Priscilla Queen of the Desert the Musical

Absolutely loved watching Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Musical which is playing at the Princess of Wales.

Based on the campy 1994 movie "The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert", the musical is about 3 drag queens (Mitzi/Tick, Bernadette/Ralph and Felicia/Adam) on a road trip through the Outback in Austrailia driving a bus named Priscilla, enroute to meet Tick's son Benjamin. The musical features disco music from the 70s and had too many costume changes to count, each one stunningly colourful, extravagant and outlandish.

Where the movie used songs mainly to show the performances of the drag queens, the musical did a great job of incorporating extra songs to advance the story, picking songs that blended well with the overall genre and era of the rest of the music. The best addition was the tear-inducing Elvis Presley ballad "You were Always On My Mind", sung by Tick to his son Benjie. It perfectly reflected the thoughts and emotions of the character in that moment and was my favourite song of the show. Other songs that made you want to get up and dance included "I Will Survive", "MacArthur Park", "Boogie Wonderland", "It's Raining Men". The entire last song, "Finally" and following bows and encores were performed to a standing ovation.

The musical first premiered appropriately in Austrailia (where the movie is considered a cult classic), then moved to London, and is now showing in Toronto as a warmup for a run on Broadway. It is interesting to note that as the show moved through each continent, the music was changed slightly to reflect the popular music of the new locale. By the time it hit North America, songs by and references to Kylie Minogue were replaced by Madonna.

Some of the scenes and costumes, especially earlier on in the show, might be a bit risque for young children or elderly patrons, but the show is so much fun and full of energy that hopefully no one will mind. It was fun to see people in the audience decked out with souvenir feather boas and martini glasses, both of which were featured prominently in the show. I need to go out and rent the movie again!