Dame Edna to tour

Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson are to tour the UK with a show that hasn't been performed in 28 years.

Creator Barry Humphries is taking the characters on the road with a parody of the Last Night Of The Proms which he created with conductor Carl Davis in 1981.

The piece, Last Night Of The Poms, has not been performed since, but now a 13-date tour of some of the UK’s biggest arenas has been announced.

Each show will feature a 60-voice choir and either the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Scottish Opera, the Ulster Orchestra or the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, all conducted by Davis. One item features Sir Les performing Peter And The Shark, a parody of Prokofiev’s Peter And The Wolf, about a bronzed surfer.

Davis said: ‘This unique collaboration between myself and Barry Humphries was written as a parody on the Proms. Barry and I have waited 28 years to do this concert again – Dame Edna and Sir Les never disappoint.’

Promoter Harvey Goldsmith CBE said: ‘This monumentous piece was first performed immediately after the Proms in 1981. It was during recent conversations with Barry Humphries that the suggestion came to revive this fantastic show. I am delighted that Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson agreed.’

The tour kicks off in Glasgow on September 11, before concluding in Nottingham on October 3. Click here for the full schedule.

Tickets go on sale at 10am tomorrow (Friday), except for the Belfast and Dublin shows, which go on sale on January 29.

Published: 22 Jan 2009