Priscilla Queen of the Desert UK TOUR

Wednesday 28th March 7.30pm
Birmingham Alexandra Theatre

Priscilla queen of the desert arrived at Birmingham Alexandra Theatre on Monday 18th March for two weeks ahead of its extensive first tour of the UK. This extravagant production comes direct from London's West End and stars Jason Donovan as Tick/Mitzi.

Priscilla Queen of The Desert tells the story of three drag queens (Mitzi, Bernadette and Felicia) on a journey across the Australian outback in their battered bus 'Priscilla.' Adapted from the 1995 film of the same name starring Terence Stamp, Priscilla the musical opened in March 2009 at London's Palace Theatre. The original production was very ambitious with a full size bus, revolving stage and large, outrageous sets and costumes. The show has been a worldwide hit playing in 7 different countries to date and each production requires 500 costumes, 200 hats, 100 wigs, 150 pairs of shoes and of course the minibus that gives the show its name.

For such a large scale show it was very ambitious of Priscilla producers to take the production 'On the Road' and for me the touring production has lost some of its original sparkle. If I had not seen the show multiple times on the West End this touring production would have been a fantastic spectacle, had I not seen the original show to compare it to.

Priscilla on the West End

Priscilla the bus herself was a little underwhelming but had been suitably rescaled due to the restrictions of the tour. What was originally a full size bus has been replaced with a smaller shell with various technical effects allowing the bus to embark on its stage journey. A nice touch for the production was keeping the three Divas suspended above the stage as in the original show but the only downside to our restricted stalls seats were them being clearly in view before and after take off. The Divas (Emma Kingston, Ellie Leah and Laura Mansell) however produced fantastic vocals and stand out performances particularly in "I will survive" and "MacArthur park."

Priscilla on Tour

Jason Donovan starred as Tick and Richard Grieve as Bernadette. Having seen Grieve play Tick in the West End I much preferred his portrayal of glamorous Bernadette and his wit and comic timing were perfectly suited to the role. Graham Weaver starred as Felicia and as understudy in the London production to Oliver Thornton (original Felicia) proved himself to be worthy of the leading role by providing powerhouse vocals in 'Confide in Me'

There were additional songs in the UK tour version of Priscilla and these included - "It's raining men" in replacement of Petula Clark's 'Downton' and True Colours in replacement of 'Both Sides Now'. As a die hard fan of Priscilla I preferred the original tracks but this is only my opinion.

Great supporting performances came from Ellie Leah as Shirley and Frances Mayli McCann as Thai Bride Cynthia. As well as a great humoured storyline, outrageously daring costumes such as Cupcakes and Paintbrushes this production has something for everyone. Accompanied by a soundtrack of toe tapping disco hits it would be a shame to miss Priscilla before she drives out of town.

Board Priscilla til Saturday 30th March at the Birmingham Alex or catch her on the rest of her UK journey HERE