Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Based on the 1994 popular movie of the same name, Priscilla Queen of the Desert follows the journey of two drag queens, Tick and Adam, and a transgender woman, Bernadette, as they travel across Australia in their bus, named Priscilla. Tick has been asked to perform at a hotel in Alice Springs by his estranged wife, Marian. Taking Adam and Bernadette along with him, the trio drive from Sydney to the remote resort town in the middle of the desert. The three friends come to the forefront of a comedy of errors, encountering a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while widening comfort zones and finding new horizons.

The opening number “It’s Raining Men” set the bar high for the rest of the show, led by the three divas Loren Howland, Lindsey Kirby and Sue Poultney, who were strong and harmonious and displayed great synchronised movement throughout the show. In turn, they were joined by Allan Brodie setting the comedy tone with his number “What’s Love Got To Do With It” as Miss Understanding and then Tick played by Steven Miller who sang “I say a Little Prayer” with great feeling.

Although Tick is separated, he does not reveal that he has an 8-year-old son he does not know, but who now wants to meet his father. As they head west, Tick, Adam, and Bernadette learn to accept and support each other. There was great strength in these three ‘leading men’ who worked together exceeding well. Whilst Steve superbly portrayed a kind, loving and loyal friend, Adam, played brilliantly by Tom Wilson-Dowdswell was totally OTT, outlandish, extrovert and provocative, with great physical expression and good comedy timing. The part could have been written for him. In strength of character, Paul Tapley was an equal as Bernadette, a tough and loving widow – all had great voices and provided some laugh out loud moments.

We were actually present at Bernadette’s husband’s funeral when “Don’t Leave Me this Way” was sung with Sam Godber as Pastor, with the ensemble who were all glitzily dressed in black. This was just one of many great numbers throughout the whole show, including “I Love the Night Life” led by Victoria Annis as Shirley – great characterisation and very funny. One, of many poignant moments, related to some graffiti that had been painted on Priscilla their bus, when Paul, Tom and Steve sang “True Colours”. The aria “Sempre Libera” (Always True) was beautifully sung by Briony Stevens, whilst Tom superbly ‘sent-up’ the number whilst lying on a large shoe!

And so, the brilliant numbers followed; “Colour My World” with six of the ensemble dressed as paint brushes. When Priscilla breaks down they eventually meet a mechanic Bob, well played by Matthew Owens, who believes he can fix the problem and so to the final number of Act 1 “I Will Survive”.  

Act 2 started where Act 1 left off. The opening ensemble number was “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” led by the strong voices of Sam Godber and Peter Rowe, followed by “A Fine Romance” well lip-synced by George Organ as Young Bernadette. I must mention Bob’s Thai wife Cynthia, brilliantly played  by Lois Thomson who sang “Pop Muzik” with, much to Bob’s embarrassment, an artistic way of ‘popping’ ping pong balls, leading Bob to reprise “A Fine Romance”!  There was also a very touching scene between Matthew and Paul when they discovered a potential future together, followed by Steven as Tick in reflective mood singing “MacArthur Park”, when the ensemble was lavishly dressed as cakes!

Later Adam is chased and almost becomes a victim of hate crime and this scene is well handled and eventually Tick meets his son Benji, very well played by Will Prangnell (on the evening I attended) . Benji’s mother Marian ( Vicky Shone) added great support and their scene together and when Benji accepts Ticks sexuality and lifestyle, were excellent. The final moments when Tick, Adam and Bernadette can’t leave each other  (“We Belong”) was very poignant.

The enthusiasm of the ensemble was uplifting as they and the dancers fulfilled some excellent choreography by Vicky Shone. Scenery was built around an impressive ‘Priscilla the bus’ both externally and internally, the costumes were fantastic and often involved some pretty quick changes (Well done Wardrobe team), the band led by MD Andrew Hemming was excellent and sound balance and lighting were overall spot on. Huge congratulations to Director Paul Turvey and the entire team for a production of high quality.

 

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