I finally had the opportunity to enjoy Broadway silly and sequined new musical, Priscilla, Queen of the Desert: The Musical, based on the 1994 Australian film.
If you’ve ever had a day where you’ve been beaten down or thrown under the bus, this drag extravaganza will drag you back to the land of Oz (literally and figuratively). As Judy once chimed, “Forget your troubles, come on get happy!”
I want to avoid doing a true review and instead just talk about the feeling you get when 20 men and women (mostly dressed as women) take the stage in sequins, Afros, flower-petal headdresses and shake their groove thing for 2+ hours of pride and self-discovery.
From the first beats of “It’s Raining Men” to the finale medley you can’t help but dance in your seat and hum along (or sing as some audience folk were inclined to do… and in this case I couldn’t be upset… Sing out Louise!).
And (ok, I said I wouldn’t review the show but…) Tony Sheldon is just about the best thing to happen to the Great White Way since Broadway was born. Playing a transsexual who mother’s both Mitzi and Felicia on their journey to Alice Spring, Sheldon really makes you forget that your seeing a man in a dress because, as his character Bernadette believes, she is a woman (who just happened to once be a man). This Bernadette is warmer than Terrance Stamp’s film version. Both are witty, snippy and willing to kick your nuts into your liver if you try to hurt her or her friends but this Bernadette is also more vulnerable and ready to wrap her arms around you (yes, even young and brazen Felicia) when you’re feeling blue. And not to jump the gun but let’s just imagine that Sheldon is nominated for and wins the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical. That would make two years in a row that a man won the Tony while wearing a dress (Douglas Hodge won last year for his phenomenal performance in La Cage Aux Folles). I think that’s fabulous.
In short, get thee to the Palace and see this hot mess of fabulous. I’ll be going back again this summer with friends and family arm in arm. I suggest you do the same.
Tommy Karr 