Wow! There were so many good things about tonight’s performance of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – The Musical that I don’t even know where to start! I’ve been to quite a few musicals in my time here in London but its been a while since I’ve been to a huge production like Priscilla. Probably the last “big” show I went to was Billy Elliot in December last year but even that production paled in comparison to tonight’s show. This is definitely one of the best shows I’ve seen EVER. Big call I know but so true.

I guess I should start by saying that I’ve never seen the movie so at least from that perspective I was coming to the show with no preconceptions. However, I was pleased to see that no “insider” knowledge was needed at all from the movie because all the jokes were pretty well delivered and I could understand even all the insinuated stuff.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert tells the story of how two drag queens (Tick/Mitzi played by Jason Donovan and Adam/Felicia played by Oliver Thornton) and an older more mature transexual (Bernadette formerly known as Farrah Forceitin – heh heh – played by Tony Sheldon) find themselves making a journey in a big bus, who they lovingly name Priscilla, to perform at a casino in Alice Springs. This story really gave the producers/writers lots of room to deliver some really big creative musical numbers and this creativity flowed through the music, the costumer, the set and not to mention the hugely, but very welcome, over the top performances.

Pauline and I knew we were in for a great time tonight from the start. The crowd was all a buzz and definitely huge energy levels before the show even started. We were surrounded by a few drag queens I’m fairly sure and there was on particularly vocal person behind us, whom I now call Poodle Bag after his/her well poodle bag, who gave Pauline and I quite a few giggles outside of those from the show! I was nearly crying after one particularly funny series of comments.

We were sitting in the grand circle and though I normally prefer to sit in the stalls it actually turned out perfectly because many of the pieces were set up high (either on top of the bus or other) so we were practically eye level with the performers. Be warned if you’re near the front at the stalls because you may get dragged up on stage just after half time to do a jig – and it was a pretty big jig as well!

The pre-show announcement had the touch of the droll as well when after asking everyone to ensure phones were silent and no recording etc. the audience were asked “to put their wigs under their chairs” for the benefit of the rest of the audience!

I could go on and on and on about the musical it was that good. The soundtrack to the musical was pure and utter brilliance with all the big party and disco hits making an appearance including Downtown, What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Don’t Leave Me This Way, I Say A Little Prayer, I Love The Nightlife, I Will Survive, Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Boogie Wonderland, and Finally. All the anthems so to speak. If they ever release a soundtrack I’m sure they’ll have no problems getting copies out the door!

Priscilla was a combination of singing, dancing and of course performing. The essence of the drag performer is lyp-synching and though the three male leads do some original singing of their own (and at a very good level) in the bigger performance pieces the show called them to do lyp-synching. Rather than try to cover-this up the show came up with the idea of The Three Divas – who were in essence three woman suspended on ropes high above the stage who had kick-ass voices and performed at the same time as the “performance” was going on below. It worked fantastically in part because the male leads and the Divas worked very well in tandem together but also the Divas had really great strong soulful voices. The cast were fantastic and somehow kept the energy up for the whole show – I don’t know how they managed because each piece made me tired just watching it! That’s not to say that every piece was huge – the solos, though softer and heart-rending, were no less powerful than the big party pieces. The show also kept us laughing with many fantastic one-liners and loved the jokes about Neighbours and Charlene/Scott!

I spoke of costumes earlier and if this musical doesn’t win some sort of prize for costumers then the judges must definitely be blind. If you think big, Priscilla delivered it bigger. From head to toe all the costumes were just outrageous but so beautiful and an absolutely pleasure to the eye (loved loved loved the shoes!) The same could be said of the set which was really well designed and managed. The musical also really made the most of the technology to them including the bus being completely covered in LED lighting which led to an interesting scene where the bus was “painted” pink!

This is the kind of show that I would definitely see again. But for now the next thing I’ll do is hire the movie out and see how the musical compares!