Priscilla – Queen of the Desert
14th October 2016
The Civic, Auckland, New Zealand
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.
When you’re heading to Priscilla Queen of the Desert adapted into a musical, you immediately feel pretty confident about what you’re going to see onstage. However when I saw the opening night of Priscilla at The Civic, Auckland’s iconic theatre, on October 14th I was completely dazzled by the production, performers and of course the outrageous neon vibrant, innovative costumes.
Actually innovation is a huge part of this show, enabling a huge bus to travel figuratively from Sydney to ‘The Alice’ but around the stage economically while transforming just as much as the incredibly talented main and ensemble cast as the narrative progresses. This is a musical though right? So how are the tunes? Absolutely roof raising that’s how they are! I Love the Nightlife is hilariously performed; Colour My World, Go West, Hot Stuff, Boogie Wonderland, We Belong, Don’t Leave Me This Way, Finally or signature tune Shake Your Groove Thing were dance in the aisle inducing.
Despite knowing the film like the back of my hand, I was pleasantly surprised by how the main story beats were interpreted into a stage performance, including the more socially aware and difficult LGBT issues of Priscilla, which are dealt with gracefully and thoughtfully. By far the warmest reception for the evening from the Auckland audience was for the appearance of Ray “Alf Stewart” Meagher as Bob the long suffering but open minded mechanic.
When an unexpected intermission occurred, one of those inclusive theatre audience moments happened as spontaneously the collected Priscilla fans broke into our own rendition of I Will Survive…and it was awesome. Lights up and the sequins, lippie and dazzling choreography continued as the cast rocked through the finale of the show just as they’d supported each other throughout the ‘first night’ performance when a dropped prop or slipped wig threatened to derail a number.
Seeing this camaraderie and support among the Priscilla players reminded why I love musical theatre and need to see much more of it. A ruckus, delicious and saucy evening out that you can enjoy with anyone who’s not so up themselves they can’t appreciate a little swearing and innuendo ridden comedy. Sashaying into The Civic this weekend, Priscilla Queen of the Desert direct from the UK will be parking up and making home here in Auckland until November 13th.
Have you seen Priscilla – Queen of the Desert on stage ? Or are you planning on heading along to this season? Tell us about it in the comments below!
For more information on Priscilla – Queen of the Desert you can check out their website, or if you want to purchase tickets select seats are still available from Ticketmaster.