Due to a ridiculous schedule with my own production and other commitments these past few months, I’m way behind on publishing reviews, so sorry about that.

****

Great tunes, colourful costumes and characters that are wildly OTT. All ingredients of a successful modern show, and Priscilla Queen of the Desert has the lot.

Based on the 1994 film of the same name, Priscilla tells the story of three drag queens travelling across the Australian outback to perform at Alice Springs. However, as with most film adaptations, Priscilla has its own set of musical numbers, and these are taken from various artists to significant effect.

Sounds such as Say a Little Prayer, Don’t Leave Me This Way, Always on My Mind and I Will Survive are all classic hits and were excellent. And for me, it was the rousing crowd pleasers which did exactly that: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Colour My World and Hot Stuff were amazing, but highlight of my night was Go West, which had the whole audience going wild at the end. Although, I would like to give a mention to the wonderfully delivered Pop Muzik, sung by Grace Lai (Cynthia) with the bizarre utilisation of (ahem) ping pong balls.

In the role of our ladies, we had Edwin Ray (Tick), Miles Western (Bernadette) and Nick Hayes (Felicia) and although Pricilla had a decent size cast, these three principals have a heavier share than in most musicals. But pull it off they did. All strong, giving excellent, powerful performances. Supporting in great fashion too was Daniel Fletcher as Cynthia’s shell-shocked husband, Bob. This character made great comic additions to an already funny script. Other performances of note were Rebecca Lisewski (Marion), Kevin Yates (Miss Understanding), Ronan Burns (Frank) and Jak Allen-Anderson (Farrah). Then I must mention the splendid Divas who provided lead and backing vocals throughout. These were Claudia Kariuki, Aiesha Pease and Rosie Glossop.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert was produced by everybody’s good neighbour, Jason Donovan with Helen Siveter as Resident Director, Ian Talbot (Director), Richard Atkinson (Musical Director) and Tom Jackson-Greaves (Choreographer).

A lovely show with a funny, well-written script from Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott combined with great retro music, dance, and colour. So, if you want all of these, I’d keep a lookout for the show’s return. I know I will.

Cheers.

Antony N Britt