Priscilla Queen Of The Desert

Firstly, I would like to express my personal thanks to IODS for bringing Priscilla to Ipswich. It is a gamble financially, even for a major amateur company such as yourselves. It is by nature a very expensive production to fund and I congratulate you on your courage,  but being rewarded by a total sellout on all your performances and judging from last night’s show your supportive audience will be as thrilled as we were.

The ‘boys’ Luke Berry and Owen Berry were joined by Adam Page who was making a wonderful debut with IODS  as Bernadette. We don’t often see both the boys on stage together but this show was definitely one not to be missed with Luke playing Adam and Owen starring as Tick. Yes, it was bawdy and raunchy at times  but these three also portrayed a warmth, affinity and with a real tenderness and understanding in their friendship.  Their songs and dances were fabulous and they looked terrific.

The songs from the show are primarily from the 1980’s and 1990s, and feature some much loved titles. Chloe Brown, Freyer Marsh and Rachel Buckingham  play the  three Divas and are featured in most of the musical numbers and together they gave quality performances. There was a large  and impressive cast of dancers and ensemble and the standard of singing and the harmonies were excellent.  Congratulations go to  Mike Wren and his band on the excellent  accompaniment they provided to the singers and incidental music.  The exceptional choreography was stunningly performed  adding sparkle to the whole show.

 Phil Cory gave a great cameo  performance in the role as Bob. We saw  Dexter Thomas in the role of Benji who gave an excellent solo of  “Always on My Mind" as part of the medley whilst Tick sings  "I Say a Little Prayer". Not an easy thing to do at the best of times, but  for one so young in front of a full house, you should be very proud of yourself.  Well done.  On alternate performances the role of Benji was played by Charlie Watt who I’m sure was equally impressive.

The costumes, of which there are numerous, can only be described as absolutely fabulous! They certainly added the ‘over the top’ glamour and glitter and were worth every penny of the enormous budget which I am told they cost.   The huge bus which was the backdrop for most of the scenes was specially made for IODS by Dave Herman of LX Professional and fitted the Wolsey stage with only inches to spare. The crew did well in moving this obviously very heavy item and revolving it into different positions, many of the times when the cast were still inside. It looked fantastic and certainly set the scene brilliantly and was enhanced with good lighting effects.

Well done to Sally, all the team and the cast for another outstanding production. 

Thank you also for our warm welcome. Good to see you all again.

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