Sound Ideas Theatre Company’s production of the musical Priscilla: Queen of the Desert is an absolute must see. it’s a 10 out of 10 from start to finish and filled top to bottom with outrageousness, sequins, glitter, comedy and joy.
Based on the movie, we follow three drag-queens on a road trip. Tick, on the verge of a break-down and needing a change, convinces Bernadette, an aging queen who’s just buried her husband and doesn’t know what to do next, and Adam, the more emotional, yet theatrical one, to drive across Australia to perform a number of shows at a casino in Alice Springs. Although this is a cover as Tick had been previously married and has a son he’s never met, unbeknown to the others.
They have two weeks to drive across the outback and get to opening night in time for the grand first show, but with the bus breaking down and emotions running high, do they make it?
‘Three drag queens on a road trip across Australia’ should be words enough to evoke the kind of adventure they are about to have, and an adventure it certainly is. It’s a great story filled with both highs and lows. The lows come from the vulnerability they feel and the judgements they face going into outback towns where they are misunderstood, threatened and beaten up. The highs come from dealing with their demons, opening to life changes and realising the true nature of being authentic and lasting friendships.
Although a decent story, this musical is not all about the that, this musical is about the fantastic songs, the amazing costumes and the incredible performances from the cast and the pure joy from 2 hours of wonderfulness.
The songs are the best disco and pop tracks from the 70’s and 80’s and are used both for the stage shows and for the story telling, yet the songs chosen for the story telling are spot on with the content. This means there are plenty of bangers for the audience to clap and sing along to.
The costumes are as outrageous as some of the script and one liners! Part of fun was seeing how outrageous they could become and seeing how the ensemble cast managed to manoeuvre about the stage. The singing from everyone was amazing, particularly the Diva’s who provided the tunes for the lip-synching and entertainment for scene changes.
The performances from every single cast member was superb, including the manly actors trying to embrace their hidden drag personas, again part of the fun watching them having their boundaries pushed in such a wonderful direction.
Special mention to the three main drag queens who were amazing. Constant entertainment, fabulously disgraceful behaviour, incredible grace and humour filed wonder.
A spectacular heart-warming show with a well-deserved standing ovation. Loved it.
This review first appeared on GrapevineLIVE.