Hello fellow musical bloggers. It’s
been a while and I hope you all are having a positive, healthy and enjoyable
2016. I cannot believe we are in February already. It has been a quiet couple
months in regards to the theatre and musicals (for me anyhow) however there is plenty
planned over the next few months so you will read much more from me now. Also
there is so much I want to see but haven’t booked yet this year including Mrs
Henderson presents, The War of the Worlds, Beverley Knight taking her role in
The Bodyguard and I hear today Show Boat returns to the West End after a 20
year break. I hope also that some of you saw the musicals that were shown over the
Christmas period, the live production of The Sound of Music and the recorded
version of Gypsy staring Imelda Staunton and more recently Grease live which I have
recorded but still have not yet seen. Well the first (official) post of 2016 is
going to be about Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical (shortened to
Priscilla from here on in – my blogs are getting longer as it is!). I went with
my Mother and sister Fern and two long-standing practically family friends,
Auntie Wendy and Ellen on Friday 12th February 2016. We met in a
local pub for a drink, food and catch up prior to heading off to the Norwich
Theatre Royal for the 8:15 (late!) showing of Priscilla. The funny thing at the
pub was that Mother got chatted up by a very well-oiled guy celebrating his
birthday; what a knob! Small anecdote before we get down to business. This was
not the first time I had seen Priscilla on stage, first seeing it either in
2009 or 2010 for my Birthday with a second time seeing it in Leeds on its first
UK Tour in 2013. Well when I saw the flyers, emails and posters about Priscilla
returning for a second UK tour in 2015-16 I definitely wanted to get tickets;
Priscilla is now the third-most frequently show I have seen so does this make
it part of my top 5 favourites – not sure?
Priscilla is the perfect musical
for people that want to have a laugh, sing along to the songs, have some moral
understanding of LGBTQ communities and rights, love drag and have a passion for
Disco. Priscilla takes you on a journey of friendship, love, family and homophobia.
It focuses on two drag queens and a transgendered woman who travel from Sydney
to Alice Springs to get away from the burdens of city life and have a break
while putting together their new drag show. Their journey takes place on a bus,
known as Priscilla. The musical is based on the 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. The musical takes some songs from the original
film score as well as some new arrangements of some pop and disco classics to
fit within the story of these three friends and the people they meet along
their way. Stephan Elliott (director and writer of the original film) and Allan
Scott write the book for Priscilla. Stephen Murphy oversees the orchestrations
and musical arrangements of the songs with the performance directed by Simon
Phillips. Priscilla takes thirty well-known disco and pop hits and musically
rearranges them to create one fantastic disco-pop-tastic musical. My Mother’s
favourite song is early on in the show, ‘I’ve Never Been to Me’ (which does not
feature in American versions of the musical and is replaced by It’s Raining
Men); I love this song and it just reminds me of my Mother’s wonderful singing
voice – that must be where I get mine from. Other well-known favourites include
Downtown, I Say a Little Prayer, Go West, Colour My World, I Will Survive,
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and Finally. I have looked on a certain well known downloadable
music service but cannot find the cast album however certain CDs can be found on
the web although some are rather pricey; remember depending on whether you get
the Australian or American album will vary the songs you get – unfortunately the
original London cast did not record an album.
The original London production only
won one Olivier Award, despite its three nominations. Best Costume Design went
to Tim Chapel and Lizzy Gardiner and I think they definitely deserved this
award. I have never seen costumes like it in anything I have seen before. The musical
definitely embraces the costumes/dresses seen in the film but goes that one
step further. I don’t want to give too much away but flip flops and footballs
are definitely featured in this backstage wardrobe. The songs ‘MacArthur Park’
and ‘Colour my World’ are accompanied by the ensemble dressed as cakes and paintbrushes
respectively and the costumes in the finale really see the Australian culture
come out with costumes representing bearded dragons, koala bears, ostriches and
kangaroos. There is also some skimpy clothing worn by male members of the cast
and I honestly cannot remember Priscilla being so raunchy in the previous two
visits, maybe they have ‘sexed’ it up or maybe I was mesmerised and just cannot
remember. Make-up design is by Cassie Hanlon and Priscilla adopts a stick on
mask approach what with the multiple costume changes and the need to get make
up on and off so quickly. Whether it was because we were sat so close to the
stage or the masks weren’t as good in previous performances, it was just very
obvious that the cast were wearing these make-up masks and it sort of took the
illusion away which was a shame. I think a lot of the photo shoots use actual
drag make-up whereas the performance uses these masks.
