PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT REVIEW
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - flamboyant and great fun!
If you're on the lookout for a fun, flamboyant musical to enjoy in the West End soon, then Priscilla, Queen of the Desert could be the one for you.
The show has been a firm favourite since it first opened at the Palace Theatre in 2009 and is sure to appeal to anyone who enjoyed Hairspray and La Cage aux Folles.
Originally a low-budget Australian film, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was first screened at the 1994 San Francisco Film Festival and became a cult hit.
Several years later, theatre mogul and writer Allan Scott rewatched the movie and realised that it featured all the ingredients for a fabulous musical.
After some tweaking, the addition of classic tunes like I will Survive, I Say a Little Prayer and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun and much sewing-on of sequins, the musical version was born.
Fifteen years after it was first shown as a film, the stage version of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert bounded into the West End to critical acclaim.
Ben Brantley, writing for the New York Times, said that the musical is full of "annihilating put-downs, raunchy wit and flamboyant posturing", while the Daily Telegraph called it "insanely euphoric and wildly contagious".
The show was also a success at the WhatsonStage.com awards in the same year it arrived, scooping four gongs including Best New Musical.
However, and perhaps most importantly, audiences loved it too. Soon after the show opened, cast member Steven Cleverley told ThisisWiltshire.co.uk: "I've never experienced a British audience getting to its feet like they do for Priscilla."
Indeed, the story of a drag queen and a transsexual who take to the road in a battered old bus (Priscilla) after getting fed up with their humdrum lives is lively and uplifting, but also moving thanks to its morals of friendship, love and being yourself.
Check it out soon and we're sure you'll find it both heartwarming and brilliantly good fun.