Donovan in Line for Priscilla, Crawford Loses Out???

Rumours are circulating that Michael Crawford, who apparently had his heart set on the role of transsexual Bernadette in the upcoming West End production of Priscilla, has been jilted in favour of Australian actor Tony Sheldon, who created the role in Sydney.

The musical version of the Oscar-winning 1994 cult film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, is thought to be opening at the Palace Theatre (current home of Spamalot) early next year (See The Goss, 13 Jun 2008). And according to today’s Daily Mail, Sheldon’s Priscilla co-star may well be former Neighbour and popstar Jason Donovan, whose previous West End credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Donovan is tipped to play the role of drag-queen Anthony ‘Tick’ Belrose (aka Mitzi), who along with her two fish-out-of-water friends, Felicia and Bernardette, heads west across the desert to Alice Springs in their battered old bus, lip-synching their way through a string of disco hits as they go. The stage version, by members of the film’s creative team, had its world premiere in Sydney in October 2006.