Part of the performance incorporates
an audience participation element – oh yes and do I love my participation
moments. SPOILER ALERT: At the start of Act 2 ten audience members are
collected during the interval and asked to go dance on stage. The previous two
performances I saw (West End and Leeds) I was asked to go and join the cast for
a dance. It was so much fun, a brief barn dance with the ensemble cast. I
suggested to our party if we hover in the bar during the interval we may be
approached. Well I saw the cast enter the bar, take one look at me acting like
a weird teenager meeting Justin Bieber (i.e. I was clearly an over excited fan)
and they walked right past me (I am sure I heard one of them say ‘definitely not’
or maybe it was just me being paranoid). Well I said to Ellen and Fern “looks
like we aren’t getting on the stage this time”. We stand there, minor
depression setting in, and the dance captain (Matt Crandon) and assistant dance
captain (Amy di Bartolomeo) approached us, they had come back. I knew what was
coming and before they asked me I basically said yes and signed Ellen (who was
more than willing) and my sister (who was not willing) to go on stage and dance
the barn dance. It’s so much fun and I love being a part of Priscilla in this
way. Although this does mean I have never seen the opening of Priscilla Act 2 –
now I feel I am missing out. I think Robin Mills (a member of the ensemble
cast0 drew short straws as he had two left footed moi to dance with; so I
apologise for that but I also thank you for dancing with me and allowing me for
a third time to briefly join the cast.
Talking about members of the cast
Jason Donovan stars in this production of Priscilla; funnily enough each time I
have seen Priscilla, Donovan has starred in the role of Tick/Mitzi. I am a big
fan of Donovan’s voice and particularly enjoy listening to him on the Joseph
and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat cast recording I own. I have to say
Donovan was not at his best on this evening and looked tired and dare I say it,
aged. Duncan James is due to take over the role of Tick/Mitzi at certain venues
and I would have liked to see him; his body in that flip flop dress is pretty
hot (Google It!). Adam Bailey takes on the role of Adam/Felicia and he can camp
it up which is what we all expect from this role. A good singer, great thighs
and a pretty impressive camp Australian accent he did the role justice. For me
Simon Green stole the show with his performance as the transgendered
Bernadette. He had the attitude and determination we all expect from Bernadette
and he could sing. I also enjoyed the fact he looked like he was enjoying it
the most at the curtain call and for me that’s a really important part to know
who you pay good money to see enjoy themselves and putting all they have into
it. Philip Childs (who looked really familiar) plays Bob and I loved Julie
Yammanee who plays Cynthia and her ‘Pop Muzik’ song. For those of you that have
not seen Priscilla, Cynthia does something involving ping pong balls, and let’s
put it this way no table tennis takes place on the stage at Priscilla. Well
guess who went a bloody caught one of the ping pong balls – Auntie Wendy; and
Wendy being the delight and kind-hearted woman she is gave me the ping pong
ball knowing how much of a musical theatre fan I am. Thank you Auntie Wendy, it
currently sits on my bedside table. The Divas were fantastic and they never get
as much credit as they deserve as they often sing off stage or dangling from the
ceiling. The full ensemble cast were great and it takes some talent to go from
queeny screamy gay to butch thug from a ‘local village’ within a matter of
scenes. The final cast member who deserves his own mention was Solomon Read, he
was so adorable as Benji.
I think I have got everything down I
wanted to. It’s been a while since I wrote a post and I need to get back into
the swing of things; plus I am sure they are getting longer. Priscilla is
currently playing in Spain, New Zealand, Norway and Japan visiting France soon.
The current UK tour is due to finish in June 2016 and I think Donovan has now
finished his stint being taken over by Duncan James with Darren Day at a couple
of the venues. If you have not seen Priscilla it is definitely worth a visit,
you honestly feel so alive and warm and just good when you leave Priscilla and
even if you have seen it why not get your disco and pop socks back on and go
again. It really is a musical you can get involved with, literally if you want
in Act 2.
Thank you
Fine me on Twitter @AaronBurgess89
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