Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – The Musical

★★★☆☆      Shimmering

Playhouse: Tue 5 – Sat 9 Nov 2019
Review by Hugh Simpson

There is enough flash and dazzling costume changes in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert to convince all but the most curmudgeonly.

Adapted by Stephan Elliot and Allan Scott into a jukebox musical from Elliot’s film about two drag queens and a trans woman who travel across Australia in a bus named Priscilla, the show is undoubtedly a riot of colour, glitter and music.

Miles Western, Joe McFadden and Nick Hayes. PIc: Darren Bell

Previously, Jason Donovan – one of the producers this time round – was the star. In this production, the biggest name is former Holby City actor and Strictly Come Dancing winner Joe McFadden. Accordingly, he takes the central role of Tick, whose desire to see his son in Alice Springs is the cause of the whole road trip.

While he is undoubtedly an engaging presence, McFadden could hardly be said to dominate the stage. He is not a natural drag performer and his Australian accent is somewhat iffy. His singing is certainly good enough, but his diffident dancing does not seem designed to win any more contests in the near future.

He is comprehensively outshone by Nick Hayes as the brash, over-confident Adam, and by Miles Western as Bernadette (returning to the stage after the untimely death of her younger partner) who is tremendously poised and nuanced. Western often echoes Terence Stamp’s performance in the film, but this is no bad thing, and the characterisation is spot on.

Miss Understanding

There are further starry performances throughout the ensemble, with Kevin Yates’s early turn as Miss Understanding particularly effective. Daniel Fletcher gives Bob, the down-to-earth mechanic who takes a shine to Bernadette, a wonderfully unshowy and emotionally centred portrayal.

The Priscilla Queen of the Desert company. Pic: Darren Bell

This unexaggerated emotion provides an effective contrast to the parade of glitz on display. Charles Cusick-Smith and Phil R. Daniels’s costumes are suitably eye-popping, although their sets – a striking modular Priscilla aside – lack similar impact.

While the addition of so many songs does make the whole thing desperately episodic, the freedom to use pop and disco numbers from different periods does mean that it is more likely that individual songs will fit the narrative than is sometimes the case.

That said, the moment when someone unaccountably produces a cake and proceeds equally mysteriously to leave it to the mercy of the elements – to justify MacArthur Park – should surely have been the point in history where the jukebox musical died of shame.

nagging doubts

Despite this (and one of those interminable finale-cum-curtain calls that deprive the performers of their proper acclaim) it does hang together fairly well, and the sense of fun involved means that the audience will definitely get their money’s worth.

The Priscilla Queen of the Desert company. Pic: Darren Bell

However, there are nagging doubts. The original film is now 25 years old, and some things have moved on in the interim. It is a shame that a show dealing with acceptance and tolerance has some elements that are less tolerant themselves – the stereotyping of Bob’s ‘mail order bride’ Cynthia was troublesome enough in 1994, and now is just plain unacceptable.

The constant froth and campery does mean that – Bernadette and Bob’s story aside – there is very little real emotion and a lack of real jeopardy. The scene of onstage violence, for example, is here rendered so stylised and balletic that it has very little impact.

The energy of the chorus, however, tends to wash over any such complaints. There is also a live band led by Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy – which has not always been the case in productions of this musical – and the three Divas, Aiesha Pease, Claudia Kariuki and Rosie Glossop, provide excellent vocal leads.

Like so many films that have become musicals, any of the subtlety in what was a ground-breaking movie in its day has been lost in what is necessarily a more one-dimensional affair. However, the production values on display do make for a satisfying big-budget touring production.

Running time 2 hours 30 minutes including one interval
Edinburgh Playhouse, 18 – 22 Greenside Place, EH1 3AA
Tuesday 5 – Saturday 9 November 2019
Daily at 7.30 pm; Matinees Wed and Sat at 2.30 pm
Information and tickets: Book here.

The Priscilla Queen of the Desert company. Pic: Darren Bell

ENDS

Tags: Aiesha Pease, Allan Scott, Charles Cusick-Smith, Claudia Kariuki, Daniel Fletcher, Hugh Simpson, Joe McFadden, Kevin Yates, Miles Western, Nick Hayes, Phil R. Daniels, Playhouse, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Review, Rosie Glossop, Stephan Elliot, Stephen ‘Spud’ Murphy