GLITTER, lipstick, big wigs, muscular bums and legs. It can only mean one thing, Priscilla Queen of the Desert has rolled into town.
It’s the tale of two Aussie drags queens and a transexual: Anthony "Tick" Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra (played by 1980s heart-throb Jason Donovan); the recently transgendered Bernadette Bassinger (Simon Green) and wild child Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Richard Astbury).
Into a battered bus, “Priscilla”, they get and head from Sydney to the remote town of Alice Springs for a four-week stint performing in a casino where plenty of surprises lie, including, it transpires, Tick’s secret child who he has never met.
A neon pink map of Australia sets the scene and it’s straight in at the deep end with leather, whips, bouffants, award winning costumes and disco hits to set you gyrating in your seat as the road trip gets under way.
From the offset, the hilarious Miss Understanding or, as he is better known, Callum MacDonald, warms up the crowd, teasing latecomers: “Can I get you anything? Maybe a watch?”
Within five minutes of Donovan taking to the stage, he is down to his underwear and lip-syncing away. A shout out here is needed for singers Laura Mansell, Lisa-Marie Holmes and Catherine Mort, hoisted high above the ground in harnesses, performing incredibly, in their spectacular costumes and wigs.
Through all the camp razzmatazz there is some seriousness to the plot as the trio make personal discoveries while making their way through the desert heat.
My personal favourite character was Bernadette with her witty one liners delivered brilliantly by London theatre veteran Simon Green.
No musical starring a former Aussie soap star would be complete without liberal references to Donovan’s Neighbours/Kylie Minogue past. “I fancied Scott,” he declares to the pleasure of the crowd: Scott, of course, being the name of the character he played before going on to sell 13 million records.
On press night this week, Donovan did flash moments of brilliance but other times the 47-year-old appeared to be going through the motions and, if anything, looked a little bored.
Scott's changedHe shares the role of Tick, on this extensive national tour, with reformed "Love Rat" Darren Day (currently incarcerated in the Big Brother house) and Duncan James of the one time boyband Blue.
Tick’s shining moment comes when the threesome finally gets to Alice Springs and he meets his eight year old son, Benji (Adam Beaver) for the first time.
All have just performed onstage and Benji waits for his dad in the dressing room. Tick panics, worrying his son won’t understand why he is dressed as a women, but the boy simply doesn’t care and in instead asks him to read him a bedtime story.
Priscilla rewards with its energetic story, wit, audience participation and pulsating soundtrack. Even if Donovan was having an off day, the rest of the cast performances compensated and just the glitz and glam are enough to get you through the year.
What more do you want out of January?
*Priscilla Queen Of The Desert runs until Saturday (Jan 30) at the Liverpool Empire. Tickets, from £10, here. Monday – Saturday evenings 7.30pm, Wednesday & Saturday matinees 2.30pm.
