Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical

The Regals Musical Society burst on stage last night with all of the colour, energy and pizazz required to bring Priscilla to life.  Right from the first note, the audience was tapping their feet and dancing in their seats.  Charles Wilkinson led a very tight orchestra and the overture set a high expectation of the quality of what was to follow.

Right off the bat the ensemble dancing was high octane and tightly rehearsed.  Chris Bamford must have been a firecracker in a previous life because his choreography is in fifth gear and the effervescence never seems to run out.  Special mention here for Assistant Choreographer Emma Stewart who has had to jump in to one of the three Diva roles for the first weekend after Dani Caruso landed a professional gig.  Emma sang, danced and smiled her way through the role with no hint that she was not the original casting.

Luke Lynch enters as Tick/Mitzi and his rendition of "I Say a Little Prayer" is heartfelt and beautiful.  There is a warmth to his voice that is extremely comforting to listen to.  His portrayal of a father who desperately needs to bond with his son is highly believable and a needed touch of humanity in this often flamboyant story. Sage McAteer as Adam/Felicia counters that paternal sincerity with all of the brashness and sarcasm that one would expect from a precocious, relatively inexperienced drag queen. McAteer dances up a storm but had a tendency to rush his dialogue on opening night. This may have been a combination of nervous energy and/or just a reflection of his youth but he would benefit from taking example from Brad Clarke. 

When Clarke enters as Bernadette the production instantly goes up a notch. Indeed, every scene that Clarke appears in is elevated by his stage presence and vast experience. He carries himself like a lady throughout, delivers his dialogue thoughtfully and has an air about him that suggests that he is in fact a genuine Les Girls.  

Some of the minor roles were brought to life in very safe hands, such as Paul Adderley as the unhappily married Bob and Veronica Bray Saville as the wonderfully uncouth Shirley. Paul's understated Bob was a nice counterbalance to all of the pop and fizz of the drag queens while Veronica's Shirley was perfect in its vulgarity. Finally, Lucas Chan as little Benji doesn't have a lot of stage time but does have a lot of talent and hopefully a long performance career ahead of him.

Having performed in the Rockdale Town Hall myself, I was curious as to how the bridge and the bus and the 57 million costumes were all going to fit into the space.  I can only imagine that costumes are lining the walls of every corridor and may even be suspended from the ceiling. Whatever magic they have conjured has certainly worked because the show is a visual feast. Kathy Petrakis (Director) and Callum Platt (Stage Manager) should be congratulated for not only making it all fit but for the smoothness of the bus transitions and the success of the scenery in general in what I know is a very confined performance space.  I have no doubt that this was a logistical nightmare but it was well worth any blood, sweat or tears that have been shed.

Perhaps the main takeaway from this show is that you CAN perform a high-expectation, very hectic, visually spectacular musical WITHOUT a massive performance space or an enormous budget. Indeed the intimacy of the space really added to this production because the audience felt like they were a part of it rather than other productions where the bus may be set 20metres upstage and there is an unfortunate sense of disconnection.  This Regals 'Priscilla' is full of heart and the audience last night loved every second of it.  You could feel the energy coming off the stage, the standing ovations were well deserved and the audience hanging around for hours after the curtain is a testament to all involved.

The only drawback for this reviewer is the unwelcome amount of underscoring that can sometimes overpower the dialogue.  As is often the case with community theatre, the acoustics of performance spaces can be very hard to balance and there was more than one occasion where the orchestra volume needed to somehow be halved. Hopefully this imbalance can be corrected for the rest of the run as this cast deserves all of the appreciation that the opening night crowd was happy to bestow on them.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert runs until October 9^th at the Rockdale Town Hall.  Book now rather than assuming that tickets will be available at the door.

Fiona Kelly

Photo Credit: Sam Vasta