Show Pics: Priscilla‘s Platforms & Sequins Aplenty

With Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical hoping to be a ‘shoe-in’ with recession-hit London audiences when it opens next week, we’ve put together a selection of the recently-released production shots to give you a taste of what’s in store.

The show opens at the Palace Theatre on 23 March (previews from 10 March), followed by a gala night on 24 March. Audiences should note the recent change to the weekly schedule – there will be no more 5.15pm performances on Fridays, with Friday evening performances now taking place at 7.30pm.

The musical, adapted from the 1994 Oscar-winning Australian film, stars Jason Donovan as Mitzi/Tick (played on screen by Hugo Weaving), Oliver Thornton as Felicia/Adam (Guy Pearce on screen) and Tony Sheldon as Bernadette (Terence Stamp in the film), who repreises his award-winning performance from the original Australian production.

Sydney drag queen Mitzi (aka Tick) and her two fish-out-of-water friends, Felicia (Adam) and transsexual Bernardette, are heading west across the desert to Alice Springs in their battered old bus. They are each on their own personal journey of discovery, but together they put on a show unlike anything the locals have ever seen before. Like the film, the musical is fashioned around disco hits including “I Love the Nightlife”, “Go West”, “I Will Survive”, “Shake Your Groove Thing” and “Finally”.

For the adaptation, members of the original film’s creative team – writer and director Stephan Elliott, costume designers Lizzy Gardiner and Tim Chappel, make-up designer Cassie Hanlon and producer Michael Hamlyn – were joined by theatre director Simon Phillips. The West End production is presented by Liz Koops and Garry McQuinn for Back Row Productions, Michael Hamlyn for Specific Films, Allan Scott and the Really Useful Theatre Company.

– by Theo Bosanquet