B'way's Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance! to Close on May 1

Dame Edna: Back With a Vengeance! is concluding its Broadway engagement earlier than expected. Barry Humphries' outrageous comedy, which had been booking through June 4, will close at the Music Box Theatre on May 1, according to a production spokesperson. The final performance count will be 163 performances and 17 previews.

Back with a Vengeance premiered at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco in September. The show features not only the incomparable international housewife and megastar Dame Edna a creation of Humphries, but also a group of back-up dancers known as the known as the Ednaettes and the TestEdnarones.

The piece opened on Broadway to mostly positive reviews on November 27. In his Broadway.com Review of the show, William Stevenson wrote: "The act is still funny. But it's lost some of its zing since the audience-participation format is now so familiar. Edna/Humphries should have made this year's edition stand out more from the previous one… Perhaps those who have never seen Edna before will appreciate this return visit most. For them it will be new and fresh. For those of us who still fondly recall the 2000 production, meanwhile, it's basically more of the same. Nonetheless, this Dame remains an indelible comic creation, and her mischievous brand of humor will provide some much-needed holiday cheer."

As we previously reported, Primo, the solo piece starring Antony Sher, will be the next tenant at the Music Box Theatre. It is scheduled to begin Broadway performances on July 8 in preparation for a July 12 opening.