Priscilla Queen of the Desert

This is one of my favourite juke box musicals and it would take a pretty poor production to ruin it for me. Luckily this was a very good production and I enjoyed it immensely.

This show presents a challenge on a number of levels for any group. The subject matter is not to everyone’s taste, the casting can be a challenge, and the bad language can put some people off but everything is presented with such humour and good nature that it is very hard not to like the end result.

A further challenge of this piece is to explore the more subtle moments and to discover the tenderness and feeling beneath the brashness. It can be easy to fall into the trap of placing too much emphasis on the humour and turn the show into a sort of grotesque Pantomime.

Casting was very good indeed and I particularly enjoyed Martin Young’s performance as Adam /Felicia.  He resisted the call to be too camp and we saw the challenges this character has to face. Andrew Jeffry was very natural as the transsexual Bernadette, my favourite role in the show. He retained just enough masculinity to make sure we didn’t forget this characters roots but was feminine enough to ensure we related to him as a woman. A really lovely performance. Jordan Buckingham played Tick/Mitzi very well indeed and was at his strongest in the tender scenes with his son Benji. The first meeting always brings a tear to my eye and this was well handled here.

This is of course the central core of the show and we must understand that all three main characters are on journeys and to ignore this it to ignore the theme of the show which is to be yourself and follow your dream. The relationship between Bernadette and Bob was nicely handled and I liked Mark Clarke’s performance. My other favourite role in the show is that of Cynthia, Bobs Filipino wife who likes firing ping pong balls from errrr unusual places. This role was played with glee by Kirsten Brend. 

Staging and choreography were excellent and there was, to a good degree, great pace. All roles were handled well with no weak links. The stage never looked crowded.

Costumes can present a challenge in this show, especially if not much space side stage, but this was handled well and the Costumes looked great.

The first rate orchestra really supported the production and the singing of the principal cast was excellent and suited the pop nature of the piece. My one major criticism was that it was disappointing that the entire cast were not miked. I suspect this was a cost factor but the result was that from where I was sat the ensemble were inaudible which was a great shame as it made the vocals of the big numbers unbalanced.

My only other small criticisms were that comic timing was Adrift on occasion and I would have cut the section where miss understanding walked round the audience. I suspect it was there to cover costume changes but it added nothing to the story and only served to slow the action down although it was well done by James Massy.

This was a great challenge well met by a clearly confident and well rehearsed company and it received a great and well deserved rapturous reception from the full house audience.

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