,'' insists Lahr. It remains to be seen if these goods will sell in these former colonies. (Photographs—not seen.)

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-374-13456-1

Page Count: 242

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
ARTHUR MILLER
by John Lahr

- BOOK REVIEW
JOY RIDE
by John Lahr

- BOOK REVIEW
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
by John Lahr

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.